New Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT Tires - Sidewall Bubble

First I’ll say I reached out to Mickey Thompson and they are going to warranty the tire no questions asked. This post is mainly a rant on the tire shop and the runaround I’m getting from them.

I got Mickey Thompson Baja Boss AT’s put on 1.5 months ago. I’ve only driven the truck less than 10 times since then, putting on 800 mostly highway miles. The other day I noticed a sizable bubble in the sidewall. Has anyone had this happen before?






I haven’t touched the tire pressure, off-roaded, hit any curbs, potholes, etc.

I figured this would be an easy free replacement from the tire shop - apparently not so.

When I called the tire shop (Mavis Discount Tire) the manager immediately went to “that’s from an impact, you hit a pothole”). Implying that’s the only cause, I’m at fault, and that I am on the hook for the $400 cost of new tire + install.

First of all I didn’t hit anything, second - how ridiculous is it to think that a fully inflated heavy duty load range E tire on a 4runner had a catastrophic event from a pothole? We’re not talking about a low profile tire on a BMW here.

Previous tires I have aired down to 10 PSI and done all sorts of off roading and never had an issue.

Anyway - I called Mickey Thompson and sent them pics, they also said it’s likely from hitting a pothole or curb, but could be from manufacturing, so they’re going to warranty it.

I called the tire shop after getting this response from Mickey (Mavis Discount Tire in Stone Ridge, NY) and again on the phone the manager is telling me there is no warranty, this is road hazard, they don’t warranty off road tires, he’ll have to call corporate, they don’t even know where to order a new tire from, etc etc. It’s like he doesn’t want to even consider helping me here.

I told him I’ve already done half the job of getting a warranty approved, and he finally agreed as long as I bring the warranty auth email with me when they get the new tire.

As for the cause? Here’s the rub. When they tried to remove the old tires and also install the new, they had a REALLY hard time. They said their machine couldn’t handle the tires with the wheels (said the faux beadlock made the lip too wide). They were worried they would tear the bead putting them on. They did tear the beads on the old ones they took off.

They actually told me to take it to a heavy equipment shop that might be able to do it. I ordered the f**king tires directly from Mavis!

I think what happened is when wrestling with the tire they screwed up and messed up the sidewall. Of course they would never own up to this. When I told the manager over the phone he said installer error was “impossible, we have a hands free machine”…I was like “I was there, your guys had all sorts of pry bars and cuss words on those tires.” It took them 3 hours to mount the tires.

Anyway - long story, I’m still in the process here of trying to get them replaced. Wanted to see if anyone else has had similar issues in the past?

 

Proper AT/MT tires don't get bubbles from potholes... there's way too much sidewall. The bubbling on the outside, on the other hand, makes me instantly go to defect and the first thing my old shop would have done was pull it to check the inside. If it's pothole damage, you basically pinch the tire between wheel and road so you get total ply separation at the pinch point. It is incredibly obvious from the inside of the tire because you either have a bubble from separation or you have an abrasion mark.

It takes five minutes to check so that's just them being lazy/cheap in typical Discount/America's Tire fashion. Their customer service was shit 20 years ago and it's shit now.

 

What is the item that’s looks something was splatted on the sidewall? It’s the same color as the tire and looks like it has bubbles in it.

 

I think you’re confusing companies. Mavis Discount Tire is also known as NTB. Discount/Americas Tire is a different company I thought.

 

This caught my eye, too. It looks like a chemical dripped onto the tire and accumulated around the 'A'.

 

Yeah, it appears to be a superficial blemish. Somebody should be able to determine whether it's deeper than it looks.

 

I noticed the splatter as well and I have no idea. My only guess would be perhaps the sidewall separation has caused air to leak between the carcass layers and do that to the rubber. I don’t really know.

 

Yeah, I should have also agreed that the sidewall bulge looks nasty and abnormal.

 

The Mavis tires shops around here don't even have a road force balancer so I never used them.

 

The splatter is just part of it. Look closely at the second picture- there s a large bulge between the B and A.

I had that happen on a trailer tire sidewall recently. Not apparent until the shop tried mounting it then blew up like a balloon. Once they dismounted it to return you could feel a soft spot on the inner sidewall.


It’s a manufacturing defect.

 

Oh well fuck them too. We had NTB in VA and they were just terrible.

 

I've seen it both ways and normally it's superficial (other times it was bad molding of the shell that didn't fuse properly and presented like OP's issue) but it's such an easy check you shouldn't be that shop to blow off every one. Making sure is the little stuff that builds relationships and shows you aren't like every other shop.

 

Sidewall bubbles are a big problem in the world of tires right now. Some really crazy examples popping up. They are just really making them as cheap as possible anymore. They are manufacturer defects and NOT problems of abuse.

 

Well I FINALLY got the tire replaced and the new one put on yesterday.

Long story short - Mickey Thompson sent me a new tire and the same tire shop installed it for no additional charge.

I will say the tire shop (Mavis Discount Tire) was completely unhelpful in terms of any sort of actual warranty. They claimed no responsibility, said they don’t carry Mickey Thompson, and that they just ordered it and completely refused any sort of support. This is coming from their corporate head of warranty - Dennis. I would be far more enraged if I didn’t get taken care of by Mickey Thompson, but I did so I’ll just leave it at that.

As far as the cause? I checked out the tire with the bubble that they took off and inspected it. There was no softness in the carcass or anything like that.

The bead in that area (and only that area) was completely f**ked though, maybe it happened when they took it off - but I would bet money that it was their s**t installers that screwed up the bead trying to wrestle it on.

This time around they had a legit dude install it, it took him less than 5 minutes. The other guys said he’s the man.

here’s the tire with the bubble that they took off

 

To me it looks like some chemical was spilled on the tire, ran down to the bead and rested there for a while.......eating away at that area. As they took the tire off the rim, the area probably just fell apart.

 

I can’t imagine what that would be…I had the tire on for a month before this happened. Unless it is some chemical the tire shop would have put on.

 

Yeah, that looks like installer damage. The superficial damage above looks suspiciously related, as though they might have used some juice on it when they were levering through the bead.

 

Lots of things can eat rubber......acetone, goo gone, gasoline.

It might not have been you that did it. Maybe someone else in a parking lot accidentally? Or you ran something over and it splashed up there somehow?

That's just what it looks like to me. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

I guess anything can happen. I checked out the area where that superficial damage was, the carcass was super solid all around.

When they were installing the tires the manager literally told me he was worried they would tear the bead. I think they just sucked at their job, got frustrated and hulked it on, bead integrity be damned.

The fact that this guy that installed the replacement did it with ease gives me hope that I won’t have to deal with this issue again. Hopefully the other 3 tires hold up okay. It was a nightmare to be honest and I learned not to rely on Mavis Discount tire to stand by the products they sell.