EDIT: title should be "Is this cracking a cause for concern?"

Hey guys,

This picture is from my 3 series that is parked outside all the time. I put tire dressing on it when I wash and detail the car. I've checked the tirerack.com site for info and it appears that cracking occurs naturally for cars parked outside.

In your opinion, is this cracking a concern or am I ok with driving it the way it is?

Thanks alot!

 

That doesn't look normal

 

The tires are 2 yrs old and I have driven less than 25k miles on them.
The are high performance tires so that may be the case.

I rotate the tires every oil change.

 

Could it be from the tiredressing?

instead of using regular dressing try the 303 areospace protectant... thats what im using hah.. iono if ill be able to test to see if it works tho since i go through tires every year =/

 

do you routinely apply tire dressing to the tread or just the sidewalls?

The picture looks like "dry rot" which is not good. Dry rot is usually caused by prolonged direct exposure to UV rays. This is usually seem on the sidewalls. It would be hard to get constant exposure to that specific location on the tread. Is this happening on the entire tread surface and on all four tires? Or is it localized to that area in the picture? If local, I would wonder if you ran through some kind of caustic chemical or something.

steviej

 

Thanks for everyones input, please keep them coming.

I will inspect the other 3 tires tomorrow. As for the tire dressing, I only apply it on the outer sidewall.

 

Tire dressing should not be applied to the threads it will cause you to lose traction as it is oily.

 

I would go back to the tire dealer that you bought the tires from. You have had them for two years but you don't know how long they had been at the dealer. If he says "No problem," then I would go to another large dealer and ask, just to be sure.

 

what type of tires are they anyways? they look like dunlops.. but please confirm?

 

Could be one of these few things..

1-A lot of direct sun exposure.

2-Age of tires/driving habits ( hard cornering, etc)

3-Camber/suspension/Alignment issues.

I highly doubt its any tire dressing you use. But 25k/2 yrs does take a toll on tires.

 

Dunlop fm901 tires with a treadwear of 200.

 

This looks like "dry rot" to me too. I would probably invest in a new tire. It's not worth riding on it.

 

I called Dunlop today and they sent me to Just tires for inspection.

The guy at Just tires informed me that I have about 10k miles left in these and he insisted that they are ok in which the California weather causes this to a lot of tires. He mentioned that he sees alot of this and reassured me that it was normal. Any cracks on the sidewall would be a big concern as the wall is the softest spot on a tire.

After inspection, he got in contact with Dunlop and they are offering me $22.18 credit per tire.

 

^ well thats good news

 

Looks like ozone cracking to me. Most commonly found on aging tires. The guy from Just tires was right. If you see it on the side wall then it should be of a major concern.