What should I look for in a tire with dry rot? Like, are certain areas in the tire ok to have dry rot? It is one of these super swampers I just mounted. I bought them used to make sure I like them. All of the insides of these things look perfect when they were mounted. But I looked at one yesterday and the side surface was cracked up, the cracks were like a quarter inch to half an inch long. Treads still look good. These tires are almost $500 a pop new so I want to make sure the tire is trash before I make any decisions.

 

Dry rot is never a good thing on a tire. You can have minor cracking which is just in the outside layer and it wont affect the performance or safety of the tire. That level of cracking happens due to age, weather and sometimes the brand/type of tire. If you have deep cracks then it could be due to trauma to the tire. If the cracks get any longer or deeper than I wouldn't use it - especially on a truck as heavy as ours. What is the date code on the tire? It should have something like 0405 at the end of the DOT code which would indicate 4th week of 2005.

 

I'll take a look tonight at the date code.

It appears to be age related because one other tire also has it but its so minor on that one that its hardly worth mentioning. I'll also try to gauge the depth of the cracks.

 

Tires are typically rated for 40-50k miles. Drive 20-30k/yr and you have new tires every 2 years, which is under the date for dry rot. Just think, you have the weight of a small car sitting on each tire. And if you go around a bend that weight gets a whole lot heavier on that specific tire, greatly increasing the chances of a blow-out on that specific tire. Then you have a rolling barrel of you heading down the street. And that's just not fun.

 

The kid in me just smiled and imagined me rolling in a barrel

Luckily they are the E rated heavy duty swampers so they are much tougher than other super swampers but still yeah I don't want to break my Ex.

 

i say if youre just going to wheel just do it who cares. but if your going to be traveling highway speeds then no way. cracking will allow moisture to reach the belts and when the belts rot, the tire goes, and just maybe you go... or maybe some poor sole in the wrong place at the wrong time. just my .02

 

I do take it on the highway so I'm thinking I should take it off.

Also, the tire was made in the 1st quarter of 2005.

 

Six years old is pretty old for a tire subject to weather. Indoor storage, climate controlled, etc can help a tire last a lot longer. There are talks in quite a few states to have a vehicle fail inspection if it has tires older than 5 years. Still under discussion obviously but also something to think about even if you buy new tires - look for the date codes as tires at some discount places can be almost 2 years old before you even get them.

 

I hope they dont judge a tire solely on the manufacture date....I just purchased some tires manufactured in 2002 for my Corvair. They were warehouse leftovers stored climate controlled indoors and had a powdery protective stuff on them. Its hard to find 13" tires in the correct size these days (unless you want to pay Coker insane money) so I got what I could find. They dont have any rot, they are soft like a new tire should be, and look great. They drive fine also. Storage conditions play a very large part in tire condition...

 

I agree - I believe there are going to be special considerations for classic/antique cars among other things. I'm sure it will be good and complicated by the time any state actually implements it. I wondered the same thing when I first heard it - friend of mine has an 84 911 which only gets about 1k miles a year if it's lucky. Tread will probably never wear out while he owns it!

 

Yall take a look and let me know what you think. The cracks appear to be extremely shallow. The other 3 tires are the same date but are in extremely good condition. In the second pic where the tread begins those aren't cracks, just how the dirt settled.

 

I dont know how those tires are made, but that looks like a seam between a core and a tread cap. I have driven on far worse tires....

 

There seemed to be those cracks on anyplace where the rubber was beveled in any way but very little (if not any at all) cracks in random spots. I'm beginning to think it may be fine.

 

The way tires are stored makes a lot of difference. Tires that are sitting in direct 90 degree sunlight for years are going to be a lot worse than tires in a 60 degree enviornment with low humidity and under cover.

 

I see an awful lot of vehicles come through my shop with tires in similar or worse shape. That said, I wouldn't have them on my truck and try to talk my customer into replacing them as well. Once you get the cracking around the perimeter it doesn't take long for the tire to deteriorate further and sometimes even faster. It was mentioned earlier moisture may also be a factor on the belts if the cracking is severe enough.