85CUCVKRAWLER
Active Member
- Location
- Tooele
I was driving home yesterday and my tire pressure light came on, bring it up on my HUD and watch as the air is leaving my left front tire. Thankfully i am passing my office, which has a shop, so i pull in and get to swapping on the spare. No big deal, figure i picked up a nail or something at the last junkyard i was just at. Look at the tire and see what appears to multiple slices down my sidewall of my 275/70R18 BFG AT2 and air was leaving one of the cracks. Almost like i grazed a piece of glass on the highway. Shocked i checked my other tires and i see the exact same cuts.
These tires are only 3 years old, almost to the day and spent their entire life's in Utah. They have probably 70k miles on them and were due for replacement soon.
Now, i inspect tires as part of my job as a Crash Reconstructionist and as such have probably inspected 500 tires or more. I have never seen this type of failure, and if i had, my client and i would have had a pow-wow about who is getting sued. After a consult with my tire manufacturing expert, these are age-related cracks due to failure of the tire carcass from deteriorating rubber. This is an extreme risk of tire blow out.
These cracks could be due to sun decomposition of the rubber compound. Which would make sense as my truck stays parked outside. But 3 years of age is a substantially reduced life expectancy of a tire and denotes that there may have been a manufacturing defect in the rubber compound. 6 years is the general rule of thumb for a tire life expectancy but in reality it is the most conservative. My wife's suburban has the same tires, but they are right at 6 years old and do not have any indication of these same type of cracks.
So, in summation, please check your tires regularly. If you see any sidewall cracking, replace the tire immediately. Thanks for joining my Ted Talk.
These tires are only 3 years old, almost to the day and spent their entire life's in Utah. They have probably 70k miles on them and were due for replacement soon.
Now, i inspect tires as part of my job as a Crash Reconstructionist and as such have probably inspected 500 tires or more. I have never seen this type of failure, and if i had, my client and i would have had a pow-wow about who is getting sued. After a consult with my tire manufacturing expert, these are age-related cracks due to failure of the tire carcass from deteriorating rubber. This is an extreme risk of tire blow out.
These cracks could be due to sun decomposition of the rubber compound. Which would make sense as my truck stays parked outside. But 3 years of age is a substantially reduced life expectancy of a tire and denotes that there may have been a manufacturing defect in the rubber compound. 6 years is the general rule of thumb for a tire life expectancy but in reality it is the most conservative. My wife's suburban has the same tires, but they are right at 6 years old and do not have any indication of these same type of cracks.
So, in summation, please check your tires regularly. If you see any sidewall cracking, replace the tire immediately. Thanks for joining my Ted Talk.
