Cracked tyres

Clunegapyears

Clunegapyears

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The van has been in being serviced et cetera and first MOT. Before the MOT the garage rang me and said we needed for new tyres. The two rear were about four years old and wete cracking on the walls. Understood that .... very normal and expected. Due to be changed.
The two front tyres were only replaced in March 2018. The date on them was late 2017. What was new to me, was that they were cracked around the tyre tread all the way round. Never heard that before. Wondered what caused it? Any ideas?
 
FWIW I reckon 4 years to be a very short lifespan for the average tyre before cracking
occurs due to UV, Ozone attack. My guess is it's down to physical stress, most M/Hs
are running near their MAM combine that with the high stress affects that a profusion of roundabouts
put on tyres especially if you say use French RNs must eventually tear the rubber in a circumferential
line (tread seperation) on the sidewall just before it becomes designated tread.
It was the heavily fronts on my van that had radial cracking, whereas the twinwheel rears with
much less loading per tyre had no significant cracking. A 4 wheel van may well crack first on
the rears especially if it has oversteering tendencies.
 
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Clunegapyears said:
What was new to me, was that they were cracked around the tyre tread all the way round. Never heard that before. Wondered what caused it? Any ideas?
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Just the tyres. I had all four on our last car crack the same after 2 yrs and less than 3000 mls. The dealer replaced them without any arguments said not unusual they where noticing it a lot on first mot's now
 
Just depends on the make of the tyre , the maker of tyres it could be in the moulding wen moulding a tyre at the factory I have known it on new tyres when we used to deliver them spesley round the tried shoulder mi duck
 
So the dilema is
a) buy cheapish tyres and replace more frequently
or my solution
b) by better quality tyres from somewhere you can go back to if there is a problem
 
My tyres are also cracking, so before winter I will have a new set of boots on my van, and ready for MOT in December. My present tyres have been on the van 4.5 years so they could be 5 or more years old. Have tried to find the dot code on the tyre, but can't find it, I suppose it could be on the inside wall of the tyre.
 
jagmanx said:
So the dilema is
a) buy cheapish tyres and replace more frequently
or my solution
b) by better quality tyres from somewhere you can go back to if there is a problem
Click to expand...

Because a tyre is cheap doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't have a decent guaranty
against manufacturing faults though does it? It may be not so hardwearing or grippy or quiet
compared with an expensive tyre, but even that isn't a given, just more likely. A reputable
tyre shop should honour the guarantee notwithstanding whether cheap or a quality expensive.
 
We have always used Michelin camping agilis m + s tyres. However in just under 3 years we have done 40000 miles. Most of that in Europe on dodgy small roads. Don't often use motorways. So I guess with our weight, heading towards 5 ton, there has been a lot of pressure on the tyres. The cracking in the tread though was new to me.
 
Clunegapyears said:
We have always used Michelin camping agilis m + s tyres. However in just under 3 years we have done 40000 miles. Most of that in Europe on dodgy small roads. Don't often use motorways. So I guess with our weight, heading towards 5 ton, there has been a lot of pressure on the tyres. The cracking in the tread though was new to me.
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That does appear to be some kind of overstressing or manufacturing fault, the two year
old front tyres wouldn't crack due to aging. Have you checked that they're being used
within spec. range for loading, speed rating, pressures. Is your van one of those that have
been weight uprated but the tyres haven't been upgraded to match. I reckon that if you're
within the spec. range of the tyre then with those 2 year old fronts you could have a just case for
getting them sent back to Michelin for comment and some sort of compensation or at least comment.
 
I had 4 tyres crack less than 2 years old van , dealer not interested , offered me 4 tyres at a discount price .no thanks .
 
