Help please - tyre cracks - advice.

Sticks

Sticks

Junior Member
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Noticed today these cracks in both front tyres on my GT. This is a 13 plate car, so 2.5 years old. I've done 3k miles in it since buying it from a main dealer in April, had 3.5k on it when I got it. First q - do I need to replace them? Second q - is this normal. They're Pirelli P-Zeros by the way.
 

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Mr.Cambio

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Tyres are getting old, no matter how many miles are on. Getting old, means they crack and i believe three years is the limit to have a safe tyre on any car.
 
allandwf

allandwf

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The ones I took of the Alfa we bought looked exactly like that, they were 5 years old. Plenty tread but cracked. They were Goodyears.
It will fail an MOT because of the cracks, but I was told it would not cause a puncture. I changed them anyway.
 
Wack61

Wack61

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You can send them back to the manufacturer if you think they're faulty

On the sidewall there's a little box with a manufacturing date in the form 26 09 etc

This is the week and year of production,

Check them , just because it's a 2 year old car doesn't mean somebody didn't scrimp on tyres, they may have put used ones on it

Also UV light cracks tyres if it's left in the sun not being used
 

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bigbob

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Sticks said:
Noticed today these cracks in both front tyres on my GT. This is a 13 plate car, so 2.5 years old. I've done 3k miles in it since buying it from a main dealer in April, had 3.5k on it when I got it. First q - do I need to replace them? Second q - is this normal. They're Pirelli P-Zeros by the way.
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Sat in the sun and/or track use? Whatever I would get rid but agree with sending them back to Pirelli.
 
jluis

jluis

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Tyres do in fact age and crack but I would say that 3.5 years and 6k miles is a ridiculously low number both for age and mileage. Even if the car is outside all day long catching UV light.
I would complain to Pirelli if I were you.

Just out of curiosity, is your car garaged?
 
Sticks

Sticks

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Thanks for comments so far. Date on tyre is 0313, so that's January 2013 - correct? Would you expect a set to last longer than 2 years 7 months?
 
jluis

jluis

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Sticks said:
Thanks for comments so far. Date on tyre is 0313, so that's January 2013 - correct? Would you expect a set to last longer than 2 years 7 months?
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Definitely not normal, contact Pirelli and ask for a new set
 
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beau

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They are ok to use, but at only 2 and a half years old I would not be happy, I have tyres 10 years old in better condition, as said above, I would be getting onto Pirelli
 
Wack61

Wack61

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Definitely , if you'd bought tyres from Costco at that age I'd think they'd just swap them there and then

They may deduct a percentage for use but you should be getting a new set at a heavy discount
 
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Mr.Cambio

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bigbob said:
Three years? Are you a tyre salesman?
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I have had more than 20 sets of tyres for the past 10 years on all of my cars. After the third year, the performance reduces a lot. This is only personal experience, but is enough for me to chance tyres every time i do not feel safe in my car.
But have in mind that a tyre performance has to do with the driving style of every owner.
 
Sticks

Sticks

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Car is not garaged (won't fit!), no idea if the first owner did so or not. I'll email Pirelli and see what happens.
 
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bigbob

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Mr.Cambio said:
I have had more than 20 sets of tyres for the past 10 years on all of my cars. After the third year, the performance reduces a lot. This is only personal experience, but is enough for me to chance tyres every time i do not feel safe in my car.
But have in mind that a tyre performance has to do with the driving style of every owner.
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I think it depends on use over time. Most of my cars are similar to you in that after 3 years the tyres need to go due to wear but I have a car they does under 3k miles pa and that is still fine after 5 years but I then change them just to be careful.
 
mjheathcote

mjheathcote

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A lot of it is down to UV light, and the quality of the tyre.
My Stag had a new set of Yokohama tyres on it 20 years ago. It's done something like 15k in that time, plenty of tread, and no cracking.
My Maser still has its original tyres from the factory, Michelin and 15k miles. Again no cracking, they are date stamped 2001.
Both cars garaged in complete darkness, with no extreem temperature.
I'm sure performance would be better with fresh rubber, but taken around track, in both wet and hot dry conditions, the grip is way beyond normal road driving conditions.
 
RW3200

RW3200

Junior Member
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This looks to me like a tyre pressure issue. Possibly over inflation.

If they've been on the car from new I doubt you'd get much joy out of Pirelli I'm sorry to say, always worth a punt though.
However, It is the dealer's responsibility to ensure tyres are road worthy when selling so it may be worth seeing them.

I keep a pressure gauge in the glove box and test every 5 days on new tyres to check for pressure changes. Some vary more than others depending on various things like temp, usage, roads, wheel condition etc. Its surprising. Especially so with motorbike tyres, which is where my tyre knowledge comes from.
Driving ******* a warm day for instance can increase pressure by 2-3psi, and I run different pressures weather dependent.

Cheers,
Ru
 
RW3200

RW3200

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Just thought of one other possibility which is cold tearing.
If the car has been booted on a cold (around 5 degrees or below) day without bringing the tyres up to temp gradually then they can be liable to tearing. Again not likely on normal tyres but with performance tyres with tighter operating tolerances it is possible.
 
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Mr.Cambio

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bigbob said:
I think it depends on use over time. Most of my cars are similar to you in that after 3 years the tyres need to go due to wear but I have a car they does under 3k miles pa and that is still fine after 5 years but I then change them just to be careful.
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I change the rears on the Maser every 10000 kms. But i do drive fast when i can and besides some roads here are just like mirror surfaced, so i'd better be safe and avoid finding the rear at a wall.
 
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