GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: Sootchucker on 16 November 2021, 10:28
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Hey guys, looking for a bit of advice. When my GTI had it's 1st MOT back in May this year, whilst it passed and had no official advisories, the tester did make a comment that 3 of the 4 tyres were showing signs of cracking on the outer tread blocks, and he said if it got any worse, it could be an MOT failure next year. Now to be honest, I sort of forgot, but when I was cleaning the car the other day, remembered and had a good look, and sure enough 3 tyres display some quite heavy cracking.
The tyres are all the factory original Pirelli P-Zero's (225x35x19) and all all date stamped 01/18 (car was built in April 18, and 1st registered in May 18). Now I know they are over 3 years old, and have 20k miles on them, and most folk I'm sure would just say replace them, but the trouble is all 3 affected tyres still have nearly 5mm on them (lowest has 4.5mm) so no where near worn out yet and still give decent grip. The reason why 3 have gone and not 4, is that the nearside front tyre was replaced early 2019 following a puncture so that has a different build date. Despite this tyre having done over 13,000 miles itself, it's displaying no cracking at all.
Do you guys think this is a manufacturing defect or just the way the car's geometry is set up (although wouldn't explain why the new tyre isn't affected) ? BTW, it's literally just the outer tread block. The remaining 75% of the tread is perfect and none of the 3 main tread grooves display and signs of cracking around the circumference of the tyre ? I'm fairly certain it's not damage due to chemicals as my tyre shine is water based and I don't cover the inside tread block - just the walls. What do you guys think ?
Pictures below:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51683682306_c69625116c_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mK7o7N)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51683950248_dccbbd7a2d_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mK8KLu)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51684358669_463246e8b4_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mKaRbe)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51683950323_42384fbe66_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mK8KMM)
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UV damage?
It would explain why the parts of the tyres that are in the shade of the wheel wells are not affected.
Used to see this on the spare tyres hanging on the back of 4X4s, when I had a Defender the tyre guy told me to get a cover on my spare as UV kills them.
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There's some interesting posts on the subject - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1721307
Personally I would get four new PS4S and enjoy the better grip, better ride comfort and better wet weather performance they offer.
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+1 vote for the PS4s.
I swapped out the factory fit Pirelli for PS4s on my clubsport and love them, better in the dry and WAYYYY better in the wet.
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What's wear life like on PS4's - I don't want a tyre I'm going to have to replace every year because they have worn out ?
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I had 20k miles on mine (PS4S not PS4) when I sold the car and there was a few more miles left in them. Had the same from the P-Zeros. The P-Zeros on my current car are at 16k now and seem to be wearing better than the ones I had before so there must've been a change in design at some point, probably why you also have tread left. But what I disliked about the first set is the same with the new ones, tightness is the only reason I haven't changed them yet.
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Why not email the pics to Pirelli & ask if this is normal.
I had cracking on sidewalls of Pirelli Pzero’s on another car, but the the tyres were about 5 years old and nowhere like yours (car was garaged)
If you are anywhere near Burton-on-Trent it might be worth calling in at the Pirelli performance centre to get there opinion.
I only use Michelin now for performance tyres.
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Funny enough JMS I have this morning, and have already had contact back from them to say they are going to show them to their engineer. I don't expect of course they will be replacing 3½ year old tyres with 20k miles on them for free, but I wonder if they will give a substantial discount if they feel it is a manufacturing defect.
If they are anything like VW though, it will be weeks or waiting then a flat NO :D
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My interpretation of that response would be the person who saw the pics agrees it doesn’t look normal. Fingers crossed for a goodwill gesture!
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This might give you some hope, although they are Nokians
https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/447238-cracked-tyres/
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Have to say that I'm surprised that you didn't get any kind of advisory, I guess as it didn't affect the sidewall's it was ok, they seem to be hot on that sort of thing around me, easy money if the garage also does tyres and could frighten most casual drivers into buying new ones.
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I have some cracking on the front tires of the other half's car, slight deeper than those on 3 year old Michelin's, was reliably informed that will only be a fail if the carcass can be seen beneath the crack!
Was a little surprised, but passed the MoT with no advisories.
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Any update from Pirelli on this?
My inner engineer needs to know….
