Tyres - loads of tread left but cracking all over..

[oliverp]

Hi all,

Bit of a boring thread about crackin/crazing on tyres I'm afraid...

They are Continental Sport Contact 3s with a date code of 21/11 so only 2 years old and they are on my 60 plate Octavia VRS...

But there is loads of cracking around the whole tyre and inside the treads. I think the best way to explain is with a picture (attached!). Ignore all the white powder stuff, thats just from the driveway.

What do you reckon? Is this normal or should I get them replaced? Tread wise there is between 5 and 6mm on them so thats alright. Just concerned by the amount of cracking that they could be dangerous.

Thanks

[booke23]

That's pretty shocking for a 2 year old tyre.

I guess the advice would be to replace them.....but it would pain me to do so with such relatively new tyres.

[Auric Goldfinger]

If you get new tyres fitted ask the tyre place to send them back to Continental and if the tyres are deemed to be faulty you should get a refund of the tread thats left.

ie:- If there 50% worn you should get 50% refund. Sending them back should be no cost to your self

Hope that helps.

[silver1011]

Are you the original owner?

Have the tyres been driven on when flat or under inflated?

For the price of a first class stamp I'd be tempted to send Continetal the above picture...

Continental Tyre Group Ltd UK and Ireland

191 High Street

Yiewsley, West Drayton

Middlesex UB7 7XW

UK

Phone: +44 (0)1895 425900

http://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/www/tyres_uk_en/contact_en.html

[Web Ferret]

+1 contact Continental. They should not crack after 2 years.

[rwbaldwin]

Was the 21/11 the last 4 digit of the DOT code?

[oliverp]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I'm not the original owner but then again I don't think these could be original tyres given the dates the car was made vs when the tyres were?

That said, they are the same tyres that were on it about 18 months ago when I bought it and I've done about 30k with them, so I'm not sure of their full history. I've never run them flat or under inflated.

I'm going to contact Continental and see what they say. In the meantime I'm unsure on what to do, I do quite a lot of motorway driving so my gut is telling me to replace them and then take what (if anything) Continental offer as a bonus.

[silver1011]

Different people perceive risk differently.

Personally I wouldn't be replacing them until they were ready for replacement through wear.

Some cracking on the tyres is normal as they get older, although the cracking around the edge in your picture does look excessive.

I'm too tight

[keith3289]

I have the exact same tyres with the exact same problem! The cracking appears to be related to the wavy square pattern on the edge of the sidewall, as it runs above and below these squares (just visible below the cracking the photo). The car came with them 15 months ago, so I don't know how old they are, only that they looked very good at the time!

Can anyone with these please advise which number is the date code? I can't see anything particularly obvious, apart from a biggish four digit number in an oval, "0610". I assume from "21/11" I'm only going to be able to tell the year and even if I've found the right number it doesn't mean it's June!

Given that I've got a 1000+ mile in a week drive coming up, including two 300-mile runs, I'm planning to play it safe and get them changed.

Edited 7 May, 2013 by keith3289

[Wardy]

I would say that's not normal and you shouldn't be seeing that in the time frame since manufacture. As said, contact Continental with that photo evidence.

As for safety, unless they're loosing pressure I'd say you're OK.

[oliverp]

The 21/11 is from the oval stamp on the tyres which says 2111.

[silver1011]

That said, they are the same tyres that were on it about 18 months ago when I bought it and I've done about 30k with them, so I'm not sure of their full history.

30,000 miles on a pair of fronts on a vRS?

With 5-6mm remaining?

That's a very impressive wear rate.

[rwbaldwin]

...Can anyone with these please advise which number is the date code?...

There should be a code in the form 'DOT XXXXXXwwyy' where wwyy is the week and year

[oliverp]

30,000 miles on a pair of fronts on a vRS?

With 5-6mm remaining?

That's a very impressive wear rate.

They are currently on the front, moved from the back about 5k miles ago by Costco.

[jgcsteve13]

got the same on a pair of continentals as well but changed out my alloys & got 4 new tyres but still in shed so will look next couple of days for date on them

[booke23]

I've done about 30k on them

In that case the cracking is perhaps not so surprising. I have seen cracking on the side walls of rear tyres that have done high mileage but still have decent tread......although never on the shoulder of the tyre like yours.

I am tight, and I might risk those tyres if I were the only one who ever used the car and didn't use motorways, but I wouldn't drive my family around on them or drive a lot of motorway miles on them.

[Glynn]

I inspect tyres quite alot (albeit aircraft tyres) aslong as the cracks are not on the sidewall and your not loosing pressure id say keep them on.

[TB1]

This is why it is important to always put the new tyres on the rear when you change the fronts as you have a get a rotation and always have reasonably fresh tyres all round.

[Wardy]

This is why it is important to always put the new tyres on the rear when you change the fronts as you have a get a rotation and always have reasonably fresh tyres all round.

While that's a fair point, it doesn't address the cracking issue on tyres that are still relatively new. I've just got rid of a pair of Yokohama Paradas from my summer tyres that were manufactured in 2008. They showed absolutely no signs of cracking whatsoever.

[cheezemonkhai]

I would say that's not normal and you shouldn't be seeing that in the time frame since manufacture. As said, contact Continental with that photo evidence.

As for safety, unless they're loosing pressure I'd say you're OK.

Have to disagree about driving with it Steve.

Seen a brand tyre with cracking like that and a couple of weeks later it delaminated on the guys car.

He wasn't going too fast, but if that happens at 70+ then it's going to be messy.

Not worth the risk for less than £200.

You're probably right, that you'll probably be ok. But that's a few too many probably moments for me to want to risk

It's certainly not what I'd consider normal and IIRC dunlop had a similar issue a few years ago.

If you want to stay conti, then I'd have a look at the CS5 rather than the CS3

Edited 8 May, 2013 by cheezemonkhai

[Wardy]

It's difficult to make a definite call based on a photo, sure - but that doesn't look at the stage required for delamination to me.

It is easy to make a call from a distance though. If it were mine I'd be having it checked out, ideally by a trusted garage where I got the tyres fitted.

[silver1011]

I'm sure tyres with no cracks in them delaminate too.

I'd be happy driving on them tyres at motorway speeds.

[blueR36]

You say the white stuff is from your driveway ? ie concrete. They can dry out tyres ( the dust , just put on a patch of oil and it soak it up

[Wardy]

Looks like the dust from a gravel driveway to me Alan.

[Aspman]

Have they been sitting in the sun a lot?