tyre thread cracks

[Noesph]

I've heard of tyres ageing, my rear tyres are cracking along the thread (its not a great pic but there cracking in the same place on both sides of the tyre) Good thread depth left (5mm) on them and no cracks in the side wall.



Time to renew or not? continental eco contact ep, Original tyres the car left the factory with, so would be about 12 years old.

[trickywoo]

I'd replace them because they are 12 years old not because of the cracking.

How have you only used 3mm of tread in 12 years?

[Noesph]

its only done 29000 miles on a light weight FWD car (106 - 815kg)

[rovermorris999]

Change them, they'll have sod-all grip as the compound will be very hard by now. There should be a date code on the sidewall, something like 3408 which means week 34 2008. You'll probably be surprised at the improvement in ride quality too. I bought a car with similar age tyres and it felt so much better with new rubber on it.

[Noesph]

17 00, so about may 2000, anyway, to black circles.......

[VolvoT5]

12yrs... must be past their best by now.

5mm of tread left too... could always stick em on eBay once your new rubber is fitted. Depends how unscrupulous you are feeling...

[Snowboy]

There are some places (Germany I think, and others) that have laws about the age of tyres on cars.

I think it’s recommended 3 years old and law 6 years old.
This is why there’s a thriving market in bringing old German tyres to the UK to flog as part worn.
That’s from memory. Feel free to correct or investigate details if you want.

But, the point is, tyres get worse with age.
They dry and crack and eventually fail in any number of exciting and interesting ways.

Good storage can increase the life. But being sat on a car on a roadside or driveway isn’t good storage.