Hmmmm…
That’s all I have to say, but the Post Police insist that I write a full sentence.
Blah blah blah blah.
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The tire in my picture had weather cracks for a couple of years. The tire separated last summer while the vehicle was stored in my back yard. I have had a few tires fail this way after the weather cracks became serious.
Here is a customers tire with weather cracks that wore thin and split;
Wow. Any idea how old the tire was??
Looks like there might be an alignment problem as well, but man, that tire is amazingly bad.
Tire molds have thousands of small, 1/32 +/- holes in them to allow air to vent out as the ‘green’ tire is inflated into the mold. Without the holes to vent air there would be voids in the rubber. When the air is expelled some rubber enters the vents and results in the tiny ‘hairs’ which are trimmed of. The venta often become plugged and require drilling out and until drilled out tires from the mold are defective and dowgraded as seconds and the defect was termed ‘light.’ In my experience with the tire industry all thin rubber was considered sipes but on the final finish floor the small ‘hairs’ were referred to as tits and trimmers cut them down close enough to not detract from the appearence of the tire. My experience was long ago in 1965 and 1966 and for a short time in 1975.
[quote=“Nevada_545, post:22, topic:96629, full:true”]
The tire in my picture had weather cracks for a couple of years. The tire separated last summer while the vehicle was stored in my back yard. I have had a few tires fail this way after the weather cracks became serious.
Here is a customers tire with weather cracks that wore thin and split;
[[Photo omitted]][/quote]
That tire also has a developing tread separation.
Please note: The cracking is just a symptom of a bigger disease - the dergrading of the rubber. It isn’t the cracks that cause the separation - It’s the deterioration of the rubber that causes the separation and the cracks are just an indicator that a problem is developing.
Also, please note: Some tire manufacturers use crack resistant rubber in their sidewalls and the only indication there may be a problem is the tread cracking.
So: Cracks = developing problem. No cracks not equal to no problem. (Hey, that was a triple negative!)
Would it not be more accurate to describe cracks such as the ones in the photo as a developED problem and a developing tire failure? 
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I had a tire on my truck similar to Nevada’s photo above blow out while it was parked overnight, happened over the summer. It was a pretty spectacular looking blowout I must say.
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The original tire looks like rock damage to me, there is also a scuff on the sidewall. Tread separation usually happens when the internal air sealing fails generally due to a puncture and allows air between the tread and the cord, which is why it’s recommended to both patch and plug tires that get a puncture in them, but can happen if there is extensive cracking of the tire causing the tread to basically peel off of the cords. A single crack caused by impact damage isn’t going to do it. Generally you can tell when there’s belt damage caused by the impact – the sidewall of the tire will show a ripple. I would personally not have a problem driving on the original photo’s tire for a couple of more years (assuming you’re driving normal speeds, I don’t recommend doing track days on it!), but if you’re feeling paranoid, have it inspected by a tire shop to make sure that the rock didn’t damage the belts.
Holy Crack, Batman! That is the worst I’ve ever seen and that includes ones used for tire barriers at racetracks!
The preforation running along the circumference is following the edge of the top belt and is indicative of low pressure operation.
I like the advice above that says look closer and have a trusted tire shop look at it. However, in my life, I have only known of one tire shop that knew anything about tires and that I also could trust. If you know a place that can help you make the evaluation, I would go. If there are any similar cracks like that anyplace on any of the other three or this tire, I’d get new ones. Full disclosure: I have a tire fetish, so balance my comments with that in mind.
The preforation running along the circumference is following the edge of the top belt and is indicative of low pressure operation.
I assume that means underinflation? If so, is there also indicative cracking pattern for high pressure (overinflation) operation case?
Over-inflation and under-inflation don’t cause weather cracks directly. The additional heat of operating under-inflated may accelerate the process.
The tire in my second picture split because the rubber was hard and brittle, all four tires on that car had splits. I researched the records, the car was a 2008 Lexus ES350, 55,000 miles, tires more than 8 years old, no sale, the car left on those tires.
High pressure operation results in excessive wear on the center of the tread and a proclivity to damage belt cords when impacting sharp pot holes, curbs, etc. which results in rapid failure of the tire that is unmistakable.
There are many web sites with photos of tire failures and the causes. They tend to be anxious to sell new tires and therefore quick to condemn even minor damage but the descriptions are accurate.
Wow. That’s scary. Those are almost the worse tires I’ve seen still on the road.
The worse I’ve seen was on the car of a lady that pulled into a space at the mall. She left the wheels turned fully from parking, and the moment I looked I knew something was seriously wrong. It was by far the worst case of positive camber ever… clearly there was damage somewhere. The tire was completely worn through on the outside edge to where there was a strip of steel belt a good 6" long showing, fraying, and the inner tread had no wear at all. She jumped out of the car with her little one(s) (can’t remember if it was one or two) and ran into the mall to shop. I truly wish I’d taken a photo, but I didn’t have my camera. How people can drive on tires this bad is beyond me.
Car Talk Lackey
Rubber and tire age:
http://bestride.com/research/tips-and-tricks/tire-age-is-as-critical-as-tread-depths