I am getting a used set of tires for next to nothing, and want to know what the heck these are.
Are those nail holes, blisters or what?

Those appear to be tread depth wear bars. I doubt those are nail holes odds are they were molded in this manner.

Looks like some directional high performance tires; what are they going on?

05 Nissan Maxima. The OEM Tires got recalled for sidewall cracking, but I had already replaced them for that reason. Stupid Goodyear won't honor a reimbursement because I have no proof of why the tires were replaced (With other Goodyears nonetheless  ).

+1 to bettingpython.

Tread Wear Indicators, on my opinion too.

their pattern seems too regular to me for being holes-punctures-nails-blisters or the like.

goose bumps.

Wait- if those are tread wear bars, does that mean the tire is done or close to it?
Sorry- I've just never used anything more than the old Lincoln head gauge...

If the tread is even with the little bumps, tread is gone. 

Frog pissed on it and gave it warts.                           

What kind of tires are they?  It's hard for us to guess what's going on when we don't really know what we're looking at.

its just acne, it happens when tires get to that age...

Quote from: natedawg120 on July 09, 2007, 04:55:12 PM
its just acne, it happens when tires get to that age...

Puberty is hell on tires.