A few days ago I noticed a bulge on the inner sidewall of my tire. I changed it and so on.

My question is how does this usually happen. Prior to this I had always thought that most tire problems are from poor maintenance. I showed a friend of mine today and he seems to think it's a manufacturer defect.
They are 265/75/16 Wild Country APT's. The tread is quite worn, but I was for sure they would last a couple more months. Probably 15% tread, and the tires are in pretty good shape.

I guess it doesn't really matter though, because even if I take them back to Les Schwab, and show them, they'll tell me no. Because they're like that

 

My new tires have a small bulge in or ripple on the sidewalls. The tire shop said most larger tires have that and it's nothing to worry about. Maybe it's normal and you can run it like that... Have a pro look at it.

Marty

 

Would not worry about a ripple. Something the size of half a baseball or larger, yes.
Every one I every saw was a defect. Sidewall are layered. When that layering seperates you end up with a bulge. Usually after some miles tho. At this point I would treat it just like any other hole in the sidewall and return it or scrap it.

 

I've seen many tires with this problem, if it is just a ripple then it was probably there since new. If it actually bulges out then the polyester cords in the tire have broken and separated and becomes a blowout hazard. Unless it was an actual defect in the tire to begin with (which is rare), it usually comes from an impact such as a pothole or being run flat, the older or more worn the tire is, the greater the chance of this happening.

 

Oh yeah, it's the size of a small nerf football. When I said bulge, I meant bulge. You know, I got to looking at the tread today, and the wear bars are still pretty far down. Maybe they're newer than I thought. I've only had the truck for about 4 months

 

yeah a bulge like that is just waiting to pop then. it's air between the layers of the sidewall and can be dangerous. my dad's been in tires 90% of my life and i've had tire shops tell me that they wouldn't patch a hole on a tire with a bubble becuz if they did and the bubble burst, they'd be liable. cheap tires are more likely to do this from my experience but running your tires up next to the curb and bumping them or bumping curbs at an angle on the tire can cause it usually. on the inside wall maybe if you're curb jumping with your wheels turned or pot holes or any of that other stuff mentioned can cause it. good thing ya got it replaced but i wouldn't use it again unless it was as an emergency only spare and was the only one i had available to me. sux about it having decent tread though thats the way it is ....