BFG Rugged Trail T/As

[crobertson1]

While washing my truck (the '04. 5) today, I noticed on all four of my tires, little cracks, like stress cracks in the sidewall. They go almost all the way around the tires just above the raised white lettering. The cracks are not present on the insides of the tires, only the sidewall with the lettering. Keep in mind how obsessive compulsive I am about caring for the truck. I don't use any harsh cleaners on the tires, only the car wash soap that I use on the rest of the truck. Has it been 4 wheeled? Hardly! It only has 11k on it. It stays in the garage when not in use. The tires have been rotated at least twice. They have also been properly inflated and are wearing evenly.



Has anyone else had this experience and should I seek replacements ?

 

[steved]

While washing my truck (the '04. 5) today, I noticed on all four of my tires, little cracks, like stress cracks in the sidewall. They go almost all the way around the tires just above the raised white lettering. The cracks are not present on the insides of the tires, only the sidewall with the lettering. Keep in mind how obsessive compulsive I am about caring for the truck. I don't use any harsh cleaners on the tires, only the car wash soap that I use on the rest of the truck. Has it been 4 wheeled? Hardly! It only has 11k on it. It stays in the garage when not in use. The tires have been rotated at least twice. They have also been properly inflated and are wearing evenly.



Has anyone else had this experience and should I seek replacements ?

All of mine (bfg) are that way, as are the Pirellis I have... it is normal and no cause for alarm...



steved

 

[rjohnson916]

Not really related but at all cause I would ditch the BFG "Rugged Trails" as soon as possible. My truck came with them, believe it or not they are the up grade "Off-Road" spec rubber. I would rather have the lesser according to DC Michelin's over these. In contrast I love my BFG 285 All Terrain's, and they have 30K + miles no cracks, lots of on road abuse, burnouts etc, a few Off-Road excursions too and they have held up well.



-Ryan

 

[troll3193]

Have not had it with the BFGs but had it happen on another vehicle with a diff brand of tires. . Take them to a BFG dealer and push them for a prorated replacement. .



I did that on mine, had about 20k miles on the factory tires. They prorated the relacement on remaining tread depth, not miles, and it cost me $90 for four new baloney skins at 20k miles. Next set of same tires ran great for 50k miles. .



Bryan

 

[CPittman]

They're probably dangerous and you shouldn't have them on your truck.



I certainly could use them on MY truck, however! I'll give you $250 for the set and you'll never have to worry about them again! :-laf

 

[juicedcummins]

I had the same problem with all 4 of the factory rugged trails to the point that they would go flat. Take the truck to a Bf Tire dealer to get warranty on them. My tires had 30k on them Bf gave me $640. 00cdn towards replacment tires.



They are screwed get them off your truck.

 

[RobertP]

i think the bfg rugged trails are the worst tires made. mine had 15,k on them and they started to chunk apart on all four corners. and im talking quarter size chunks were missing.

 

[RDyson]

I had the same thing happen to mine. I noticed it at about 30K. I am probably just as obsessive as you about my truck and was not happy that my tires were doing this with more than half of the tread left. Also, I hate to spend good money before I have too.

I kept a close eye on mine. It never affected the integrity of the tire, so I just kept running them. I hardly ever tow, so I felt comfortable on them. I just put on a set of Toyo's after putting 72K on the BFG's.



I do have a buddy that blew one out at about 70K. It was on the front. He hit a big pothole and when the tire blew, it came completely off the rim.

 

[Buffalo]

My stock BFG's have 48,000 trouble-free miles, on them. Just had them into a tire store (Discount) & they said there is still 40% wear left on them.



I live in Phoenix, AZ. & the truck never has seen a garage. The tires still do not have sidewall cracks from drying out.



There are enough of you that are not happy with these tires but, some of us are having pretty good luck, with them. I don't know why that is!!!



I haven't done anything extraordinary with my tires. Watch the pressures, a bit & have rotated them a couple of times. They are wearing very evenly. I even have a 115 gal. fuel tank in the bed of my truck that probably adds an extra 1000 lbs. to the vehicle. The tank is almost always full. Been drained completely only once & that was for part of one day.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

 

[steved]

My stock BFG's have 48,000 trouble-free miles, on them. Just had them into a tire store (Discount) & they said there is still 40% wear left on them.



I live in Phoenix, AZ. & the truck never has seen a garage. The tires still do not have sidewall cracks from drying out.



There are enough of you that are not happy with these tires but, some of us are having pretty good luck, with them. I don't know why that is!!!



I haven't done anything extraordinary with my tires. Watch the pressures, a bit & have rotated them a couple of times. They are wearing very evenly. I even have a 115 gal. fuel tank in the bed of my truck that probably adds an extra 1000 lbs. to the vehicle. The tank is almost always full. Been drained completely only once & that was for part of one day.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

I have two sets... one is original with the truck, the other was a set of low mile take-offs I got with rims... I would guess I could probably get around 75k out of the 265s and probably 60k out of the 245s...



