Was finishing off the winter detail today and the last thing I needed to do was the wheels - take them off, clean and wax them - so off I went.
Took off the first front wheel and when I turned it round I saw an area of tyre that had been marked by a yellow crayon. I wondered as it wasn't me and it wasn't there last time I took the wheels off. I worked out that it must have been the dealers when it was in having the new steering rack the other week and on looking closer I realised what they had done - they were highlighting the fact that there were cracks on the sidewall of the tyre!!!
Something they omitted to tell me when I went and picked the car up!!! They're usually very good, but I guess it got overlooked (to tell me). I'll be 'having words' on Monday! lol
So, carried on taking the other wheels off and saw the same on the other front tyre - yellow markings and more splits on the sidewalls!! On the backs, no yellow markings as they never had those whells off, but on looking - yet more splits and much worse than the fronts!! An example of one of them...
The splits go around practically the whole edge of the tyre!!!
Trying to work out what has caused it. The camber etc. should all be set up fine. The tyres have worn evenly across the width of tread so that would suggest the camber is fine. The tyres are 92W so of a load rating higher than is needed for my car. It's only on the inside of the tyres, not a sign of any cracking at all on the outside - so I'm a bit baffled. Being on the inside, that part of the tyre has never had any tyre gel etc. on it so that can't be a reason. I wonder if it's the opposite i.e. it's lost it's natural oils and cracked?, whereas the outside edges have had regular applications of tyre gel and have no signs of cracks at all.
I'm going to go down to my local tyre place tomorrow and see what they have to say - see if there's any mileage in getting Dunlop technical involved. The potential problem I may have is that the tyres - Dunlop Sport 01 225/40/18 92W - were what were on the wheels that I bought from another member earlier this year, so no invoice for the complete wheel/tyre combo or the tyres themselves i.e. no proof of purchase. So not sure if that will be a problem, I'll explain it to the tyre place and see.
Worst case scenario is I'll need to pay for four new tyres out of my pocket. I'll definitely have to replace them as there's no way I'm driving up to the NE knowing they're like that. At least they were done to 4/4.5mm so weren't too far away from needing replaced - I don't run tyres lower than 3mm. I'd hoped they'd have seen me through winter, so all I'm doing is replacing them just a bit earlier.
I'm just glad I spotted it today and didn't find out with a tyre blowing at speed on the motorway! I'll definitely be asking the dealer what happened - when the tech was sharp-eyed enough to notice it (when it wasn't the wheels/tyres he was working on), and even marked them, why I wasn't then notified of it when I went to get the car.
Will update tomorrow after I've been to the tyre place.
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