Wonder if you can help me with this one. My girlfriend has a two years old March with about 42,000Km on the clock. We went to get a pair of front new tyres recently and the garage said that the back pair had “dried out” and was statrting to crack up. They are “Firestone”.
I’ve driven for years in the UK and never heard of tyres “drying out”. Maybe it has to do with the climate here, but two garages have said the same thing.
I had a very close look around the edge of the tyre. There are tiny scratch marks - which could have been done by backing into the curb, and between the tread on the face of the tyre there are again tiny cracks. There is plenty of “meat” on the tyre itself , making me wonder if they are just pulling my wad to sell us a new pair of tyres. Obviously safety is a priority, I wouldn’t want to think that leaving those tyres on could lead to ablow-out or accident.
I’ve had tyres go hard. Never heard of drying out.
When they go hard (in my experience), the rubber has tiny tiny cracks and you can’t push your fingernail into the rubber anymore.
They seemed to lose their grip very easily (woohoo), while still having plenty of tread left on them. :s
Two years old, huh? I’m going downstairs right now to check my tyres.
Or maybe you could take some photos of the tires and send them to “Firestone” Taiwan or USA along with a letter of complaint explaing how long you have used them and any concerns you have when you see damge like this. If they say it is the conditions in Taiwan, then tell them that they should not be selling tires that are not suited to Taiwan
Sounds possible. 42,000 in 2 years the car is parked more than it’s driven. Humid, rainy environment, car parked in same spot for days on end, ozone-heavy atmosphere etc… yeah. It sounds possible. I wouldn’t think the problem as immediately life-threatening, but I’d avoid high speeds on the freeway or 4 wheel drifting on mountain roads IIWY. Tires in that size are bloody cheap though… it’s not a lot of cash for peace of mind.
Replace those tires!!! If you don’t, it’ll be mighty dangerous in the rain and at high speeds.
You’ve seen all the reasons as posted above. If there are any cracks (usually very fine ones, and all over) in the tire, and the tires’ rubber isn’t soft and somewhat pliable… they without-a-doubt, most-definitely need replacing.
I don’t trust Firestone, either. Don’t you know they were the OEM suppliers of tires for Ford Explorers a couple years back in the USA; when there were numerous blow-outs on brand-new vehicles and many people died as a result? I don’t trust Firestone.
Though I could be wrong, I don’t think tire cracking is caused by “drying out” since rubber should contain no water. I believe long-term exposure to sun, heat and pollutants is what causes the rubber to gradually break down and develop cracks.
Of course, bottom line is that if it gets bad enough, the tire will eventually need replacing.
