Help with cracks in <span class="highlight">tyres</span>?

Hi Holly, pretty normal for tyres that have been on unsealed roads. If you get cracks between the lugs or around the sidewalls be more concerned.

Holly,
That is part of the tread pattern. It is nothing to do with wear. Your tyres look to be doing very well.

Those 'cracks' are called sipes and are included in the trad to help disperse water when driving on wet roads. Go to a tyre shop and have a look at new tyres and you will see them

Holly,

Are you worried about the zig-zag deep "cracks" or the small scuff marks that you can see on the surface of the outer tread blocks.

The zig-zags are part of the tread pattern so don't worry about them. They are "sipes" and help dispel water.

The scuffs I see at almost right angles to the edge of the blocks are very minor and should be considered part of normal tread wear. One hard stop or a bit of enthusiastic cornering can cause those.

Check from time to time to see if the tread blocks are wearing into a saw-tooth pattern, eg with the front of the blocks markedly higher or lower than the rear. If that happens you might want to discuss it here or with your tyre dealer.

Cheers

Or are you referring to the tiny cracks at the ends of the sipes Holly?
If so, they are nothing to be worried about either. Just normal from tyre flexing.

I think he is referring to the scuff marks at the end of the tread blocks..the sipes are pretty obviously a manufacturing issue.

The scuffing is due to tread squirm...does your steering feel lighter when a new set of tyres are fitted, does the vehicle tram track less on worn bitumen when a new set of tyres are fitted..its tread squirm..and reduces as the tread depth wears away.

Hi Holly

I had the exact are happen to my P3's at about the same kilometres.

Was told by the Mickey Thompson distributors it is called "Cold Tear" - caused entirely by driver input I.e. Aggressive driving and cornering before the carcas has a chance to get up to operating temperature. Was also told by them it is purely cosmetic and will not affect performance off the tyres.

Not happy with this answer, I went to several reputable tyre shops (including other Mickey Resellers) and asked them what was causing this - same answer each time - compound fault. When I told them the manufacturer was claiming "cold tear" they all laughed.

Australian road conditions are to warm for cold tear to occur unless you are driving in Snow.

End result - all six tyres (2 brand new never touched the ground) replaced gratis. New ones haven't shown any sign of it and I'm at the 7500 km mark.

Their normal warranty is based on measured tread depth left on the vehicle and a pro rata payment by you - I would be talking to the MIckey Distributor.

Cheers

Anthony

Looks normal to me,, slight scuffing ,probably from the rocks.

Hi Holly,

Your tyres look fine, to me it looks like the steering wheel is being turned whilst the vehicle is stationary. Vehicle should be in motion before turning steering wheel, this avoids tyre and suspension damage.

Regards,
Dave

Keep a close eye on them, I'm on my second set of MTZ's, the first set was bullet proof and I managed about 45k out of them, but my second set the lugs have torn away, sidewall strike etc. I havn't changed my driving at all. Rep was supposed to look at them 10 months ago,but on the phone to Sydney as soon as I mentioned I've been in The High Country be said there won't be much they can do (I thought it strange and I kick myself I didn't ask why and probably why the Rep didn't ring me back to arrange a visual at the local store but it's still pretty poor) They won't be getting my cash a third time,I'm going to the KM2..