Tyres beginning to perish - thoughts?
Discussion
I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice relating to these tyres (pictured below)
Date stamp is 0915, so they're just about 4 years old, and they've got plenty of tread left (They were on the rear of the car until this time last year).
As you can see, the sidewalls look like they're perishing; the pattern is consistent all they way around the tyre. Further, i've noticed a reduction in grip beyond what I expect when running summer tyres on cold damp road.
What do the community think? Will they soften up come the summer, and be safe to use on a couple of long fast road trips, or should I get a new set ordered now?
Date stamp is 0915, so they're just about 4 years old, and they've got plenty of tread left (They were on the rear of the car until this time last year).
As you can see, the sidewalls look like they're perishing; the pattern is consistent all they way around the tyre. Further, i've noticed a reduction in grip beyond what I expect when running summer tyres on cold damp road.
What do the community think? Will they soften up come the summer, and be safe to use on a couple of long fast road trips, or should I get a new set ordered now?
Well, I try not to park it under trees!
The sun could well be contributory, And is perhaps why it's slightly worse on the passenger side - the drivers side was, until recently, parked against a wall. It's very frustrating - I dislike throwing usable things away, but in reality the £120 needed for a new set of Bridgestones is a fraction of what stuffing it in a ditch would cost.
The sun could well be contributory, And is perhaps why it's slightly worse on the passenger side - the drivers side was, until recently, parked against a wall. It's very frustrating - I dislike throwing usable things away, but in reality the £120 needed for a new set of Bridgestones is a fraction of what stuffing it in a ditch would cost.
HustleRussell said:
Are you sure you aren't imagining the reduction in grip because you know how the tyres look? The roads are still very cold in March and damp a lot of the time...
Interesting point - i'm pretty sure i'm not. This time last year, I had about 2mm on the fronts, prior to replacing them (new tyres went on the rear), and it was much colder - I do not remember spinning the fronts up in anything other than first when pulling off too vigorously. This set, as they are, break traction at WoT in 2nd and 3rd, in all but the driest conditions. The car produces 150 bhp - nothing staggering. Up until now, i've just driven to the conditions, but when driving home Sunday eve, (a little colder and damper than today), I felt the front of the car slide, perhaps a foot, on turn in to a 90* left hand bend - perhaps marginally faster than usual, as a result of the Sunday traffic, but not fast enough to expect that response, and so figured i'd get some more opinions.
Many moons ago I treated a Fiesta I had to a brand new set of 4 Pirelli P6000 tyres. They were good as gold wet or dry for a couple of years and then suddenly when the tread got down to a certain level, nowhere near worn out, maybe 4 mm or so, they lost all grip in wet or damp. It was like the top half of the tread was normal tyre rubber and under that was some sort of nylon crap like what Japanese motorbike tyres used to be made from in the 70s. I remember asking a customer if I could borrow the Peugeot 205 he arrived in for a couple of minutes so I could test it round the bend at the top of my road I kept sliding wide on. Absolutely no problem going round it in his car. In mine it was like driving on ice even at normal road speeds. I literally couldn't keep up with old ladies poodling along if the road was wet. Maybe it's a Pirelli trait but it's the last time I ever bought one. Since then I've had all sorts of makes of tyre on various cars and run them happily down to the legal tread limit with no great change in grip levels as you'd normally expect. Obviously you lose some wet grip when the tread gets very low but this is a completely different issue with Pirellis. They just completely die at a certain tread depth and after that it's too dangerous to use them.
I run started to run P7s on most of my cars and they work for me.
Ironically I went over to them last year because I had 2x 2016 Dunlop SP Sports on the front and I noticed one was quite badly perished (cracks) between the treads but less on the sidewalls.
The following week one blew out! I guess it isn't just down to one manufacturer.
Would be interested to see if the inside wall is the same - I suspect it will be.
Ironically I went over to them last year because I had 2x 2016 Dunlop SP Sports on the front and I noticed one was quite badly perished (cracks) between the treads but less on the sidewalls.
The following week one blew out! I guess it isn't just down to one manufacturer.
Would be interested to see if the inside wall is the same - I suspect it will be.
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