sidewall cut

[alsey]

I curbed my wheel today and also put a cut into the sidewall. The wheel can be repaired and isn't too bad, but I am worried more about my tire. I seem to have put a cut about 1-2 mm deep and about 1 cm long and 0.5 cm wide..its like I took an exacto knife parallel to the tire and cut a flap 1-2mm deep and 1cm X 0.5 cm. The flap is still there. Is my tire damaged / unsafe to drive on now or is it just a cosmetic defect that I can glue back?

Thanks!

[Bwana]

I cant gauge the depth of the cut from the picture, and i dont know how deep mine was. But I've been driving on a tire with a similar cut (only a little longer) for almost 7k miles now. (that is, until the other day, when i made my car no longer driveable...)
Lemme see if i can find a pic. Nope, cant find one, not even on my back-up disk

I would take it to a tire place and have them look at it.
But...i think it would be ok (I am in no way responsible for anything that happens...)

[stanger99]

I have had a cut almost exactly like that for about 5k+ with no problems but you can never be too careful...

[4DSC]

Well, I'm not a tire technician, but it looks as if the damage is isolated to the rim protector, which is just a bead of extra rubber that is (supposed to) help protect the wheel lip from what exactly happened. Personally I don't worry too much about cracks and cuts if they're reasonably shallow and only on the outer casing of the tire. If it's really only 1-2mm deep I'd be tempted to just glue it and call it a day.

Still, it might be worthwhile to get it checked out by a few reputable shops that hopefully won't see this as an opportunity to sell a new tire...