Sidewall split on pasela tourguards

Just bought some new tyres recently and the sidewall is split already. is this a common problem with pasela tourguard tyres?

Steven,
I've bought two sets of the TGs now and have encountered two rips like you describe.
Ride it, and just keep an eye on what happens. One of my rips wasn't really a problem. It just stayed as a lump on the sidewall.
The other one gradually got bigger and bigger until I gave into the fear of a high-speed blow out and replaced it, but it took a good month of commuting before that point, so it's not fast.

Sheldon Brown says a tire should be replaced if "the tire's fabric has been damaged, so that the tire has a lumpy, irregular appearance somewhere, or the tube bulges through the tire."
But then goes onto say that "gumwall tires sometimes get unsightly blistering on the sidewalls from ozone damage. (This is frequently caused by storing the bike near a furnace--the powerful electric motors in typical furnaces can put a fair amount of ozone into the air.) This blistering is ugly, but doesn't actually compromise the safety/reliability of the tire in the least."
I don't quite know whether that applies in this case. I would either get a refund, or ride them and see if it gets worse. Put the suspect tire on the rear wheel and you should be alright.

Also, if you wanted to upgrade, Veloflex do higher market gumwalls. I'm running Master 22s now and the build and ride quality is miles ahead of tourguards. Worth the investment.

thanks for the reply, wes. bought them from chain reaction and apparently they wont refund on anything thats been used. bit of a joke, as these are practically new. quite a big rip and caused a blow out when i was riding...

Ooo, worse than mine then. You could surly get them returned under warranty in that case? They sold you a faulty product.

Or this: http://www.lfgss.com/thread9050-15.html#post1966489

chain reactions want me to send them a photo. ha, might get an exchange after all...