Tire bubble

What causes a bubble in a relatively new tire, 15,0000 miles on a 2008 Subaru Impreza, Bridestone.

Could be curb strike, pothole bump, or (less likely at 15,000 miles) a defect. Where’s the bubble?

My daughter-in-law came clean- curb strike!

Ahhh-at least that’s better than the teen that struck a curb hard enough to blow the tire near my house. Guess what-she was on the cell phone, never hung up even as several of us helped get her tire changed. Her only comment? “Oh no, I did it again! My dad’s going to be so mad!”

The bubble is caused by a tread separation as a result of the bump. I don’t believe that road hazard insurance covers this type of failure, since it is essentialy caused by the driver rather than road conditions.

You will, of course need a new tire.

…and, depending on the amount of wear on the remaining tires, you may need to replace all 4 tires. Subarus have the best AWD system in the business, but they are notoriously intolerant of tires with different circumferences. Refer to your Owner’s Manual for details.

An alternative to 4 new tires is to have the tread of a new tire “shaved” to match the circumference of the old tires. Not all tire shops do this, but if you make some calls, you should be able to find one that does it on premises or sends tires out for this procedure. Also, if you are replacing and shaving that one tire, be sure to get the same brand and model tire as the remaining three.

If you are replacing all 4, consider it a blessing in disguise, as it will give you an opportunity to get rid of the Bridgestone Potenza RE-92 tires that the car probably came equipped with. The RE-92 is one of the worst tires made today, and I used one puncture as my justification to rid myself of these crappy tires.

My road hazard warranty recently covered a sidewall tear that I suffered from a granite curb. Perhaps yours will too.

The tires that end in stone are the most likely tires to have a defect. I just saw a bubble in a Bridgestone the other day, or was it on a Firehawk from the other (same) stone tire. Then there are the ones caused by curbs.

Precious, texases, thank you.