Blister/bubble on sidewall; buy 1 Regul or 2 Kumho

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Thursday night, on the way home from her weekly domino game
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, Mom skinned a curb with her RF tire.
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No visible damage to the wheel, or even the wheel cover, but that tire now has a blister/bubble on the outer sidewall. Some background:

Car: 1994 Mercury Grand Marquis, 4.6 L V-8,RWD
Tire size: 215/70/15, stock steel wheels
Tires: Regul Pacesetter Plus ww(off brand, mfg by Kelly?); warranty 72 mo/60,000 miles
Tires mounted: 7/22/03, at 84,504 mi
Now: 10/29/06, at 107,954 mi
So: 3yrs, 3 mo old; 23,450 miles; 2 on front now have rounded tread, 2 on back very good, evenly worn tread.

And: in the past month-6 wks she's spent about $800-$900 on the car at the local dealership, it uses no oil, shifts fine & should be good to go for at least another couple of years. The car itself was paid for long ago, of course- she's owned it since Jan. '96.
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Many years ago I drove a total of thousands of miles without mishap on blistered tires like that, but know it was foolish, & sure don't want my 77 yr-old Mom driving on that tire.

So, gotta replace *at least* one tire, two would be better, plus have the alignment checked(too bad, was aligned about month ago!
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I've never been that happy with the way these tires drove on that car, and they are kinda noisy on most road surfaces, very noisy on rough surfaces.

Option 1: if the seller will allow enough toward a new tire, just replace that one tire with a new one, same brand/model assuming they still make it- pretty sure they do. Certainly the cheapest way to go, & just wait another year or so to replace the tires- thus throwing away a tire with less than 10K on it. Honestly, I think that's sort of throwing good $$ after bad.

Option 2: replace both front tires with something different. I've been looking around hard, & pretty well settled on the Kumho Touring A/S 795 in the stock size(215/70/15). On my 2nd set of Kumhos on the Neon now, they offer excellent bang/buck IMO. The national chain Discount Tire shop in Longview, TX has those in stock, & it'll cost about $160 out the door for two. I've read *lots* of reviews on this tire from TR & DT, & virtually everyone who puts them on big cars likes them a lot. Lotsa folks remark on how quiet they are too. Get two new better tires, keep the two good Reguls for now, & maybe replace the Reguls with 2 more Kumhos next summer.

Option 3: Just go whole hog & install a full new set of the Kumho A/S 795s. Might even consider a slightly narrower tread for possible(miniscule) gas savings, say 205/75/15.

#3 seems unlikely, though the guy at Discount Tire said they might make some small trade-in allowance. Assuming no trade in allowance, ~$322 out the door for a whole new set of the Kumhos.

#1 certainly the cheapest way to go for now, but it'll wind up with unmatched treadwear on at lest one axle.

Strongly leaning toward #2 for now. What do you think?
 
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So, gotta replace *at least* one tire, two would be better, plus have the alignment checked(too bad, was aligned about month ago!
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)

. . .

Option 2: replace both front tires with something different.

. . .

#1 certainly the cheapest way to go for now, but it'll wind up with unmatched treadwear on at lest one axle.

Strongly leaning toward #2 for now. What do you think?



You are right that #2 is the better option. You want the tires opposite each other on an axle (we know, we know, there is no axle, but that is the terminology used) to be as near to identical as possible. A new tire is very different from one that has 23,000 miles on it.

But you want your best tires at the rear, always. So put your best two existing tires on the front and put a pair of new tires on the rear.
 
Did you happen to get the road hazzard when the tires were purchased new? If so, then that would cover the blister, at a prorated rate anyway. It's worth a shot as it's cheaper than biting the bullet for two brand new ones. Might save you a few dollars.

FWIW, I agree with GC4lunch. Buy two new ones and put them on the rear, rotating those up front, even if you just had it done. You can buy a different set in the same size and load index if you choose, just replace the other two when they wear out with the same kind. Personally, I would vote for a complete set on all four corners. I would not downsize at all. You may have more options in a 225-65-15 or 235-65-15 for a 0+ fitting.
 
Thanks for the input, guys. Yup, plan for option #2 was move rear tires to front, replace front tires including the blistered one & mount the new Kumhos on the rear.

Not sure about the fine print on the warranty- I'll check at the dealer this week.

And yes, I tend to agree- best of all would be a whole new set of tires.
 
UPDATE: Well, while the car was sitting in her carport, at about 11:30 this morning- the bubble popped! Mom said it sounded like a shot.
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Gonna have to mount the little space-saver spare this afternoon, & make a decision pretty doggone soon.

If it had to blow, that was sure the right place for it, huh?
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Happy Halloween, y'all.
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...Good thing nobody was driving when that happened, I'm imagined what it would be like to have had it pop while on a tightly wound highway onramp or offramp
 
Amen to that, MD. I was gonna take it out for a spin yesterday evening, to see if the steering was pulling badly at highway speeds
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, but couldn't get to it.

Total driving on the bad tire after the mishap- less than 20 miles.
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If that tire had gone while Mom was driving, at 60-70 mph- well, I hate to think of what might have happened.

I bolted on the spare a few minutes ago, & looked closer at the other tires- the rear tires are very evenly worn, still good square shoulders- but the tread isn't as deep as I thought.
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The blow tire has a gash in the sidewall almost 2 inches long, running across the plies.

Right now the plan is to put 2 new Kumho Touring A/S 795's on the rear & move the rear tires to the front. Then get 2 more Kumhos later- maybe by Christmas, maybe not till next spring or even summer.
 
great plan. The square shoulders of the modestly used now-fronts will give the car better steering "bite".

Kumho= awesome, and not full of themselves yet.
 
Got 2 new Kumho 795's installed Wednesday afternoon, in standard size 215/70/15. They sure look good, no "radial dimples" in the sidewalls. Put 'em on the back, with the old Reguls now on the front.

It was raining steady on Wed, & I thought business would be light at Discount Tire in Longview- *WRONG*!
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The techs were snowed under & rushed, "mine" mounted one tire wrong(WW to the inside- Mom wants her WW's showing!
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), but caught it before balancing that tire.

I got busy & forgot to re-check the tire pressure once home, dropped by & did it Fri morning, when overnight low temp had been ~38*F. The LR read 31 psi, but the RR was 38! Figure the temp difference between then & Wed afternoon(mid 60s), the RR was probably inflated to 40 psi when installed. Fortunately, it was only driven from the shop, around L'view a bit, & home- about 35 miles. That explains the mild rumble through the floorboard on a short stretch of road on the way home, though!

Gotta put the big Merc in the shop this week, get the windshield wipers fixed(probably switch), & the front end alignment checked. It seemed to pull to the left somewhat- & Mom had told me that before she hit the curb, so it sure needs to be checked. After that, I'll get the other two tires installed whenever she's ready for the expen$e.

Too bad- since Wed, those tires have gone up from $60/ea to $61!
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