beamlord

I hope someone know if this is fatal or not, and if not, could I "fix" this using some sort of glue (obviously just for aesthetic purposes) or liquid rubber (?totally clueless, just speculating?)

The cut is small, about half an inch and doesn't go deeper than 1/4 of an inch. I have NO idea what the tire looks like at this spot, and I kind of started to suspect this could be fatal even though it seems to be such a tiny amount of damage.
The tires are like a couple of weeks old

sdg1871

That is a very very bad location for a cut. Replace the tire ASAP. I would not drive on it.

beamlord

Another 300 Euro thrown outta window then?

luigi524td

The rub rail on the tire sidewall is actually pretty thick. However, it serves to protect the cords and physical structure of the tire and this portion of the tire is subject to extreme amounts of flexing and physical stresses. If you can see any fabric or belts or anything like that, the tire is way too dangerous to drive on. If it's only a thin rubber strip that was cut the tire "might" be ok.

I would have it inspected by a competent tire shop ASAP. That tire is the only thing between you and an accident!

beamlord

You're right, and of course I'm going to a tire shop today, but I'm 200% sure the only thing they're going to say is to replace it.

The cut slice is indeed pretty thin about 1/5 of an inch, and the cut goes about 1/4 deep, parallel to the surface. I can see no bead or fabric inside the cut. If I understand things correctly, this cut is in the rim/bead area of the tire.
It feels as just rubber part of the rim. So I'm thinking - there should be some heavy duty rubber gluing procedures for tires out there? Or is that totally utopic?

melimel

i rode on one of those knicks on my tire for a while once, we didnt notice it and it was on the inside.. who knows how long it was actually there. i had no problems though, but once i did see it i didnt feel safe anymore driving on it..

stoic1

Do you have a road hazard warranty for the tires?

Martin.T

Well you have a rimprotector on the side. So if it is just that one that is cut and you still have som rubber you should be safe.

My personal opionion is since you live in Germany and you have the Autobahn and no tempo limit I would have changed.

sdg1871

You could get a Hankook Ventus V12 Evo for a lot less than 300 Euros (at least in the states)

beamlord

Some good news.

I was at a big tire shop, and they told me almost immediately that this is nothing to worry about! He said it's just a thin slice off of the rim protector and he was very confident about it being safe. What makes me confident is that he was obvoiusly interested in having it replaced as he would then have business. He went even as far as peeling the slice with fingers (which I didn't have guts to do myself) and I saw that it's really a surface cut.
But I wanted to be sure and went to a smaller tire shop where they told me basically the same and actually laughed at my worries. They said the rubber that has a cut in it, is the rim protector part which is molded in addition over the actual tire and doesn't play a role in actual tire structure.

Whew !

Bad news is, the aesthetics are unrecoverable. Both guys told me that there is no way to "glue" the cut because whatever you do, it will not hold in the long run. So this will look a bit ugly.
Theoretically, they could cut off the slice, and patch the "dent" with liquid rubber, but there is no guarantee it will hold, and it could eventually look even worse.