Your Guide to Blemished Tires (BLEM Tires)

What Are BLEM Tires?

Blemished tires are basically the same as any other blemished product, but you might be more familiar with clothing. Clothing can have poor stitching in an area, missing buttons, or incorrect fabric patterns and not meet the label’s satisfaction. But, it is still perfectly usable. Some stores dedicate their shelves to selling blemished and factory-rejected clothing for a discounted price. The same principle applies to tires.

So a blem tire is one that doesn’t meet the manufacturer’s standards, usually due to cosmetic defects. There’s usually a mistake, even a minor one, in the manufacturing process. This leads to the manufacturer labeling the tire as blemished. It can be anything from cosmetic marks on the sidewall, mismatched lettering, or defective white lettering or whitewall.

Just like clothing, these tires are sold at a discounted price, since they’re still usable.  

How Are Blemished Tires Made?

They’re made the same way all other tires are made, but mistakes happen even in modern manufacturing. High production costs, research and development, and modern machines minimize the mistakes, but they still exist. These mistakes can lead to purely cosmetic blemishes or something more structural depending on where in the process they occur... 

Cosmetic issues are usually the easiest to spot, considering they affect the way the tire looks. Maybe they smudged the lettering on the side, or perhaps molded the rubber incorrectly and the tread pattern is slightly off-center or a bit shorter. These things may not matter much to somebody who just needs a tire. Yet, people in the industry take their quality control very seriously. Even a minor defect can lead to the tire becoming a “blem”. The brand will then take it out of regular circulation. Cosmetically blemished tires, however, are still perfectly reliable and safe to use.

Once they determine that a tire is a blemished one, the quality control team will remove or scrape off the tire's serial number. This number specifies where and when the tire was made. This basically signifies that they withdrew their warranties for that specific product. If someone purchases that tire, the sale will be “as is”. They then also emboss the sidewall with “blem” or “blemished” to further illustrate that it is not under warranty.

Some blemished tires have more serious issues, with mistakes happening at different times in the production line. These could mean a defect in the internal construction such as misplaced or missing belts. Such tires can be dangerous to use since these problems can lead to tire failure. So let’s take a look at how they can tell the difference.

How Does Quality Control Work?

As we said before, tire manufacturers take quality control very seriously. They don’t want their endorsement on even a cosmetically defective product. If a tire failure occurs it can lead to injuries and fatalities. So rather than take that chance they’ll mark even the smallest defect as a blemished product. 

Every manufacturer has a quality control team that monitors their products coming off the line. These inspectors use state-of-the-art machinery, usually specialized machinery, that checks each and every product for any defects. When it comes to tires, you need to be able to inspect the internal construction as well.

That’s why quality control uses machines that include an X-ray-type system. They can monitor the products for internal problems like air bubbles or faulty construction. They do this for two reasons. First, to make sure the products meet safety standards. Secondly, they can fix any issues on the production line and not waste thousands of dollars of material. 

So, if an issue arises, they will immediately pull the item from the main product line. This will be the case no matter how small the defect is. Since it doesn’t meet their standards, they do not want to sell it with their high-quality products. 

How to Tell if the Tires Are BLEMs?

Blemished tires can look identical to first-grade tire models, apart from their possible cosmetic damage. These tires feature the same tread pattern and are the same model as their “flawless” counterparts. The only difference is their cosmetic appearance.

What we mean by that is the cosmetic damage that causes brands to label most of these tires as BLEM. These issues can be quite visible, ranging from bad or damaged white lettering to scrub on the sidewall. However, in the same manner, they can be invisible to the untrained eye. Some issues, which earn the tires their blemished status are only noticeable by tire experts. Due to the strict quality control process, brands take out tires from the first-grade batch even for the most insignificant cosmetic issues. 

As blemished tires do not receive manufacturing warranties, manufacturers will remove the DOT of these tires. This notes that the tire is a blemished product. Also, the manufacturer does not cover it with their mileage or road hazard warranties. Manufacturers use the DOT (a special code) of the tires to show the tire's manufacturing date and place. By removing it, the manufacturer revokes any warranties that may come with the specific tire model. 

BLEM tires that have cosmetic issues maintain their performing and driving capabilities throughout their lifetimes.

Are Blemished Tires Safe?

As stated above, blemished tires with cosmetic issues are safe to use. Like a shirt with the wrong fabric pattern, manufacturers removed them from the main product line for cosmetic reasons. However, it doesn’t affect the performance. Their aesthetic appeal may not compare to the main line of products, but they will perform just as well. This is because the issues are purely superficial. 

This is only true for cosmetically blemished tires, however. Tires that are a blemished product for internal construction issues are not safe to use. This is because you can not trust that they won’t fail. 

TireMart.com does sell structurally blemished tires. The manufacturers marked the blemished tires we sell as such for cosmetic reasons only. As a result, we sell them at lower prices, but they will not come with the manufacturer's warranty. Since we don't accept structurally blemished tires, these BLEMs offer a safe everyday performance.