Rubber tag left on tire from manufacturing process

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Hello all,

I purchased 4 new Cooper CS3 tires this weekend for my KIA Forte. When I got them home I noticed their was some rubber tags left over from the manufacturing process.. I pulled the tags off, however it left part of the tread filled in. I wonder if this is something that concern me? Maybe the correct molding is there and will come out after some wear? Maybe I am worried over nothing, but this seems like shoddy manufacturing to me, especially since Cooper seems to be highly regarded. (I already contacted cooper over this, nothing back yet..)

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The technical term for that bit of excess material is "flash".

What annoys me about my set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 tires is that they've got tons of molding sprues all along the sidewall, which aren't coming off with wear unless I have a habit of scraping the sidewalls against curbs. Virtually none of the photos I saw of this tire before I bought it show this. Most of the photos I've seen show no sprues at all (possible I suppose with lower-profile versions) or where they've been trimmed. This was taken by an owner:

20140222_181324_zpsecb7c8e2.jpg


On a previous set of tires I got so annoyed with these things that I used a nail clipper and just trimmed off each and every one.
 
My current set off Cooper A/T3s have molding birds left just under the tread on the sidewalls. The tires have about 20,000 miles on the buy now. Never really bothered me but I may trim them sometime.
 
My Dad told me flash (excess rubber/material) in evidence on finished products isn't bad.
He said molten material flowing into the mold likely needed a place to "flow into" such that the air was removed.
In other words, you need flash to be certain material flowed into the mold completely.

Sloppiness of mold design is a separate question. Kira
 
Originally Posted By: benjamming
Kira,

That is correct. However, a more "quality" (i.e. higher-priced) product will have that flash removed or should.

I heard one way to remove it (depending on the material) is to freeze it off. I suppose these tiny bits can go really cold, while the bulk material won't be as cold and won't be as susceptible to breaking or chunking off as a small piece of flash.
 
Originally Posted By: actionstan
Hello all,

I purchased 4 new Cooper CS3 tires this weekend for my KIA Forte. When I got them home I noticed their was some rubber tags left over from the manufacturing process. I pulled the tags off, however it left part of the tread filled in. I wonder if this is something that concern me? Maybe the correct molding is there and will come out after some wear? Maybe I am worried over nothing, but this seems like shoddy manufacturing to me, especially since Cooper seems to be highly regarded. (I already contacted cooper over this, nothing back yet..)

[[omitted photos]]


OK, those are missing sipes. No, it is not flash.

A sipe is a blade-like projection in the mold that causes a thin "slice" in the tread element (also called a "sipe").

Nothing to worry about. You won't notice any performance degradation (although there has to be some, but it is very, very small!)

It will wear off by itself, or you can cut it off.

At some point in time, that mold will need to be taken out of production and repaired.
 
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Originally Posted By: y_p_w
The technical term for that bit of excess material is "flash".

What annoys me about my set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 tires is that they've got tons of molding sprues all along the sidewall, which aren't coming off with wear unless I have a habit of scraping the sidewalls against curbs. Virtually none of the photos I saw of this tire before I bought it show this. Most of the photos I've seen show no sprues at all (possible I suppose with lower-profile versions) or where they've been trimmed. This was taken by an owner:

20140222_181324_zpsecb7c8e2.jpg


On a previous set of tires I got so annoyed with these things that I used a nail clipper and just trimmed off each and every one.


I'm the same way, I must have OCD about my tires. Whenever I get a new set I crawl all around the car cutting those little "tire whiskers" off with a razor blade. I just bought a set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports and there were about 25 or 30 on every tire ! They make me crazy for some reason
 
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