Tire appears to have cracked

[cloud9]

I was filling up my GT500 yesterday when someone started asking me questions about it. After a couple minutes he goes "do you realize you have a cut in your sidewall?" I'm like : NO. The weird thing is I had it in for an oil change the day before and they generally never miss an opportunity to sell you new tires. The "crack" was at the top of the tire the way I had stopped, and when I got home I realized that was about the only place you could see it. In fact, I had a hard time finding it again and had to rotate the tire to the top position to get this photo and really be able to see it. I have about 2-1/2 years and 12,000 miles on these tires and didn't drive them in the winter at all. They're not R-comp tires, but are max summer performance tires with a TW of 180. They are probably about 75% worn so not the end of the world as long as it didn't catastrophically fail at high speed. Has anyone seen this before? They are Yokohama Advan Sports and I really do like them.



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[CaliMR]

My bro's rear tire on his motorcycle split kind of like that, except it did it suddenly and completely while riding and the only thing still intact was the bead. That was with about 15 miles on the bike, he hadn't even gotten it up to highways speed yet. It looked like it split at a seam in the belt. Dealer, Triumph corporate, and the tire manufacturer (I believe it was Pirreli but I my be wrong) all refused to cover it. Not saying you have internal damage, but I wouldn't risk it and wouldn't drive it until I got some new ones.

I've also seen sort of similar cracks on car tires that sat for several years but not on ones that are new.

 

[PeteInCT]

I was filling up my GT500 yesterday when someone started asking me questions about it. After a couple minutes he goes "do you realize you have a cut in your sidewall?" I'm like : NO. The weird thing is I had it in for an oil change the day before and they generally never miss an opportunity to sell you new tires. The "crack" was at the top of the tire the way I had stopped, and when I got home I realized that was about the only place you could see it. In fact, I had a hard time finding it again and had to rotate the tire to the top position to get this photo and really be able to see it. I have about 2-1/2 years and 12,000 miles on these tires and didn't drive them in the winter at all. They're not R-comp tires, but are max summer performance tires with a TW of 180. They are probably about 75% worn so not the end of the world as long as it didn't catastrophically fail at high speed. Has anyone seen this before? They are Yokohama Advan Sports and I really do like them.



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That almost looks like a manufacturing defect., it's too clean. Maybe theer's a free vnew set of tires in your future (or at least one)? I'd be curious what Yokahama would have to say about it.

 

[cloud9]

Yea that's what I was thinking Pete. I'm going to try and get one (or pro rata) covered.

No worries Cali, it went right on the shelf when I saw it, and I had two rears ordered from my dealer within an hour. I drove home on the city streets not even wanting to get to highway speeds. Fortunately I could swap it out for the Boss and still enjoy the rest of the weekend ;D

 

[CaliMR]

I seriously doubt they will cover it, unless there was a warranty on the tires. But can't hurt to try. More likely to get the dealer to do it than the tire manufacturer.

 

[cloud9]

I seriously doubt they will cover it, unless there was a warranty on the tires. But can't hurt to try. More likely to get the dealer to do it than the tire manufacturer.

Based on this it looks like it's going to be covered on a pro-rata basis. Whether I'll want to go through the brain damage of getting that amount ($300 tire plus $15 mount/balance and it's approximately 75% used) is another story.

http://www.yokohamatire.com/tires_101/warranty/standard_consumer/