homerz28

These tires will be two years old in October. They are Z rated Maxxis 275s. I cannot believe they show cracks like these this soon. I never do burnouts just to save the tread, and now they are cracking before I can burn the tread off!

They have about 20k miles on them, and the car never has the luxury of a garage, rarely any shade in the Hot Alabama summer.

How soon should I replace these?

Thanks.

JDEP162

im no expert, but i do have history with tires alot worse than those. ive had tires so dry rotted and cracked i was probly in danger driving at speed on them. and as bad as some were, ive never in my life blown a tire, ever. in my younger days, i had tires that were about 100 times that, and did donuts and what turns out to be drifting on them. so i can at least say u have a few years left on them. look at the date stamp on the side and they shud last till 6 years from then.

mr.beachcomber

Unusual to have the rubber compound between the tread blocks to start cracking so I would contact the manufacturer first to see if there has been a recall that you're not aware of for those tires. (Be sure to have the serial numbers available along with the manufacturing dates when you call.)

Just looking at the photo, it appears that the cracks are superficial so I would continue to use the tires as long as the situation didn't get worse. It might be a good idea to soap bubble check all four tire each tire carcasses off the car to see if you're losing any air.

Gook luck!

RPM WS6

iTrader: (3)

Doesn't look too bad, IMO. But it's odd that it would happen in only two years. Although 20k miles is getting up there for a performance tire. My daily driver has much worse cracking than that, and a lot more years of age, and I'm not worried about it (yet).

Usage and exposure to elements will cause the same tire to age at different rates, so you may or may not see the same lifespan as someone else.

Flubyux2

Are you saying you bought them two years ago or you know they were made two years ago?

Those can be two totally different things.

I have tires that are from 2006 on my subaru that look better than that: Pirelli pzero-Nero and Michelin pilot sport 2's.
the Ta has Yokohama advan es100 from 2008 and no cracks either.

Look for a number cast into the sidewall in an oval. Should be 4 digit.
Example: (4809)
Which translates into the 48th week of 2009. Then you'll know whether or not you got fresh tires 2 years ago for sure.

leadfoot4

iTrader: (1)

Bingo!

homerz28

Ah, I didn't think about that. I bought them two years ago. I just assumed.. Can't look for a date stamp right now it's sitting at the shop trying to chase down a leak. Thanks for all the replys!

BTW, has anyone else ever ran MAXXIS tires on their car, or even heard of someone having them? I hadn't until my guy ordered these for me.

Dr Tran

iTrader: (10)

I run maxxis tires on my mountain bike. I didn't even know they made them for cars haha.

homerz28

Haha yeah that's what I thought. But I went with them. Guess I'll go with cooper next time. My buddy just got a great deal on some for his Cobra and they were beautiful.

SSCamaro99_3

iTrader: (1)

In my opinion the quality difference between Nitto/BFG/Yokohama/Cooper/Firestone/Bridgestone, companies that all make tires for these cars in the $140-170 range, make it well worth it.

The Maxxis/Nexen/Fierce subset in the $100 range just give up far to much to justify the cost vs decrease in quality.

LS199CAMAROZ28

iTrader: (32)

I kinda like my Maxxis tires so far. I got them on a trade deal but otherwise I probably wouldn't have purchased any. Now that I've run them I would buy more.

Someone posted the other day in the road race section that they ran them on a road course with great success. I plan on trying myself sometime.