Tire Dry Rot?

Update: I made an appointment for Saturday with the place that installed the tires. Hopefully I'll get some answers. They told me over the phone dryrot is unfortunately normal blah blah blah but once I told him it was the same pattern on all 4 tires he said they ought to take a look. Hopefully some answers by the end of the weekend...

 

Agreed, will get pics...

I got out of work early last night and made it to the tire place and found there are several causes for the hairline cracks:
1) Underinflation
2) Excessive Loading
3) Constant Hard Cornering
4) Manufacturer Defect
5) Improper Tire Size for Rim (Tires too fat for the rim they're mounted on).

We ruled out excessive cornering since I have a lifted truck with A/T tires and they think it's a combination of the other 3. I've been hauling heavy lately since I recently bought a house. I didn't notice the cracks until this last tire rotation so it leads me to believe they just developed which puts it in the right time frame for that to potentially be a partial cause. Also, with the heavy loading, the tires may have been a little underinflated for the load they were carrying. I'm at 32 psi in the rear and 34 psi in the front which is fine unloaded, but when hauling maybe should have been higher (I'm at 36 rear and 38 front now and will set them lower once the renovations are complete). Although I'm a stock size tire, they do hang over the edge of the rim which just compounds the other issues.

Short version, they said keep an eye on it, the crack is very fine now and does not show signs of opening up. They asked me to bring the truck in to them for my next tire rotation and they'll see if it's gotten worse, if so they offered to help me deal with Cooper on warranty issues (tire rotations are free at that shop if you bought the tires there).

 

im getting that bs feeling you need to call cooper and start a claim
now pics of the tire would help

 

Sorry for the delay, here is the best pic I could get of it (I don't have a great camera so I had to get up close to get the crack. It's a fairly fine crack, about 1" up from the rim, all 4 tires, all the way around the tire. What do you guys think, give a call to Cooper or see if it starts to separate any further?

 

I would atleast call them and get the ball rolling. You dont want to be in a situation where you have to wait weeks for them to fix the problem. Atleast know your problem with be documented.

 

call them and start a claim
that dont look good

 

Thanks for the responses, I'll get Cooper on the hook and see what happens!

 

It's on the inner sidewall of your tire...

 

Look at the picture I attached a few posts up, the crack goes right through the born on date.

 

Alright fellas, now I need some opinions. I called Cooper and they said my course of action would be to take the tires to retailer and they would be the ones to help with warranty items. I described to the customer service guy the issue and what the tire shop said and he seemed surprised. Turns out one of the biggest Cooper dealers in my area is where I bought them and he mentioned the place I bought them should be the most inclined to help me.

Now, a couple of questions,
How bad do those tires look? The tire shop made it seem like it wasn't a big deal unless they separated some more but your reactions seemed like this wasn't something I should be taking lightly.

Has anyone else had tires do this to them? The tire shop also mentioned certain brands are prone to this type of cracking and again, not to be worried. Seems it if was prevelant, others would be having the same issue.

Any advice with dealing with the tire shop? I'm looking for points, maybe related to safety that I could bring up to make them more inclined to help.

Thanks!

 

BUMP

 

The tire shop agreed to start the warranty process. I'm expecting a call back around mid-day tomorrow. I pointed out that the cracks had separated more and new ones had started within the last 2 weeks. The guy who inspected them 2 weeks ago was there again and agreed. Hopefully I can get this taken care of and get some new tires put on

 

Good to see it will likely work out for you. Maintain proper tire pressures when you get replacement tires.

With each revolution of the tire, the sidewall flexes, which generates heat. If the tire is underinflated, the sidewall flexes more, and the tire can overheat.

 

That was one of the things they said can cause the issue I'm having however I always kept my tire pressures up. I was able to respond to all of their potential reasons of failure except manufacturing defect. I just got off the phone with the tire place and they expect to have everything wrapped up by the end of the day today and will call me with how Cooper plans to deal with the issue. I'm hoping for good news! Otherwise I may have to hit up Raswank for his set of BFG's

 

Guys, thanks to all that helped out! Cooper is going to warranty the tires! They're giving me a credit toward a new set of tires, pro-rated for the mileage on the tires vs. the mileage the tire is rated for. Still means I gotta put out some cash but prevents the potentially unsafe situation of one of the tires blowing out. I have to call the tire shop tomorrow to tell them which tires to order up

 

Final result, I put an order in for a set of Cooper Discoverer AT3's. These replaced the ATR and seem have pretty decent reviews. I got them in 265/70R17 so I'll be a bit taller. Cooper is giving me 52% of the tire cost as a credit but overall it'll still cost me close to $450 OTD. Unexpected expense but I shouldn't have to get another set for at least 2 - 3 years.