Tires

[grincon]

Have Michelins LTX 265/75/R16s-32,000 miles. Load Range-E. Original tires.

Live in New Mexico. Question is--Have noticed multiple very small cracks on the tires--a little more on some than others. From the sun maybe?

Cause for concern? Never noticed that on any other vehicles in the past.

Any ideas?

 

[Dieselnerd]

How old are the tires? Truck and trailer tires should be replaced at 6 or 7 years no matter how good the tread looks. Sun ruins these pretty fast if you don't keep them covered. This would be especially true in New Mexico where the sun can be harsh. If yours are only 4 years old they could still be going. Just heard an item on the local news today that said tires should be replaced at 4 to 6 years. You might want to take it to a good tire shop and ask them what they think...

 

[JRMora]

Have Michelins LTX 265/75/R16s-32,000 miles. Load Range-E. Original tires.

Live in New Mexico. Question is--Have noticed multiple very small cracks on the tires--a little more on some than others. From the sun maybe?

Cause for concern? Never noticed that on any other vehicles in the past.

Any ideas?

I assume you are talking about your truck tires.



I just replaced all six of my Goodyear GSA's because of extreme cracking on the sidewalls (the tires were 1 1/2 years old with 35,000 miles on them). I don't think it was the sun, because even my inside dually tires were bad.



Anyway, Some of them were bad enough to stick a business card on edge in more than 1/8". I had several tire dealers look at them and everyone said to replace them.



Discount Tires on Coors and Montano was going to do a prorated replacement for me, but with the mileage I already had, it wasn't going to amount to much, and I was going to end up with six more Goodyears.



I've owned cars in Albuquerque for 25+ years and this is the first vehicle I've had that had cracking like this. I know of others who have had problems with the Goodyear GSA's, but I haven't heard of any similar problems with the Michelins.



I'd have a tire dealer look at them. If they aren't too bad, you can go for a while. If they are, and you haul a lot, I wouldn't risk it. I run at close to GVWR a lot lately (doing a lot of landscaping work) and I didn't want to risk it. I looked at the tires after they mounted my new ones and I am glad I did.



Juan

 

[dodgerep]

I use the E range tires and put about 22,000 miles per month on them. If you want to keep them from cracking, dont use any wheel dressings on them. ESPECIALLY OIL BASED PRODUCTS. There is one product that is pretty good, it can be bought most places and is a purple gel that is very thick and last about a week to ten days at a time. Other than that, I would avoid anything on my tires