Cracks on tyre sidewall

bilsea159
bilsea159 Posts: 256
edited October 2012 in Road buying advice
My tyres on my Schwalbe Marathon Tyres are showing cracks on the sidewall, is the tyre still quite safe to use. The tyres are 15 months old and have done 1500 miles in all conditions but still look ok on the tyres contact area.

Comments

  • Plenty of people will say no but the rubber is only there to provide adhesion to the road surface so it will not make any difference. I have run tyres that are over 5 years old with loads of cracks in them, they don't look pretty but they still function as a tyre should. I read somewhere that people get 20,000 miles from marathon tyres and I do believe they are talking years of use so they will be okay.
  • porker33
    porker33 Posts: 636
    In my own experience, once tyres start to crack the rubber has started to deteriorate. They may be safe to use, but the rubber is likely to be less resilient to punctures than a newer tyre where the rubber has more elastic properties.

    At this time of the year I prefer to use newer tyres as I find potential punctures a little annoying and do what I can to prevent them.

    I just find that one year old tyres are not as good as new ones, it doesn't mean they are lethal or anything.