Newbie Question - Tire Slice

[1Markman]

Spent Saturday in my '74 Bronco at Hollister Hills. Had a great time with two of my friends (both Scout owners) . Got to pull a 4Runner off its side (had rolled and the two trucks it was with were not strong enough to get it wheels back on the ground. Anyway, got home and cleaned all the ample amounts of mud off my truck and noticed a deep (about 1 inch) slice in my front left tire. It is basically about 4 inches in from the outside of the tire and pretty much goes all the way around. I thought at first glance that the tire had split, but it is definately cut. The cut goes through the knobbies, but not through the tire (luckly as I was not carrying a spare).

This was only the second time off road with my bronco, but it was awesome, just worried now and wondering what I can do to keep from cutting the tire again or deeper.

 

[SaddleUp]

Is it in the tread area? If so then be absolutely sure it didn't go into the casing and then swap it to the rear. (This assumes just some tread damage) The rear can handle tires that are a little out of balance better than the front. What kind of tires are they? There is a pretty good variety of tires being used so others here may be able to comment specifically about your tire. My guess is that you hit a chunk of metal or something while you were spinning the tire in order to cut it like that.

 

[TJK74]

Also check to see if there is any sheet metal under that fender that needs to be trimmed back. Might be caused from stuffing a tire up in the wheel well

 

[Projp]

Little Trivia
Tires will cut alot easier when they are wet.

 

[brian72]

Maybe the tire has warranty and can be road-hazzarded out..

 

[roksmurf]

like saddle up said, put it on the rear!! I run swamper tsl's as do alot of my buds and have shredded my tires on the sharp rocks at the superlift park in Hot Springs Ar. but it is amazing how they hold up. I have a couple deep side wall cuts that have held up well. I WOULDNT run them on the street though!! as long as it is in the tread area and isnt in the casing, call it a test sipe and run it!!

 

[Flash69]

From the sounds of it. You may have gotten into your inner fender at the rear where it goes to the kick panel. That would explain it.

 

[1Markman]

Thanks for the feedback. I think you guys hit it on the head. Best I can figure is that the tire went up into the fender well and got cut by the sheet metal up in there. Looks like I will need to cut that or grind it out more to prevent this from happening again. The tires are basically brand new, but were purchased by the PO. I do not have any paperwork to get any kind of warranty on it. I think I will pull the tire and put it on the spare.

Any issue with running a brand new tire (the one from the spare) with 3 tires that are pretty close to brand new? I will put it on the back for sure.

Thanks again for the help. I need to get my contributer status so I can post some pictures of the day at Hollister Hills and the slice in the tire.

 

[SaddleUp]

If the other three are close to new then no problem. If you swap it with the spare then the rule of thumb is to put the tires taking the least weights to balance in the front.

 

[Rustytruck]

I had the same problem on my 74. on the front inner fender well you look inline with the cut on your tire and you will see a sheet metal edge hanging down. it is part of a pinch weld seam so dont cut it off just fold it over. In the back wheel well you will see a simular seam but its folded over but dumbass ford didnt fold over the very end of it. you should finish the end or when you really stuff a tire it will shred chunks from the tread. another problem area I have seen is when someone uses a wide rim and offset the edge of the tire will get cut by any extra sheetmetal under the cut flairs. If you get a body lift for the most part these issues go away. I dont use a body lift so I have trimmed and folded everything. It still rubs with my 33's but they no longer get cut. In fords defence the factory H-78 tire would never hit these areas.

 

[RajinCajun]

Only input I have is if you off-road get ready for damage/carnage/breakage/ and any other form of problems you can think of..if it was cheap more folks would do it...LOL. But you did say you had a great time, so you see why we all do it and spend countless amounts of our children's inheritance on our rigs... My moto is: "If it jams-force it, if it breaks-it was time to upgrade anyway"