Thanks Yes, up rated to 4850. Checked the load rating 121 = 1250kg. In my ignorance, I guess that this load bearing would more than ample.
Tyres replaced whilst at a service garage so no chance now of recourse with michellin
 
Take photos of cracking and date codes etc from tyres and email them to the tyre manufacturers customer service dept

They will advise and if concerned give you an allowance against new tyres
 
Clunegapyears said:
Thanks Yes, up rated to 4850. Checked the load rating 121 = 1250kg. In my ignorance, I guess that this load bearing would more than ample.
Tyres replaced whilst at a service garage so no chance now of recourse with michellin
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You'll probably find they're marked 121/120, 10 ply 16" as fitted on my van which is 6.6t MAM
so should easily cope with your uprated 4.85t. MAM. Mind you I've changed the
fronts to a 12 ply rating, see how they cope.
I wouldn't be that surprised if quality control is as perfect as manufacturers
claim, sometimes perhaps a tyre batch gets more than the correct quantity of sulphur
chucked in, maybe a disgruntled Gilet Jaune in the case of Michelin lol.
 
debs said:
My tyres are also cracking, so before winter I will have a new set of boots on my van, and ready for MOT in December. My present tyres have been on the van 4.5 years so they could be 5 or more years old. Have tried to find the dot code on the tyre, but can't find it, I suppose it could be on the inside wall of the tyre.
Click to expand...

Whenever i have new tyres fitted to either the motorhome or car i always insist that the DOT is put on the outside so it`s easy to check.

If the tyre fitter is reluctant to do this i walk away and use a fitter that will comply.

I once had a fitter say it doesn`t matter which way they go on and he puts them on which ever way he picks them up, i left.

Asymmetric tyres ( only used on the car ) have the DOT on the outside anyway so that`s ok, i never use directional tyres.
 
We had similar cracking between the treads on a 2015 Vanco tyre located on front near side. Disappointed as one of three purchased at same time. The tyre load spec was higher than required.
Never seen the cracking between the treads before, only seen on tyre walls before.
When we got home had all the tyres checked, no other problems found.
Estimate tyre had done 10k miles.

Paul.
 
Some factors to be considered and why people might be finding
cracks in tyre tread between tread blocks is that perhaps tyre tread
compounds might be changing in order to comply with environmental
standards, combined with more tread flexing for greater comfort. The tread
compound perhaps remaining unchanged. As I understand it sidewall rubber gets anti
oxidising agents whereas the tread may not. I wonder what may get sacrificed so that
a tyre gets a higher noise rating?
A lot of possibilities,
 
We have had to replace the tyres on our van because of cracking, 5yrs old and low mileage, Maggy's car has had to have new tyres twice because of cracking and again it is low mileage but my car which is used all the time has never had this problem, I don't think it helps when vehicles are standing a long time.
The Hymer came with MichelinX campingcar tyres when we purchased it new in 2002, they were only half worn when I changed them after 11 years and had no cracks, I sold them to a member on here and dropped them off at her house and noticed the Hymer she had was the same year as mine with the same Michelin tyres and they were all seriously cracked.
As daygoboy said "a lot of possibilities"
 
BOTCANU said:
10yrs is the maximum shelf life recommended by DVSA . ?
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10 years, is in my experience what most vehicle manufacturers state to be
the maximum age a tyre can be used before disposal. Seems reasonable, but
what do I know.
However, that's what Honda for one stated in the w/manual for a c.145mph M/bike I sold a
year or so back. But they did also state that the tyres must be inspected carefully, externally
and inside the carcass annually or every 2 years I forget which. Honda do know
a fair bit about tyre safety maintenance use I'd say.
Yet some people get rid of 30% worn 4 year old tyres regardless, they say they don't
take any chances. Fair enough it's their dosh. But they do take chances, how many
are aware that there's a fair chance their hidden OEM steel brake pipes could be dangerously
corroded after a just few years UK winters driving, possibly just one E stop stamp and........bop!
Half an effective brake system is just that.
 
BOTCANU said:
10yrs is the maximum shelf life recommended by DVSA . ?
Click to expand...
I am fully aware of that but so was the buyer of my tyres, we discussed it beforehand and her husband is in the trade so knows what he was buying, they were only half worn and the spare had never been on the road and I was happy to accept £50 and I delivered them, TBH if I hadn't needed to put winter tyres on they would probably still be on my van now;)
 
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