Sidewall Falling Off

^^^ THIS

 

Dry rot plain and simple. Age related, I'll wager you'll get no warranty relief.

Most soft compound tires (sports car type) begin losing their grip after about 2 years. So I always picked a tire, that based on my driving miles, I would wear out in about 2-2.5 years for those cars. Maybe 10-15k. Of passenger screaming fun.

Same happens with other vehicles, just that we don't really notice so much because we don't expect the same type of grip on those vehicles.

Some 50k tread claim with some silly high number (like 500+) is going to be comparatively lifeless-in-grip tire from new, and unless you are a higggggh mileage roller, will almost always deteriorate from age well before mileage. 4-5 years is about it for a healthy tire, regardless of what the tread looks like.

Lots of good reading on the topic on www.tirerack.com

 

Here is the deal. Michelin makes a very good tire. After a certain time the compound in the tire begins to wear out. This can also be accelerated by the way the tires are cleaned. If you use certain cleaning agents they can actually degrade the rubber and cause it to become brittle. Liquid dish detergent is one. Bleach will not only destroy the rubber it will ruin the wheels. More often than not user error is the reason.

 

There should be a four diget date code on the tire, first two are week, second two are year. Those tire look like they got ran on highway after being aired down for mud and never reairred up...

You probably won't get help, they will say underated, I would it call it possible abuse.

Best of luck,

Howard

 

http://tires.tirerack.com/tires/Top Rated Light Truck Tires

 

Maybe I'm crazy, but 4+ years of use and 40k miles seems like you got your money out of them? A prorated refund for how many more miles you could have got out of them wouldn't add up to much. A free set of new tires after 40k miles does seem kinda nice though.

Looking at the pictures I'd say they were driven at a low pressure for an extended period of time. You can see rub marks on the sidewall.

 

That ring around the sidewall is from underinflation or overloading your truck. I bet the inside of your tire is shreaded up. Get some new tires asap. Or have a nice surprise down the road.

 

It's dry rot. All the oils from the rubber has leached out or evaporated. It's best just to get the tires replaced.

 

Mush Mouse that is why I said personal opinion!!! I don't care what some survey says.

 

Yea the rub marks are from parking at work. Kind of stuck parking in an odd location. Don't have much maneuvering room.

As for overloaded or under pressure I can't say either have happened. The tires have looked like the have a bulge since new even with correct Px. Whatever happens happens. Will be getting new tires one way or another this week.

 

I'm probably not getting more michelins. The irony is that my last tires only lasted 30k and the tread was done. These ones go 40k and still have 19/32" of tread but will be done due to the dry rot.

 

something does not compute your last tires lasted only 30k miles?? can u elaborate a little on the make ? that pretty lame. From your first picture of the Michelins I would say your really pounding the shit out of the sidewall and looks as tho something sliced the tire like jagged concrete curb, there may be dry rot but you cannot treat tires like that and expect them to last especially the sidewall area unless you get a meaty BF TKO with extra thick sidewalls for curb crunching

 

could the crack have developed from scraping it on concrete curb?

 

I'd have to say there is your problem. Doing this 5x a week to a tire over the course of 4 years is going to take a toll.

 

x2 using the side of a curb for tire protectorant isn't a good idea

 

New parking has only been for the last few weeks. Prior to this I had zero curb rash issues.

As for the cracking the dealer I took it to said it looks like a defect. So I took it to a second one they said the same thing. It is a near perfect circle in the same spot on three wheels. I find that to be one hell of a coincidence.

 

The first were the stock tires Duelers I think. It was probably closer to 35k that I had them replaced. If I lived somewhere other than Alaska I probably wouldn't have changed them but wanted good tread for the winter. They were down to the wear bars.