They wear good, but they are slippery on wet roads and they really suck in snow... I have "summer treads" (these current Pirreli STRa's) that do better in snow that the OEM BFGs...



steved

 

[crobertson1]

Maybe I'll see what a BFG dealer will do for me. I'm surprised so many have had this trouble. They aren't cracked from drying out, but more like the rubber is stress cracking or something. Weird.

 

[steved]

They aren't cracked from drying out, but more like the rubber is stress cracking or something. Weird.

Exactly what I thought about the cracks too...



steved

 

[Rcuttell]

Had the same problem with the original equipment Goodyear Wrangler AT's on my 3500 dually. Took them to the Goodyear store and they replaced after pro-rating the originals. The tires had 17000 when I noticed the cracks in the sidewall near the rim. as told by the dealer that they are called "Sequential Stress Cracks" and are not normal. He advised against towing with the cracked tires. Interestingly enough, only the two front tires had the cracks! Rotate my tires every 5000 and check the pressure every week.

 

[osiris]

hmmmm i had the same problem except it was only on one tire so i just swapped out my spare. . hoping to get some new tires end of october anyways for hunting season

 

[CGuy]

BFG Cracks...

I had an issue with my BFG Rugged Trails a short time ago. While washing the truck and applying some tire shine I noticed a bunch of semi-circle slits or cracks all the way around the tires, above the letters. The cracks appeared only on the driver's side tires and only on the outside. I wasn't comfortable with this condition and asked the dealer to have the tires checked the next time I had the truck in for service. Dealer supposedly took the truck to a tire shop that deals in BFGs and had it looked at. The word came back from the tire shop that there were no problems. I drove the truck another week or so and just couldn't feel warm and fuzzy about the tires. I figured I'd rest easier if I had my local tire shop take a look at them. I trust these guys and have bought all my post-oem tires from them. I looked them up on the BFG website and found that they were listed as BFG dealers. I took the truck in and had the shop owner take a look. One of his technicians told me that from the looks of the damage, the cracks were only in the outer "scuff" layer which should not negatively impact performance or load-bearing capabilities of the tires but nonetheless they appeared to be defects. Bottom line, the shop owner contacted BFG and got approval to prorate the two tires for replacement which ended up netting me 80% off the price. (only had 24k on them) Attached (hopefully) is a pic of the slits on my BFGs.

 

[Buffalo]

Just an observation but, other than RDYSON, none of you guys, that have complained, live in desert regions of the US. I do & am not having any problems with cracking tire sidewalls. In fact, I'm surprised at how well mine have lasted, without problems.



Out here, tires have a tendency to dry rot before they ever wear out. I don't remember ever replacing tires that were actually "worn out". It's the sidewall cracks that scare me. Usually plenty of tread left on the tires, when they are replaced.



My truck is an early '03, so the tires had to be built in late '02. Many of you guys have newer trucks with low miles, on them. I wonder if BFG could have changed the rubber formulation, either on purpose or by accident, & that is what is causing the premature failures.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

 

[steved]

OK, mine are in two spots...



Some are right in the tread shoulder, about 3/8" from the tread surface on the side of the tire... right in the "side biters" area...



The others are within 3/4" of the rim...



Both sets are "hair"-like in size (very small, like really fine weather checking) and both also are curved to be parallel to the rim. And none are deep... surficial at best... I figured it was just the outer layer of rubber covering the white letters... I guess I'm not worried about it since I have seen tires with much worse damage from curbing than these...



It just struck me as odd, but again, maybe I just never noticed it before?



steved

 

[crobertson1]

Steve,



Are you now concerned about the cracks or not? I'll have a BFG dealer look at mine as soon as I get a chance.



Thanks,

Craig

 

[steved]

Steve,



Are you now concerned about the cracks or not? I'll have a BFG dealer look at mine as soon as I get a chance.



Thanks,

Craig

Not really... if they were any deeper I might be...



Problem is that I bought these tires at Discount Tires in Albuquerque... closest DT is in Indianapolis... I'm in SE Pennsylvania... I got an 800 number to call... going to call them and see if they have a local place that can at least look at them and give me a yay/nay sort of decision... at least have a second opinion...



But, if not, I'll just keep an eye on them... if you consider the rubber in the sidewall alone is over 1/2" thick, damage to the outer skin is probably more cosmetic than anything... not like those cracks would go from surficial to dangerously deep in a matter of a drive to the store...



steved

 

[ilovetrains]

I have (as of this morning) 46K on the OE BFG Rugged Trails. No cracking, no checking, no problems. The wear has pretty even despite only rotating them twice. They look they will run another 30K miles, although I may replace them before that point for winter.



All in all I have been pretty happy with these tires. They offer gobs more traction that the OE Michelin's or even the Goodyears. I run with a lot of guys runnning Diesel Ram's pulling Jeeps and get to see what is out there.



I really did not think I would like them but they came on the truck and I was not going to through them away. I wanted something more aggresive, and will probably try to find something a little more like a true A/T.