Bulges on three of four tires?

[NavyVet88]

2013 Honda Civic LX 1.8L 204k

I was doing a cursory check of the tire pressures on my wife’s civic just now and noticed that three of the four tires have what seems to be bulges only it’s not protruding outward like a typical bubble, it’s going inward on the sidewall of the fire. I have never seen this before on any vehicle I have ever owned and googling only produces results for outward bubble type of issues. Is it because the tire is cold? I’ll post pics in just a sec.

 

[NavyVet88]

Hankook Kinergy 195/65R15 approximately 2 years old give or take a month or so with maybe 20k on them.

 

[NavyVet88]

It appears to be a linear depression on the tires.

 

[Zee09]

I have seen that before on BFG TA's- they all failed
But I have also seen that on many tires that lasted a long time
Last year I bought some Hankook Kinergy tires, and I can see what you see but it is very, very, faint
and a straight on picture would not capture it.

 

[MRC01]

I've had tires that bulged like that. Looked like a safety issue so I replaced them immediately and when we inspected the old tires off the wheels, we saw that the tire's interior belts failed and separated. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
There may be other causes for the same symptom, but this is one of them.

 

[Nick1994]

Inward bulges are ok, outward need to be replaced.

 

[Rand]

Inward is usually called an indentation and are supposedly cosmetic but I dont like either.

@CapriRacer probably has a more informed opinion. I'm guessing will agree with the cosmetic part.

tirerack says this

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=32

When the tire is being cured, it is pressed against its metal mold. However when the tire is mounted on a wheel and inflated to operating air pressures, it is free to expand. These overlapping splices may create slight indentations since the stretching capacity of the lap-splices is slightly less than the rest of the body ply. In reality, the splices are the most reinforced area of the tire's sidewall.

 

[MRC01]

Inward is usually called an indentation and are supposedly cosmetic but I dont like either.

@CapriRacer probably has a more informed opinion. I'm guessing will agree with the cosmetic part.

tirerack says this

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=32

Good point. Mine were protrusions, not indentations. The OP's look like indentations, though they're bigger than other indentations I've seen.

 

[Rand]

Good point. Mine were protrusions, not indentations. The OP's look like indentations, though they're bigger than other indentations I've seen.

protrusions are definitely cause for replacement.
as are tread seperations
although i had odd tread splices sticking up on my kumho 4x tires that were cosmetic.

 

[930.engineering]

Inward is usually called an indentation and are supposedly cosmetic but I dont like either.

Agreed, but only acceptable if it's within certain limits.
This is probably due to abuse. I wouldn't take a chance and replace all four.
.

 

[NavyVet88]

I’m going to go see If the tires are still under warranty from the place that I bought them at if they are then hopefully the warranty will cover that. If not it looks like I’m going to be buying more tires. Thank you for the help guys!

 

[Jetronic]

quite common on Hankooks for some reason. I got to see loads as they were factory fit on most Hyundais. Never seen one fail.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

n/m

 

[1uz_4me]

quite common on Hankooks for some reason. I got to see loads as they were factory fit on most Hyundais. Never seen one fail.

I had a set on my E36 that also did this. They were replaced under Hankook warranty & I only had to pay for the labor on the work (and probably the dollar or 2 "disposal fee")

 

[Oillover]

It's caused by potholes....tell your wife to stop driving thru them.

 

[mattd]

Those undulations are from the sidewall construction and nothing to worry about.

A bubble protruding outward is something g very different, and is cause for replacement of the tire.

 

[FZ1]

I’m going to go see If the tires are still under warranty from the place that I bought them at if they are then hopefully the warranty will cover that. If not it looks like I’m going to be buying more tires. Thank you for the help guys!

This^^^^^^^^^^.

 

[TCL]

Do you love your wife?

 

[NavyVet88]

Update:

The Senior Tech at the shop where I bought the tires said it was just the ply in the rubber and it was nothing to be concerned about. He explained that in the factory when the rubber is being cut that it will sometimes be cut in a manner where the 4-ply section ends up being predominantly exposed the way it did on my tires. He said Hankook “entry” level tires like I have are gonna show like that.

All in all, he nor the service writer tried to sell me new tires and said it was not an issue just as a previous poster had said as well.

 

[zrxkawboy]

I asked a tire dealer about this same thing years ago, and he told me it was normal on radial tires.