Yesterday I had to move the car at work so the security guy could lock the side gate. When I parked up I thought I'd just check the wear on the front tyres, as I'm now 7500 miles on from picking up the car in April when it only had 860 ish miles. I wanted to see how the Dunlop sportmax were wearing. When I saw the crack in the bottom of the groove I was a little bit shocked. This is only on the front near side tyre, all the other 3 are fine with no signs of the same.

 

Thing is I would say that this is a manufacturing defect and it should be covered by the warranty and changed. Has anyone else had any similar experience of this nature and how did it get resolved?

Car not bought brand new so always the possibility of a tyre change before you got it, could be worth checking the age of tyres. Obviously you would be expecting them to all be about the same age and no more than a few months older than the car.

 

https://www.kwik-fit.com/tyres/information/tyre-age

It does seem to have that 'old' look about it.  I doubt very much it'd be warranted after at least 7,500 miles on it.

 

Agree with OGG, unless you know the full history, this could be a part worn eBay special (worst case scenario).  I wouldn't know how to tell if it's a manufacturing defect.

 

Gaz

Edited 28 July, 20187 yr by V6TDI

Iirc the car was registered in Nov last year, it had been a Skoda UK staff car for just under 5 months before the dealer got it in to sell, with about 860 miles on the clock. So it's not old by any standard.

 

All4 corners have the same tyres fitted and they are all wearing evenly. I was just a bit taken by the crack in the groove.

 

I think I will have to call the dealer or can I take it to my local dealer?

3 minutes ago, Stonker said:

All 4 corners have the same tyres fitted and they are all wearing evenly.

 

Are they all the same age?

Just now, V6TDI said:

 

Are they all the same age?

As far as I can see, all look to be exactly the same. I'm not aware that any have been changed.

Just now, Stonker said:

As far as I can see, all look to be exactly the same. I'm not aware that any have been changed.

 

What's the date week and year?

Look at the date codes as suggested above in the first reply with a link showing you how.

Edited 28 July, 20187 yr by Wino

Ask a tyre centre for their advice, I think you have to use a supplier to claim.

Try this 

Thanks all, I can confirm that all are the same week/year code as in the picture, 2217 that's w/c 29th May 2017 they were manufactured and the car built, shipped and registered early Nov some 5 months later.

 

Plus another picture of the tyre, it's much cleaner as it's been wet here today. The crack is only on the inner groove and on one side.

Dunlop have history of this sort of cracking...   The SP01 being an example.  There were many reports of such cracking around 2008 and 2009 and we had all 4 SP01s on our Octavia 4x4 crack after about 10k miles from new, although ours was worse with the carcass showing.

 

I won't ever use Dunlop's again...

Ive had a look at the tyres on mine. Got the same problems with the dunlops. Cracking on the rear but the fronts don't have the problems at the moment. Mine were made in week 11 of 2017!

 

Unfortunately no tyres are covered under warranty unless you have specific tyre cover. 

MyHermes standard warranty won’t cover tyres as they are classed as wear and tear. 

As above I don't think you'll be able to claim under warranty for the tyre. Perhaps contact Dunlop and argue a manufacturing fault and see if they take you on.

5 minutes ago, Madmax889 said:

Unfortunately no tyres are covered under warranty unless you have specific tyre cover. 

MyHermes standard warranty won’t cover tyres as they are classed as wear and tear. 

I can understand that the tyres fall under normal wear and tear. That goes for the wear aspect. However, if the tyres are splitting and cracking, I will be arguing that they have failed due to manufacturing defects and are not fit for purpose. 

Potential this split/cracking could cause delamination of the layers and cause a blow out, heads will roll if it does.

 

Tyres are covered under Warranty for Manufacturing Defects with limit of time from different manufacturers.

Obviously in Europe that is never the cover that Manufacturers give in North America where courts would rip the company to shreads.

 

But there are enough exclusions and limit of time / miles and other things.

Tyre warranty - comparison of manufacturers » Oponeo.co.uk.mhtml

Apologies I was talking about the warranty from Skoda not the actual tyre manufacturer. 

On 28/07/2018 at 19:37, Stonker said:

Thanks all, I can confirm that all are the same week/year code as in the picture, 2217 that's w/c 29th May 2017 they were manufactured and the car built, shipped and registered early Nov some 5 months later.

 

Plus another picture of the tyre, it's much cleaner as it's been wet here today. The crack is only on the inner groove and on one side.

That eliminates any 'rouge' tyre having been fitted along the way.

Wear across width of tyre appears fairly even which would tend to rule out the tyre having been run at inappropriate pressure for any length of time as being a contributing factor.

I can't remember if it was this site or another but I've seen threads where someone with microcracking in grooves just popped along to his local kwikfit and asked them. They examined the tyre, took a couple of photos and filled in a form and sent it to Michelin I think. A few weeks later got a call back and said yes Michelin says its a manufacturing fault and tyre replaced. Not sure if he had to make any contribution for wear.

There doesn't look to be too much life left in that tyre looking at the wear bars and with a tyre that's from a manufacturing point of view over a year old and 7.5k on a used car I don't think there will be any warranty.

 

Its always worth a go with the retailer but I think you need to be prepared to buy a new tyre ..... I'd replace mine if it had done that

On 29/07/2018 at 19:01, Stonker said:

I can understand that the tyres fall under normal wear and tear. That goes for the wear aspect. However, if the tyres are splitting and cracking, I will be arguing that they have failed due to manufacturing defects and are not fit for purpose. 

Potential this split/cracking could cause delamination of the layers and cause a blow out, heads will roll if it does.

 

 

Think you've been watching too much Judge John Deed.

 

If I were the tyre manufacturer and someone come to me claiming my tyres have a manufacturing defect and not fit for purpose, my response would be you've driven on them for 7500 miles without issue therefore they must have been 100% OK when they left the factory. If that crack is a problem (you haven't established what problems is it causing or is likely to cause) I'd simply claim the car has been driven over an object that caused the split.  If I was in a good mood I might offer a 10% discount on new tyre as a goodwill gesture.

 

7500 miles? If there's any part of a car that's going to suffer wear and tear then it's the tyre.

 

P.S.  Your claim (if any) is against the seller not the manufacturer - you need to contact the dealer where you purchased the car.

Edited 31 July, 20187 yr by Guest

I called Skoda UK and they advised that I take it in to the local dealer for checking.

 

I did so this morning and waited while they took it in for inspection. After roughly 45 minutes, I got a text message and any email with my inspection report via video.

 

The cracks were said to be quite normal these days and are a regular occurrence. As the cracks are very slight and none of the chords under the outermost layer were not exposed, they have advised me that I should not be overly concerned.

 

I'd asked them to also look to see if they can set the eco mode to be on as default. This was not possible, as it's a new characteristic of the model. 

 

Oh well, my mind has been put at ease as both the master technician and the mot tester were of the same opinion regarding the tyres. 

 

They even washed it for me, all completely free gratis all the staff at Bristol Street motors in Chesterfield were spot on.

 

I will keep my eyes on them for any changes in the future.

Looks like down to you to pay to replace that tyre and the other then as surely you will not trust your and loved ones and others safety on their say so.

No replacemt tyre and a free was with a gritty sponge. Winning.