Tyres perished at five years?

[bungeejumper]

I was checking out the MOT history on a Range Rover Evoque that my daughter has just bought, and I was a bit surprised to find an advisory on its 2017 record saying that all four tyres were perished on the sidewalls. The car was still three months short of its fifth birthday at the time, and it had done just under 30,000 miles.

That strikes me as a bit quick for all the tyres to have chemically deteriorated. Especially since they must have cost at least £250 a pop. (By comparison, the fronts on my Passat were still good at six years and 50,000 miles.) Or was the MOT examiner saying they were cracked because of low pressure, perhaps?

Just curious.

BJ

[Watis]

Some years ago I was a caravanner and the advice then was to change the tyres, regardless of how much tread life remained, at 5 years, 7 years tops.

A friend once pointed out what he believed were perished tyres on my car, based on the presence of tiny cracks on the sidewalls. Is that the accepted indicator of a perished tyre?

Watis

[richlist]

I have a Mercedes with tyres that are 7 years old. It's just passed its mot test with no comment about perished tyres.

Perhaps the Range Rover has done a lot of off road work.

[sg31]

The tyres on my Mercedes were fitted by Mercedes at 14000 miles just after I bought the vehicle nearly 4 years ago*. I had an advisory on the MOT a couple of weeks ago that there is some perishing evident on all of them although no action is required at the present time. The car has now done 350000 miles. The tyres all have around 4mm of tread left.

* I've no idea what the previous owner was doing to run through a set of tyres in 14K miles. I reckon I will get double that out of this set.

[Lanark]

Sunlight does most of the damage, bigger tyres = more exposed to sunlight

Still its a relatively small expense compared to all the extra fuel a 4WD will use over 7 years.

[richlist]

Sunlight does most of the damage, bigger tyres = more exposed to sunlight

.

That's really interesting. My 7 year old tyres are on a car that spends most of its life in a garage. So that's probably why they're not perished.

However, I have a car in Spain with 8 year old tyres that's permanently parked outside in the Spanish sun......no sign of perished tyres yet.

[redsturgeon]

The car has now done 350000 miles. The tyres all have around 4mm of tread left.

This must be some sort of record.

John

[quelquod]

One of the main issues with caravan tyres AIUI is that they spend lengthy periods static and in daylight. A common recommendation in the past was to drape sacking over them when not in use. As it happens I had a (somewhat alarming) blowout on a caravan bowling down the M5 on 5-year-old tyres a while back and the remaining tyre though it looked OK to me did show some signs of deterioration compared with the spare. Tyron bands prevented a much worse event.

[DrFfybes]

One of the main issues with caravan tyres AIUI is that they spend lengthy periods static and in daylight. A common recommendation in the past was to drape sacking over them when not in use. As it happens I had a (somewhat alarming) blowout on a caravan bowling down the M5 on 5-year-old tyres a while back and the remaining tyre though it looked OK to me did show some signs of deterioration compared with the spare. Tyron bands prevented a much worse event.

Rubber deteriorates if it isn't flexed. You can find WW2 aircraft at the bottom of the ocean and the tyres are still supple as the currents flex them.

There's something in elastomers that means they 'dry out' if they aren't flexed - someone who makes rubber components told me that the flexing prevents the softening agents setting and the rubber 'drying out' and going brittle. This is the same for many rubber seals on a vehicle as well.

The other enemies are sunlight, heat, and oxygen. However it is quite normal for low mileage tyres to get cracked sidewalls after 4 or 5 years, especially if bought from some online suppliers where they often get "out of date" tyres from major tyre fitting chains and they can be 2 years old when they arrive, Oddly a decent tyre dressing and some regular use can close up some of the cracking.

Paul

[Watis]

One of the main issues with caravan tyres AIUI is that they spend lengthy periods static and in daylight. A common recommendation in the past was to drape sacking over them when not in use. As it happens I had a (somewhat alarming) blowout on a caravan bowling down the M5 on 5-year-old tyres a while back and the remaining tyre though it looked OK to me did show some signs of deterioration compared with the spare. Tyron bands prevented a much worse event.

It's a mystery to me why there is still a need for Tyron bands.

Cars have had wheels with rims that keep the tyre on the rim in the event of a puncture for longer than I've been driving. So why are caravans not fitted with similarly designed wheels?

Watis

[88V8]

Our Peugeot sits outside in the sun, rear tyres OK at nine years. My Land Rover ditto, must be over six years.

It's funny how it's the inner sidewalls. I've read that this could be due to driving over speed-cushions.

Our Rolls had old tyres. Looked OK on the outside, but the inner walls were cracked and when the tyres were taken off it could be seen that the tread was detaching itself from the carcass.

I change tyres routinely at ten years. Even those with tubes. Rubber degrades and becomes hardened and slick, they lose their grip and suppleness.
Old tyres; death on four corners.

V8