noticed that wife’s car has a wee slice on the rim edge of the sidewall of front tyre, about 2mm thick flap, size of a 10p. Looks like a kerb clip interface. Stuck in down with some superglue for now and its now losing any pressure

I’m assuming the rubber in that bit is quite thick ??? I know if I take it to a tyre place they will try and tell me it’s dangerous and needs replaced, so thought I’d ask here !

‘Sharp intake of breath‘ “Oi fink you need four new tyres there sir”

^^^^ are you a kwik fit fitter ? 🙂

If the carcass is damaged I would scrap it. If it’s just a flap of rubber I might transfer it to a rear wheel and carry on driving, especially if it had plenty of tread.

Aslong as the tyre bulging and no wire was showing in the cut it should be fine just stuck back down.

last time that happened to me i took it to the local tyre gaff and they said ‘yeah, just stick some glue in it’

so i did 🙂

Personally, from your description I would just keep a close eye on it and keep driving it.

A lot of tyres have rim protectors (a thicker flap of rubber to try & prevent kerb damage) and I’ve taken a fairly large chunk out of one of those before with no adverse affects. The rubber still remained thicker than on the rest of the tyre sidewall & regular inspection revealed no changes to the apparent stability of the sidewall.

Obviously if there’s some internal structure of the tyre revealed or the cut looks particularly deep I’d probably replace it, but that doesn’t seem to be what you are describing.

cheers all, will keep an eye on the glued bit, thanks

Take it to the Gorbals Tyre Centre for a look Iain, he’ll give you an honest opinion on it. He’ll also do you a part worn for £35 for a branded tyre, when I say ‘part worn’ they are actually as new.

Thanks Gary – will pop down at weekend

Side walls are quite thin and prone to splitting when damaged hence why a puncture in it can’t legally be repaired. Sticking down with Superglue isn’t the greatest idea.
Unless you’re looking for a way out of your marriage I would get it replaced quickly.

Hmmm…. bit of conflicting advice there….scratches head..

Get expert advice.

thanks for link, useful indeed.

Tyres are illegal to use if they have a cut of longer than 25mm, deep enough to reach the plies/cords, or a cut that actually exposes the cords.

mine is under 25mm in any dimension and no exposure of plies/cords, so will keep an eye on the glue for now

That’s the nub of it. If it caused a crash and you killed somebody it would be Manslaughter.

^^^^ errr, how would it when its less than 25mm in length or width and shallow with no inner bits exposed ?

Car tyre sidewalls are thin to allow flex and a quieter, more comfortable ride. The sidewalls aren’t designed to cope with kerb strikes in the same way as 4×4 or tractor tyres. Whilst the tyre may hold it’s shape and air while stationary, it will be weakened. Once laden and travelling at speed, a moderate pothole that wouldn’t burst a healthy tyre, could case the already weakened sidewall to fail. The rim could then dig in, causing the car to flip over and land on a baby robin or child’s face.

You are a monster for allowing the mother of your children to drive such a death trap. A new tyre is less than yer average Castelli jaikit. Get yer wallet oot!

Oh, please also see Reg 27 of the Road Vehicle C&U Regs 1986. 27D is a torn sidewall. I can check it tomorrow if you like?

^^^ cheers downshep 🙂 knew I could count on you !

As mentioned above though.. Many car tyres have thicker sides near the rim to protect the wheel from curbing and it’d take quite a gash to cause a structural issue.. A photo would help but a superficial nick in the sidewall won’t write the tyre off.

if you keep it put it on the driven axle so the tyre wears down faster and you replace it sooner

As above, if the tyre isn’t showing any cords (steel or fibrous), and doesn’t have any bulges or ripples, it is legal and not considered unsafe.

As a cyclist, I don’t know why you would superglue the flap when you presumably have vulcanising glue in the shed! You could also just cut the flap off.

My inherent risk aversion won, so new tyres just fitted courtesy of black circles 😀 . fronts were both on 4mm so changed them both….