Hello!
Someone pointed out that the treads on my front left tire were cracking/tearing a bit. I took a look but am unsure whether or not it is ok to drive (was hoping not to do it during a long weekend but will do whatever is necessary for safety!)
I have attached a few images of the tires, any advice would be helpful! Thanks all!
That tire is DEFINITELY unsafe, no matter how few miles it might have mounted on the car.
I suggest that you drive very slowly to a tire shop and get all four tires replaced.
Even if you don’t see the same defects in the other tires, if they are the same age, then they are ready for replacement. And, because of the nature of your AWD system, all four tires have to match.
For the sake of your passengers and everyone with whom you share the road, please get all 4 tires replaced right away.
Holy jeepers, how is that thing holding air?
I wouldn’t drive that 2 miles…if that’s the only tire doing this, put the spare on before you go to the tire shop.
And you should buy dinner for who ever pointed that tire out to you . This tells me that you are not paying good attention to your tires . It also sounds like you may have not done some other things that should be done to this vehicle . I guess it is the 2010 from your other post .
+1
Yes, but let’s not let the OP forget that he needs to replace all 4 tires because of the AWD system.
Tire Rack can shave a tire to match if it makes financial sense.
+1
In addition to the importance of personally checking one’s tire pressure with a hand-held gauge on a regular basis, getting up close and personal with the tires while checking their pressure would readily reveal problems like this.
Yes, good point.
SOME tire shops can also do this, but that service is fairly limited, in my experience.
hello all, really appreciate the quick responses. Heading to a local place to get all 4 replaced and was planning on buying my neighbor who pointed it out dinner/beer/etc haha. Sounds like they did some good looking out!
Will be sure to keep an eye on this closely going forward 
Sorry, I can see how what I said was unclear. What I meant was:
Either way, all 4 tires should be replaced.
+1
However, please take this as a learning experience, namely that YOU need to periodically check your tires, in terms of both their inflation pressure and their general condition.
Thank God for your vigilant neighbor, but… what if he doesn’t notice a highly visible safety defect on your car in the future?
What is the mileage and age of those tires. Falken Ziex?
Ever driven under inflated?
The worst that can happen is the tire will blow out on the way to the tire shop and you’ll have to change the tire on the road. If you don’t drive at a high rate of speed, you should not have trouble controlling the car at 45 mph if it does blow out. I doubt it will be a problem though on your drive down. But who is putting four tires on Saturday before Labor Day? I hope it is not a discount shop.
Lots of places will sell tires and mount Saturday , Sunday and there will be some open on Labor Day ’
So what if it is a discount shop ? Even some house brand tires will give good service .
Saturday is a normal business day
Just because Labor day is coming up on monday doesn’t mean a customer can’t expect a tire shop to do a good job installing a set of four tires
And those discount shops usually also stock some high quality tires, in addition to the cheapos. Not everybody frequenting those places is specifically seeking store brand tires. Those shops probably have some Goodyears and Continentals in stock. Although I’m not partial to either of those two brands, they’re respectable
Around here in our little town by the lake, the shop closes at noon on a normal Saturday and are usually booked for the day. So ya plan ahead a little.
The miracle is that the tire has not blown out already. If you think back a short time and remember the last time you were on the highway doing 70 MPH…
It almost looks to me like some underinflation issue.
Would I drive on it? Yes; but only to the closest tire store and while never exceeding 20 MPH. Even that is risking a blowout but at least the car won’t roll over on the roof.
Whoever pointed that out to you just may have saved your life.
At work we stock Bridgestone, Dunlop, Michelin and Yokohama. When customers come in with those “other brands” (budget), I have seen a lot of split sidewalls due to poor quality rubber but the strength is in the plies so it is unlikely to rupture.
More of a concern is the number of tires I have seen with steel belts exposed and the owners chose to drive away on the bad tires, more than 100 in the last ten years.
Since Wash. DC quit safety inspections a few years ago I see cars rolling on bologna skins (often minivans), vehicles with no brake lights, etc.
Lots of people only put gas in their cars, and only do that because it will stop running otherwise!
When Florida had safety inspections, you could drive with bald tires, burnt out lights and holes in your exhaust. As long as your inspection sticker was current, you were golden.
