A damaged sidewall means that you should get a new tire; period. What may appear as a very minor gash right now may become a huge gash followed by a blowout after X number of miles of sidewall flex being applied. And low profile 22s or not, the sidewall will flex to some extent.
It’s also my opinion that the vehicle should go on the alignment rack. A curb hit can not only knock the alignment out of whack, it can also knock it out of whack by bending something; like a lower control arm, wheel hub, inner tie rod, etc.
I notice craigslist has dozens of ads from people wanting to swap tire / wheels like yours for a set of stock tires and wheels…Now I know why…That gash is too nasty to mess with. Buy two new tires…
After looking at those pics, no doubt about it. That tire is junk.
How can that gash not be anything to worry about? It’s big enough to insert your thumb in from the looks of it and a tire store is saying no problem? Ouch.
Sure the rim didn’t get whacked? It looks scraped from the pics.
thanks for the replies. I guess i will have to try and order these tires. I realize that these tires arent exactly “practical”, but they actually look quite good with my rims and this luxury suv. FoDaddy, i know you rip on me for the tire selection but why the heck would anyone bring a lincoln SUV on a class 4 trail in the first place, stock tires or not. Anyway, i guess the decision is how many tires to buy (probably all four now), and whether to purchase it directly from dunlop or from a discount online realtor like tiredepot.com or tirerack.com. Those reliable?
I’ve used Tirerack a number of times depending on the tire/price and have found them to be lightning fast and dependable.
Matter of fact, just bought a full set of new Bridgestones from tirerack recently, had them installed on my Lincoln Mark, and got creamed by a pickup the very next day.
Now my baby is a total with new rubber on it.
Anyway, i guess the decision is how many tires to buy (probably all four now),
The answer is in your owner’s manual. The wording will likely be subtle. But as others have noted, if it says to replace all four tires and you don’t (or you don’t shave them), you’ll be in for expensive AWD repairs.
It “looks” like the vehicle is 2WD?
You own and drive this vehicle and you don’t know these details about your own vehicle?
I respectfully suggest that you have someone who knows more about automotive technology confirm for you whether it is in fact 2WD or AWD. If it turns out to be 2WD, then you can safely replace just one tire.
That is another alternative.
However, I would really like the OP to learn something about his vehicle in the process of replacing tires. Not knowing whether you bought a 2WD vehicle or an AWD vehicle is almost beyond belief, IMHO.
I’d like to add my voice to the choir- you need to replace that tire.
You only have to replace one tire. If you find out it’s AWD, then call around to the local tire shops asking if they can shave your new tire to match the wear on the others. Keep calling until you find a modern shop that can do it.
If you have 2WD or 4WD, then you should measure the wear on the companion tire on the other side using a tread wear gauge. If you don’t have a gauge, the tire shop should be able to do it. They should also know what the acceptable wear difference is for tires on the same axle. If within that acceptable range, all you have to do is mount the one tire and be done with it. If not, you choose between shaving the new tire or replacing the other one too.
Well thanks for all the suggestions. Basically, everyone was really split on the matter. Two respectable tire shops said no big deal, just cosmetic, dont need to replace anything, but if you do you can replace one. Some dealers said replace all. My main concern was the fact that i do in fact have AWD and that the tires already one there had totally uneven wear (had some alignment probs obviousely)-these tires were from the previous buyer. Two of the tires (uneffected tires) had plenty of tread left, while the damaged one and the fourth tire had some significant wear (less than 4mm of tread). So I took everything into consideration (shaving them, just replacing one), but ultimately erred on the side of safety and conservative. I didn’t want to risk anything to the AWD and didn’t want to have a blowout on my 1,000 mile road trip. So I just decided to get all four new tires. more expensive, yes, unecessary-maybe, but now I will now for sure its safe and I can get on a good tire schedule (rotating and aligning appropriately).
Those shops that said they’re ok, never shop there again. Perhaps posting who those shops are and where they’re at, will help the rest of us avoid those places as well.
Miller OK tire. Also, ive heard you have to “break in” new tires. Is this going to be bad as I am going on a long road trip (highway miles-~~approx 1,000 miles) next week. Is this ok or do i need to “break them” in before hand?
