edyvw
$50 site donor 2025
That bold part looked like wear.
Is this dry rot concerning?
- Thread starter EA82
- Start date
Those cracks are microsipes and help in the wet weather/snow.
I'm very particular with tires -- I'd feel fine with those for a little while longer with monthly monitoring. Most of that is just surface. I cannot see that as a blowout potential. Get another year or 10k out of them then plan replacement, but monitor closely. Any measurable air loss over the course of a month get them replaced.
You may be trading dry rot for uniformity issues. Pick your poison.
I could have written the above. Same thoughts here on Michelins. I made Sam’s club replace the tires on one of my cars because of cracking like this on my first (and last) set of Michelins. For a supposedly premium tire, why the heck do they crack like that?
You have no idea that it is just surface.
It starts with the surface then the deeper splits show up. It's something I would keep an eye on periodically. City driving would be fine. I would not take any long highway trips with those tires.
Ah ..... Mmmmm ...... I think we do!
Look at the part of the rubber that contacts the road surface = no cracks. That's because the rubber is being worn away faster than the rubber can crack - ergo, the cracks are superficial.
We also know that cracks that look like that don't go very deep because we've sectioned tens of thousands tires and none of them show cracks going beyond the surface. What we tire engineers have concluded is that these cracks are an indicator of the condition of the rubber deep down, because the cracks never cause tire failures by themselves, but severe cracking is sometimes present in certain failure types.
This explanation is excellent. If I understand correctly, if you could determine the wear on the outside from new to current condition, that is the maximum possible amount that the center cracks in the sipes could go. If there is enough uncracked rubber thickness, the tire remains "safe." (Quotation marks intended). I withdraw my comment. I also note your second point, which is that, I think, the cracks can be a canary in a coal mine.
That said, we are talking about maintaining safety margins, and asking the question on whether it is time to change tires that are nearly five years old, cracked and have lived getting minimal mileage in a tropical environment. I am asking the question "what is most safe," and suggest that the owner can be most confident, happiest with spanking new rubber.
I hope I have not offended anyone, and really appreciate your response. Interesting thread!
they wear like iron too. I've been running dry rotted michelins for years, and haven't had a problem. michelins do seem to crack quickly
I wouldn't replace them. Here is why: mostll around town so not far from home. 4.5 years isn't old and I've driven on tires a lot worse than that. I live in SC and are therefore in a hot environment like yours.
Mine looked a little less than that just prior to replacing with a new set. These don’t look terribly bad, but it is an indication that your ride quality has dropped.
I run Michelin Defenders on all 3 of our vehicles.
I had the previous set on my van for about 65k and could have gone longer, I drove and parked that van on various construction sites including the shop every day and never had one nail or screw stick to them, I was amazed. I would buy them for as long as they make them.
The thing is, that is not the structural part of the tire. Manufacturers clearly say that is acceptable unless fabric is showing.
Ah .... Mmmm..... Not exactly.
Manufacturers point to exposed fabric for CUTS! For cracks, it's the overall appearance. Remember what the cracks are showing is the state of the rubber inside the structure of the tire.
well not exactly
I've seen tires that look severely dry rotted on the side that gets sun, and still look fresh on the side that never got sun. so I'm assuming it's not sunny inside a tire, so the lining of the tire should be less aged than the uv exposed side.
I live in Western WA where we don't get much sun like 75% of the year and still see lots of couple-to-few years old Michelins looking like this.
Everyone seems to rave over these things yet end up replacing them before they're even half worn because of this, while they're likely "still fine" I wouldn't feel that great about cruising 80mph on them.
Everyone seems to rave over these things yet end up replacing them before they're even half worn because of this, while they're likely "still fine" I wouldn't feel that great about cruising 80mph on them.
Maybe I could have explained that better.
Ya' see, the rubber we are most interested in is between the 2 belts, right at the edge. It is here that separations start - just under the top belt very near the end.
And it's the radiant heat of the sun that is important. It heats up the tire and heat is the tire killer. It's called the
Arrhenius Rule - chemical reactions double in rate for every 10°C increase in temperature. UV doesn't play a role here. After all, we tire engineers use ovens when we do accelerated aging tests on tires, not UV lights.
