Cracking tyres

[tomrichardson]

Hi people,
I purchased a set of bfg at's for my truck in march last year.
The inside walls have started to crack just around the rim. but only on the inside.
Bfg say it is ozone weathering and not dangerous! And thats without seeing a photo.
Camskill say i have to take them off the rims to send them back for a manufacturers inspection. That leaves me with a 4x4 go nowhere vehicle!
Any ideas on what it could be, if i have done anything, or how to tackle the issue?
I have googled the problem and there seems to be a few others with the same issues.
Thanks, Tom

 

[Paul]

You could try for an independant report which is what we do as the supplier tends to be a bit biased.

With BFG's you could try any ATS with a 4x4 dept as they are part of Michelin who own/are BFG at source.

If you post a pic on here i will forward to our suppliers who can be quite helpful as we are big customers.

 

[Ecoman]

Its a possability that the tyres have been poorly stored either at your supplier or at the warehouse. Tyres need to be stored out of the sun to avoid deterioration of the rubber compound.

As Paul says an independant inspection is less biased than a supplier one.

 

[Andrew Prince]

I wonder if you didn't get a dud set of tyres? IIRC BFG had a bad batch of ATs about 2-3 years ago, with lots of cracking cases reported. I think it was this that got the General Grabbers off to such a good start...

My memory fades on this topic but I think BFG outsourced or relocated their manufacturing for the ATs to China and quality control became a problem, leading to the bad batches. They subsequently shifted production elsewhere (US?) and got things back on track. What I am trying to say is your tyres may have been part of the bad run.... You should be able to decipher the date of manufacture from the coding on the sidewall.

Similar problems were reported in South Africa - you may even find some old threads on the topic on various older 4x4 forums (or search our ELCO archive).

Ozone weathering, really? Why don't all BFG ATs crack like this then - BFG are spinning a big yarn I bet they won't be prepared to give you the

it is ozone weathering and not dangerous

in writing when you say that you need it for insurance purposes should a blow-out occur and someone is hurt....

Cheers,

 

[tomrichardson]

thanks guys.
i've spoken to camskill who say because they are not the original size tyre they are considered not fit for purpose, and the alloy wheels may be affecting the way the tyres wear. (although it is the sidewall not the tread)
also generally they get a problem with only one, not all four. mine all have the same DOT no. though so are all from the same batch.
spoke to michelin who want them back for inspection, but to do that i have to buy a replacement set before they will look at them and if found to be faulty i get a refund. if not i end up with 2 sets of tyres and some £800 lighter. nice!!!
i'll try taking them to the local tyre supplier who does bfg and see what they say.

there were a few complaints on the web about cracking sidewalls on these tyres, just where mine are doing so.

 

[Paul]

So are they wearing badly too? If so what are the symptoms?

Also, if they all have the same problem why not just return one of them for the testing and use a spare or buy just one.

By the way, what size are the rims?

 

[Brett]

thanks guys.

spoke to michelin who want them back for inspection, but to do that i have to buy a replacement set before they will look at them and if found to be faulty i get a refund. if not i end up with 2 sets of tyres and some £800 lighter. nice!!!

I had the same experience with BFG/Michelin my 33 x 12.50 x 15 MT's cracked between the tread blocks. I wasn't prepared to risk buying a new set of tyres on the slim possiblity they'd reimburse me once they'd appraised my tyres, so I gave up in the end.

My last set of tyres, I bought Coopers.

 

[tomrichardson]

Thanks for the replies.
They are 285/65 r18 on atp alloys (8.5 or 9") and have done 3500 miles in the last year since fitting, so haven't even worn the little nibs off yet.
Bfg in america said they didn't need to see photos as it would be ozone weathering!
Im going to a local tyre place that sell bfg on fri to get their opinion.

 

[ajnabi]

You haven't used any extreme wheel cleaning products ... that might of caused the rubber to perish?
Doubt you have ... but it could be a possibility for instance when trying to clean brake dust of your wheels.

IQ

 

[tomrichardson]

nope. nothing but the occasional wash and wax. also that would surely affect both sidewalls and not just the inner one.
when bfg said it was down to ozone weathering, which from reading their website also includes sunlight, it made me laugh. i must have the only landcruiser where the sun shines underneath the truck onto the inside of the wheels!!

 

[ajnabi]

... the manufacturing date Andrew speaks of is in the form of week followed by the year... so 2606 would be 26th week of 2006.
Could it be that you have some "old" tyres?

 

[tomrichardson]

the dot no denotes 4307.
the lady at michelin told me at 3yrs on the shelf they scrap them. camskill told me that they have 5 years from manufacture to sell a tyre, which seems a long time to me. this does men they were hanging around for 2 1/2 ish years before i got them.
i'm going to look to see where they were made.

 

[Dark Dude]

If I hear one more bad word about retreads........

John

The Dark Dude

 

[tomrichardson]

i had a set of colway muds on my fourtrak, against the advice of.......oooooh.........everybody i know.
they were fantastic, and did somewhere in the region of 25,000 miles, were cracking off road, but noisy on it. handled ok, considering the fourtrak is no sports car i didnt drive it like one.
i was expecting a lot more of the bfg's.

 

[Dark Dude]

At last, I'm not alone, I have company! Shame the dudes at Colway ran the company into the ground (not my words...Mark Sowden). Like Bronco before them, its seem that Brits are incapable of running a sustainable, green and profitable company for love or money.

John

The Dark Dude