On April 13, 2010 I was told by the salesman that the yokohama tire is as good as the Michelin tires that I had on my car. (1 of my Michelin tires was showing steel belts, apparently from spinning my tires trying to get out of the snow on my gravel driveway this past Mar 2010.) since the michelins were nearly 4 years old and the salesman said the sidewalls were rotting, on Apr 13, 2010, I purchased 4 yokahama tires. On Apr 17, 2010, I visited friends in rehoboth beach area of de and while prkg at the grocery store I hit a curb/prkg stop while prkg. The speed of travel at the time was at a coast since I had my foot on the brake at the time. The impact was so slight neither I nor my pass. Was prompted to inspect the tire. After a normal wknd of driving through town and then returning to my home in lexington, va., I noticed the bubble in the sidewall of the right front tire. There was no impact mark on the tire that I could see that would cause me to think that I had hit something sharp. The salesman who sold me the tire pointed to a spot on the bubble( I could not discern the mark) with a pen point and said that there is a mark on the tire and it seems that the bubble was caused by hitting something sharp. Now, I do not contend that I did not hit a pkng/curb stop...I contend it was of no great speed at impact. I contend that this tire may be unsafe; especially if it had failed during my 450-mile drive home from de. The salesman said, "well, if you hit it at just the right way, it will damage the tire." ( I think my old Michelin tires would have faired better and I promptly replaced the yokohama with michelins. I feel safer but feel this needs to be reported. There was no blemish, yet the sidewall inside the tire was jaggedly ripped approx. 1-inch in length. Case # yokohama [xxx] claim adjustment no. [xxx] purchased from terry's tire town, henrico, va 23222 through lexington express lube, lexington, va. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Lexington, VA, USA