We had a flat yesterday, and I took it to a quickie lube place for a quick plug repair. The tires are about 3 years old and the guy told me that this crack in the tire would make it completely split apart once the weather gets colder. Of course, he had a good deal on new tires to sell me.
Is this really a cause for concern, or just a sales tactic?
Thanks!
Neel
What crack are you talking about? can you highlight it for us
I can’t tell by the picture just how bad the crack is . Just get another opinion and you may need new tires anyway. I am going with the person who did not want to fix that tire because of liability issues.
Someone on the web such as me telling you if that tire is repairable from a picture is just not a good idea. You don’t even know what my qualifications are . As I said get another real tire shop to look at the tire . My thought is that you need new tires because winter is here and they look worn to me.
That tire looks dry-rotted to me. Take your fingernail and press it into the rubber tread block next to that groove with the crack in it. Does your fingernail make a mark in the rubber that you can see? Does that rubber feel really solid? If you can’t see any mark and it feels solid, the tire needs to be replaced.
They may have been replaced 3 years ago (if your memory is correct) but I’ll bet that tire is a LOT older than 3 years. You can confirm that by looking for the DOT date code on the sidewall of the tire. The last 2 digits of the 4 after the DOT and some letters is the date…see below. In the picture, the tire was made in the 52nd week of 2000. If these tires are more than 6 years old (date code 05), they are unsafe no matter what you found with the fingernail test.
Thanks so much for the info! I’ll check that out. It’s a 2018 CR-V, we bought it from Honda with crazy low mileage, so I’m assuming the tires are Honda installed when the car was new.
How many miles on those tires?
Looks like dry rot to me and that tire (and the others more than likely suffering from the same) needs to be replaced.
Depending upon where you live (sun and heat is a tire killer) or the car came from, 3 or 4 years is enough time for dry rot to set in.
I just replaced a set of 4 tires yesterday for this very reason and kind of a shame as they all still had 80% of the tread left.
About 10 years ago I had to replace 2 tires on my Lincoln for dry rot issues. Both were on the right side as that is the “sunny side” so to speak.
It is common to see mild weather cracks in 4-year-old tires. When there are more significant weather cracks I send a picture of the tire to the service advisor with the estimate, few seem to care. It can be difficult to sell new tires based on weather cracks, the first two to reply couldn’t see them, neither will the customer.
I don’t know about that. According to Discount Tire, a tire is unsafe due to age once it reaches 10 years old. By then, the sidewall will be faded, and there will be lots of visible cracks.
When I was young and poor, I used to run a set of tires until the wear bars were flush with the tread surface. I wouldn’t do that any more, but I also would not throw away a perfectly good set of tires just because they are 6 years old. After 10 years, I’d assume the risk of blowout or tread separation exceeds the possible cost savings of continuing to use the tires, so I’d replace them.
So those are original tires? They never last long. The tread is getting worn enough to replace them before winter really sets in would be my opinion. Mine looked a lot better than that and just got four new ones. Never know if there will be a shortage of rubber when you “really” have no choice but to replace them so best to pick your own time.
A set of 6 year old tires WITH visible cracks are NOT perfectly good especially if they are demonstrably hardened. 3 strikes and they are OUT!
The 6 year and 10 year times (depending on whose recommendations you read) are recommended “rules of thumb” that can vary greatly depending on where the tires live, storage and exposure. That’s why you need to look at more than just age. But if the tires are old enough to vote… look no further, they are scrap.
I just scrapped a set of 7 year old tires that were heat-cracked with the 2 outer tread bands showing very hard rubber… 99 shore A on a rubber tester. I could spin them on wet pavement with 1/2 throttle. The new tires I can’t spin them with full throttle. Huge traction difference. I wouldn’t trust my life, or the lives of my friends and family, or even the lives of the other drivers around me to those tires for a few dollars.
Yup, that is weather cracking. It’s a bit bad for a 3 year old tire and likely out of warranty.
However, the cracking isn’t bad enough to remove the tire from service. The tire probably has a year or so of service left. Check it every couple of months.
I hardly ever disagree with Capri Racer but this time I will . I can’t see this person checking those tires on a regular basis just because of human nature . No problem ? Why look for one. The location is not known but shouldn’t the advice be purchase new tires soon as winter is here or they may travel to some snow country for the holidays .
