I recently had to have all 4 tires replaced because of what was called "ozone cracking". They had 20,000 miles on them with a fair amount of tread left but they were cracking/splitting at the edge of the tread right next to the sidewall.Goodyear on the front & Pirellis on the back,one of the front tires was so bad air was leaking through 3 of the cracks.Has this happened to anyone else ??The tires were about 3 1/2 yrs old.

 

I had the same problem with my old 96 Suburban. Tires were about 4 years old when I replaced them.

Sun, moisture, road grime etc. etc. all contribute to that.

TS

 

not uncommon for tires getting near the end of it's 'shelf' life. plus if they sit around alot and not driven much. the sun beats down on the tires and degrades the rubber. basically drying the rubber out per say. tires have a 6 year shelf life. the 'tire' date would've been the last three numbers of the DOT. say for instance 403 at the end of the DOT number. means 40th week of 2003 or 1993 or 1983 and so on.

 

Thanks for the info. Is that date the "expiration date" of the tires or the manufacture date?

Thanks again!

 

There's no such thing as an "expiration date" on tires. The date he was referring to is the manufacturing date.

 

Thanks to all.I've never had that happen before so I was taken back by it,thanks for the info & responses.

 

yes the number i was refering to is the build date of the tire. but most all manufacturer warranty goes to 6 years after build date. so, in theory you could get a tire that has been sitting around for 3 years. that leaves 3 years manufacturer warranty. this applies for most tires. some particular brands may have a manufacturer warranty of x/32 tread wear free replacement. then prorated the rest of the amount.

 

Isn't that also called "dry rotting?"

 

Had the same thing happen to my Eagle F1's that came on my SS, I had to replace them last year becaise of the cracking...I realised it because one tire got so bad that when the weight of the car was on the crack it would split it enough to let air out. Ok with me though, I upgraded to BF Goodrich KDW's.

 

I believe its termed "Dry Rot".

Tires are rubber and rubber needs to be taken care off.. I have a set of Pirelli P Zeros Mounted and they have not had any noticeable loss of pressure and its been about 4 years.. more astonishing is my set of wheels and tires (Firestone SS10s) that are about 9 years old that still have their pressure fine.. Blame the high humidity of houston for being good to the tires.. The have also been garaged so they are not exposed to sunlight at all..