I noticed this damage on my front tire. I don't think it's that bad but just want your opinion on it. The tire is almost new (Mar 2017) and has 80% tread left.
Thank you.

 

I can't think of anything that would cause that other than contact with the body. Are you running non-factory offset wheels or wheels spacers?

 

My car has stock suspension and not using any wheel spacers. Wheel offset I believe is 38.
I bought these wheels and tires used so maybe it was already damaged when I bought it.

 

That doesnt look fresh, sure you didnt miss it when you bought them, Maybe thats why they were for sale they rubbed on his car?

 

Something chewed on your tire. Seems like something is off, either the size or the car is lowered, or the suspension if all misaligned. Dangerous. Be careful if you start modifying the car, don't kill yourself.

 

Probably that's what happened and didn't noticed it. But does it still safe to use even with this damage?

 

my car is not lowered. No mods

 

First off is offset means nothing without wheel width. Offset is the distance the mounting flange is offset from the center line of the wheel. A 38mm offset on a 8" wide wheel will place the wheel in a different location than a 38mm offset on a 6" wide wheel. A 6" wide wheel with a 38mm offset will poke out towards the outside of the car 10mm more than a 6" wheel with a 48mm offset. If you have a 6" wide wheel with a 48mm offset and you go to a 6.5" wheel with a 38mm offset then the new wheel will be approximately 4mm further away from the strut and will poke out approximately 16mm more towards the outside of the car. Get it?

Did you buy the used wheels with the tires already mounted or did you buy the two separate and have the tires mounted?

Reason I ask is it appears that the damage is on the outside of the wheel? If it was on the inside I'd maybe think it was rubbing on some suspension piece at full lock of the steering from a wheel that was too wide or the wrong offset? If you bought them separate and had the tires mounted it might explain that?

As stated earlier. If you bought the tires already mounted on the wheels and have damage on the outside then it's probably from body rub. Again wheels too wide or the wrong offset is poking the wheel to the outside of your car.

As pictured the tire is probably OK? If you would autocross or track your car the outside edge will get ground away and rounded over from use.

Where you're NOT OK is if whatever caused the damage isn't done clearance itself. Meaning that it isn't done rubbing on your tire and will continue deeper until it might cause a failure. In that case best scenario would be a flat tire. Worst case is catastrophic failure at speed resulting in a crash or worse.

This is why you don't buy used unless you understand wheel width and offsets to know if what you're buying actually fits your car.

 

Yes.
Damage is on outside of wheel. By the way wheel width is 6.5.


I don't autocross or track mainly a commuter car.

I did my research and made sure that the offset and width will not cause the wheel to poke a lot outside the car.

 

My stuff works without issue. Yours obviously doesn't? Plus I'm not the one posting asking for help. I'll just sit back and watch

 

It definitely sounds like the tires came that way from the previous owner.

Here's my $.02...
My advice to someone else would be to replace the tires that are damaged.
If it were my car, I'd just drive it and keep a good eye on the area to make sure it doesn't grow. None of the wear is past tread depth.

 

Yes it looks like that. So i will keep an eye on it

Thanks for all your input.

 

I'm not going to get all complicated here about how the damage might of happened. Since you bought the tires used, I would guess the damage was done or happened with the previous owner...."How" is water under the bridge.

Personally, I consider tires a safety issue, a very important one. So I'm never going to recommend someone drive with damaged tires.
I'd replace them.

 

yah, that looks like it was from rubbing. i mean if you bought it used, who knows if the tires were used on another set of wheels before the seller mounted them to the wheels he sold you, right?

if it bothers you id swap it out, but unless youre doing some fast cornering id just run it and monitor how it wears. if you start seeing any sign of belt (radial) coming out, swap it immediately.