Cracks in tyres
 

In December 2015 I bought and had fitted at Halfords a new set of Goodyear Efficient Grip tyres, which are now cracking between the treads, due to family health issues my car does not get used very much, but nevertheless these tyres have not done 2000 miles yet, even though the car gets little use I don't think they should be cracking in this way, before trying to do battle with Halfords I have contacted Goodyear direct and I'm waiting for their reply, anyone else had this problem ? David.

While I agree with you that they shouldnt crack, its probably lack of use.
My mate who works in one the the main breakdown firms reckons that

low-quality tyres dont last etc
top brands are made to be used, not looked at prone to perishing
medium quality is a better compromise for a low mileage vehicle, less perishing.

Now I know thats a few very general statements and doesnt help much.
They wont fail mot until the cords are visible. Use the car, if you can, of course.
Pump them up to above recommended pressure to preent flat spots etc. if car is standing.

Many thanks for your reply, your not the first to say due to lack of use, but there's little I can do about that, I do maintain the pressures 28-30 psi. David.

Ideally put them up to whatever the max stated on sidewalls for periods of non use. If youre well enough of course.

I have the exact same tyres, only having owned the car a short while have noticed the rear tyres, that are of 2016 vintage on mine have the same issues. The previous owner did 5000 miles per year

I've got two sets of tyres about 18-24 months older than Davids Goodyears that have done about 6k miles so about 3 times as much total in about twice the age.
The implication of that is a similar mile/year rate although they have been used a bit more than his.

However i don't have any of that sort of cracking on either set, one is a set of Falken Ziex ZE-914 Ecorun and the other is a set of Austone Athena SP-7 - cheap to buy here as they were "new in" but aparently are a premium tyre in Australia.

As you can tell i haven't gone wild with top of the range stuff, more "middle of the road" (no pun intended but it's there so enjoy it anyway! :lol: ) and there have been occasions when one or other of the cars those are fitted to haven't moved for several weeks, if not months.

The point is, as i've already said to David via email, i don't believe they should have gone like this anywhere near as quickly as they have done - i think all Goodyear and Dunlop tyres are now made in China so maybe it was the last of the "cheap" rubber for some "Hoo Flung Dung Ditchfinder Specials" that was used to make his Goodyears when they changed from one run to another.

Then there's the old joke - what's the difference between a car tyre and 365 condoms?

So based on what you say the previous owner doing 5000 per year, little use of my car may or may not be the cause of the cracking, sounds more like a bad batch to me, thank you for your input, David

Thanks Dave, but what's the difference? not heard that one before.

Two sets of the same tyres of a similar age? I wonder what the date code is on the tyres belonging to "psl" and if it's similar to yours David?

https://www.kwik-fit.com/tyres/information/tyre-age

If it's in the same age range as yours then the pair of you could have a case against Goodyear, his have done a lot more mileage than yours so that is now less of a possibility.

The difference is one is a Goodyear, the other is a F****ng marvelous year! ;) :lol: :D

I've got a cheap set of Landsail tyres on my 940 estate and I use it most days but barely put any mileage on it in a year, they had cracked on the outer edges and inside the tread within a year and are still being used a few years later but with far more cracking. I put it down to cheap tyres but they have had a lot of weight on them and the fronts have had a lot of slippage on the outer edges from full lock manoeuvres.

They need replacing now though as the cracking is pretty bad and the valves have all cracked too! Never seen that in my life, I've got wheels from cars that have been sat around for 30 years and the valves are perfect. Tread is still very much legal except the usual outer edge wear where they are now pretty much bald and my brother does enjoy thrashing my 940 when he borrows it (he likes beating the boy racers in their more expensive newer cars).