Michelin Defender LTX craking

[KrisZ]

The tires are four years old pretty much on the dot and are cracking already. Never had a tire that would do that this soon. They have never been under inflated or abused in any way. I don’t think I’ve ever even used a tire shine on them.

Nothing too alarming at this point, but pretty disappointing from a premium brand.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

You park your vehicle outside? Or garage kept? You do live in the south, so you are going to get more sun.

 

[daves87rs]

Texas heat

 

[walterjay]

I quit using Michelin years ago due to a cracking problem. Cracks were pretty deep. Michelin denied warranty. I denied them a repeat customer.

 

[Pepperjunkie]

I had the same tires , replaced last Nov.
Mine also were cracking like that after 4 years.

 

[4WD]

I quit using Michelin years ago due to a cracking problem. Cracks were pretty deep. Michelin denied warranty. I denied them a repeat customer.

Never owned any Michelin that did not crack - and chip on our gravel roads. We spread our miles across several vehicles - so tires age.
If I had a single vehicle and did 30k/year mostly highway - would run them

 

[4WD]

I had the same tires , replaced last Nov.
Mine also were cracking like that after 4 years.

Seems to be around that age or beyond

 

[dumkid]

every Michelin cracks. they'll still last 6+ years even if they're cracked for the last 4

 

[BLND1]

They’ll last for years still….

 

[The Critic]

Those don't look bad at all.

If you think Michelin has a dryrot problem, you should see how some recent Pirelli's look!

 

[Wheel366]

I have some PS2s on my S4. Been on since maybe 2009, 2010. Other than uneven wear due to alignment issues, no cracking.

 

[CKN]

They’ll last for years still….

How fast should he drive with tires that are obviously starting to weaken?

 

[The Critic]

How fast should he drive with tires that are obviously starting to weaken?

Other brands are also degrading, but they may use a different rubber compound that hides the dry rot a bit better.

 

[IndyIan]

How fast should he drive with tires that are obviously starting to weaken?

The outer few mm of rubber is not really providing any structural strength, its just there to protect the belts(on the sidewalls) and provide grip on the tread surface. Once the cracks get deep enough, then they start letting air and water into the belts and then the tire can weaken fast, but the belts are what's holding the tire together.
I don't really worry about tiny cracks on the tread at all as there's lots of rubber, then lots of belts, but its not ideal to have any sidewall cracking, as now you have to monitor their depth.
From what I saw in the pictures though, I'll run those without worry.

 

[CapriRacer]

Perhaps it is time for me to step in.

The reason we are interested in cracking is that it is an indication of the state of the rubber inside the tire, where it really matters. The cracking itself isn't the problem.

Michelin uses a harder tread compound and a harder lower sidewall compound and those are more prone to cracking. Michelin even publishes a chart showing what level of cracking they think is acceptable and what is not. Here's that chart:

I go into more detail here:

Barry's Tire Tech: Tire Aging and Weather CrackingMichelin Cracking Chart