Check your tires regardless of age and mileage

[Kmrtnsn]

That type of cracking is typical of extended heat exposure, drying the ozone protective chemical agents out of the rubber. This can be exacerbated by chemical exposure through harsh cleaners, road coatings for snow/ice, etc.

 

[ExpoMike]

That type of cracking is typical of extended heat exposure, drying the ozone protective chemical agents out of the rubber. This can be exacerbated by chemical exposure through harsh cleaners, road coatings for snow/ice, etc.

Yeah, that is what I would see but living in San Diego, CA we don't get extended heat nor do I use any cleaners (outside of car wash soap). We figured it was a bad batch of rubber.

 

[calicamper]

Yeah, that is what I would see but living in San Diego, CA we don't get extended heat nor do I use any cleaners (outside of car wash soap). We figured it was a bad batch of rubber.

Socal sun eats tires! Same with norcal sun. Once tires are 5+yrs old its a fast down hill run in tire decomp. Rubber continues to cure add sun / heat it cures quicker, as it cures its less flexible so any flexing will cause cracking etc

 

[Herbie]

Socal sun eats tires! Same with norcal sun. Once tires are 5+yrs old its a fast down hill run in tire decomp. Rubber continues to cure add sun / heat it cures quicker, as it cures its less flexible so any flexing will cause cracking etc

Truth. My driveway aligns East/West, so my van has one pair of tires that face South for all the stretches when I'm not out having fun. Even with frequent 5-tire rotation strategy, I can see a noticeable difference on the tires I pull from the South side of the van vs. the North.

 

[ExpoMike]

Truth. My driveway aligns East/West, so my van has one pair of tires that face South for all the stretches when I'm not out having fun. Even with frequent 5-tire rotation strategy, I can see a noticeable difference on the tires I pull from the South side of the van vs. the North.

I had thought the same thing, since I park on the street in a East/West config. I do not cross rotate so driver and pass side tires are always on the same side. I totally would have expected this to be on the south facing tires and had I only saw them on that side, it would have made sense. Give the north side was as bad or worse with cracking, made no sense.

 

[Herbie]

I had thought the same thing, since I park on the street in a East/West config. I do not cross rotate so driver and pass side tires are always on the same side. I totally would have expected this to be on the south facing tires and had I only saw them on that side, it would have made sense. Give the north side was as bad or worse with cracking, made no sense.

I don't mean to underplay the fact that you almost certainly got a badly made set of tires. Sun/heat do their thing, but that's additive damage and you should have had better life from your set.

 

[R50JR]

Yeah, that is what I would see but living in San Diego, CA we don't get extended heat nor do I use any cleaners (outside of car wash soap). We figured it was a bad batch of rubber.

I have a set of falken at3w on my vehicle and they have started to crack between the lugs. I have maybe 25k miles on them and 3 years. I also don’t use any chemicals on them. I’m going to blame the San Diego sun for the premature wear.


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[Grassland]

All the tires have cracking like this through the tread. This started over a year ago.
The truck does sit as I'm in my work van 6 days a week most of the time, and it's sat a lot the last year as our draconian lockdowns have prevented travel.

 

[Deleted member 13060]

People lacking in obvious basics are everywhere.

I could probably end the post there...

But a few weeks ago had a good tire story. Driving home with my wife and a car passes us on the freeway with sparks flying off the rear tire as the belts hit the asphalt. I comment on the overall intelligence of that person... well over 80 mph on bald tires down to the cords. She was in the process of accusing me of being a drama queen when we came around a corner and up on a 4 car pile-up caused by that guy’s blowout.

Amazingly, she took it back and agreed that I “might have a point”... it’s a big win!

Write that down and have her sign it...... HAHAHAH

 

[68camaro]

Very good reminder, two weeks ago I checked my tires dates on my 68 camaro, tires looked new, always kept clean, shined and care is garage kept and rarely driven anymore, the tires looked new, but I was shocked to see the tires were dated 1999., I think I put them on in 2001...yikes. I immediately ordered replacement set.

 

[Herbie]

Very good reminder, two weeks ago I checked my tires dates on my 68 camaro, tires looked new, always kept clean, shined and care is garage kept and rarely driven anymore, the tires looked new, but I was shocked to see the tires were dated 1999., I think I put them on in 2001...yikes. I immediately ordered replacement set.

Good follow up. Checking for condition is one thing, but date codes are another.

With light use and a 5-tire rotation, my previous set of yoko Geolandars looked pretty good. No flats, chunking, or abnormal wear, so I just kept using them. I had been slack about checking the date-codes because they were only molded on one side of the tire (the "inside", as I had them mounted, naturally). When Google Images showed me one of those "Hey, remember this day?" slideshows and I realized I'd had those tires for 10+ years, I crawled under to check and yeah, they were 12-ish years old. The tread was good enough that even the Discount Tire guy was confused on why I was shopping tires until I told him about the age.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

As an average RV owner, the age of the tire almost always exceeds any mileage issues so I tend to check tires on all of our vehicles frequently.

On my pickup, I’ve noticed increased noise from the Toyo AT2s. Checked the tread depth…6/32s. No bueno for offroad work but this truck sees more pavement than dirt. Mileage: 41k on a 50k warranty. I’ve worked ‘em pretty hard so no complaints here. Still, time to shop. I’m thinking their AT3s, same mileage warranty but additional 3-peak snowflake. That’ll be helpful on our winter trips to the cabin. A Toyo fanboy here.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

“The tread was good enough that even the Discount Tire guy was confused on why I was shopping tires until I told him about the age.”

Yup, similar experience at America’s Tire here in town. Had to “teach” the young tech how to find and read the date code on tires. Not quite sure why they use such a cryptic date code but I’m sure it must be a corporate conspiracy. ?

 

[Herbie]

“The tread was good enough that even the Discount Tire guy was confused on why I was shopping tires until I told him about the age.”

Yup, similar experience at America’s Tire here in town. Had to “teach” the young tech how to find and read the date code on tires. Not quite sure why they use such a cryptic date code but I’m sure it must be a corporate conspiracy. ?

To be fair to the Discount Tire tech, he'd have had to crawl under my van to check the codes (as I'd done). The confusion only lasted a few moments between him approaching my van, measuring the tread depth, then asking why I wanted new tires. As soon as I told him how old they were, he got it, and to his credit, he even confirmed the date codes on all 5 tires once he had the van on the rack.

Given the relative importance of checking the date codes, I kinda wish Yokohama would mold them on both sides of the tire - or at least put the code on the side that doesn't have the ugly blue outlined letters.