So I've got a problem I found a set of 35 12.50 R16 Nitto Mud Grapplers along the side of the road, they looked like they where in great shape about 75% thread left. So I figured what the hell he only wanted $250 for them so I bought them. Now the problem that I ran into is that when I looked closer at the side walls on these tires I noticed what appered to be cracks on the sidewall there about 2 inches long and run vertically. I'm pretty damn sure this guy isn't gonna give me my money back, so my question is would it be safe to run these tires on my jeep?

 

I would bring them to a tire shop and have them checked out.

 

See if you can get Nitto to honor a warranty on them. People get lucky like that sometimes.

 

go back and punch him in the face...

j/k well sort of. if the tire place says they're ok then don't sweat it but if they are unusable I would take them back and ask for the $$

 

I'd try these two suggestions... get them checked out, if no good, try to call Nitto... if that doesn't work, ask for money back... if that don't work, punch in the face.

 

I put ~30000 miles on mine and they had similar cracks in them, take them to a tire shop and have them check them.

 

just wondering how did the cracks in your sidewalls develop, I would assume rock crawling and putting to much strain on those large side biters.

 

Nitto said that I was SOL

 

The cracks showed up not only on the sidewall but also between the lugs themselves on the tire.

The person I spoke to at Nitto blamed it on the outer layers of the tires as being much softer than the inner layer, said they expanded and contracted at different rates causing "superficial" cracks.

 

Punch in the face time!