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Pirelli, have offered to inspect them if I can get the tyres down to them. Obviously without seeing them, they are unwilling (understandable) to commit to anything on the cause of the cracking. still deciding what to do.
They did say however, "Our technician mentioned if you did want to keep running the tyres, you can do as the MOT will only fail if the metal cords are showing."
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What's wear life like on PS4's - I don't want a tyre I'm going to have to replace every year because they have worn out ?
Depends how you drive, I get 8-10k out of a fresh pair on the front. Obviously less if you are swapping front to back when you get new tyres.
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Pirelli, have offered to inspect them if I can get the tyres down to them. Obviously without seeing them, they are unwilling (understandable) to commit to anything on the cause of the cracking. still deciding what to do.
They did say however, "Our technician mentioned if you did want to keep running the tyres, you can do as the MOT will only fail if the metal cords are showing."
Worth a punt to take the car down for inspection Andrew if its only in Staffordshire, you might hopefully get a good deal/replacement tyres from them.
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What's wear life like on PS4's - I don't want a tyre I'm going to have to replace every year because they have worn out ?
Depends how you drive, I get 8-10k out of a fresh pair on the front. Obviously less if you are swapping front to back when you get new tyres.
I'm surprised to hear 8-10k out of the ps4's, I'm on around 12-14k miles on my PS4S's at the minute and they're down to around 3mm now on the front two the rears must be around 5-6mm
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What's wear life like on PS4's - I don't want a tyre I'm going to have to replace every year because they have worn out ?
Depends how you drive, I get 8-10k out of a fresh pair on the front. Obviously less if you are swapping front to back when you get new tyres.
I'm surprised to hear 8-10k out of the ps4's, I'm on around 12-14k miles on my PS4S's at the minute and they're down to around 3mm now on the front two the rears must be around 5-6mm
I had 34,000kms with ~1.5mm tread left on my PS4 when I traded the car. Tyres were rotated yearly, so uniformly worn.
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What's wear life like on PS4's - I don't want a tyre I'm going to have to replace every year because they have worn out ?
Depends how you drive, I get 8-10k out of a fresh pair on the front. Obviously less if you are swapping front to back when you get new tyres.
I'm surprised to hear 8-10k out of the ps4's, I'm on around 12-14k miles on my PS4S's at the minute and they're down to around 3mm now on the front two the rears must be around 5-6mm
You got me wondering so I had to check, lol.
July 2020 to August 2021, 10k, down to the wear bars.
I'd usually change well before 1.6mm but with everything going on, I missed it. The tyre shop picked it up when it was in for an alignment.
It's not a GTI or a PS4 thing, I used to get through a set of rear tyres in 8-10k with my previous cars.
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What's wear life like on PS4's - I don't want a tyre I'm going to have to replace every year because they have worn out ?
Depends how you drive, I get 8-10k out of a fresh pair on the front. Obviously less if you are swapping front to back when you get new tyres.
I'm surprised to hear 8-10k out of the ps4's, I'm on around 12-14k miles on my PS4S's at the minute and they're down to around 3mm now on the front two the rears must be around 5-6mm
You got me wondering so I had to check, lol.
July 2020 to August 2021, 10k, down to the wear bars.
I'd usually change well before 1.6mm but with everything going on, I missed it. The tyre shop picked it up when it was in for an alignment.
It's not a GTI or a PS4 thing, I used to get through a set of rear tyres in 8-10k with my previous cars.
it's a lead foot thing :grin:
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Yup, pretty much. :whistle:
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Hey guys, looking for a bit of advice. When my GTI had it's 1st MOT back in May this year, whilst it passed and had no official advisories, the tester did make a comment that 3 of the 4 tyres were showing signs of cracking on the outer tread blocks, and he said if it got any worse, it could be an MOT failure next year. Now to be honest, I sort of forgot, but when I was cleaning the car the other day, remembered and had a good look, and sure enough 3 tyres display some quite heavy cracking.
The tyres are all the factory original Pirelli P-Zero's (225x35x19) and all all date stamped 01/18 (car was built in April 18, and 1st registered in May 18). Now I know they are over 3 years old, and have 20k miles on them, and most folk I'm sure would just say replace them, but the trouble is all 3 affected tyres still have nearly 5mm on them (lowest has 4.5mm) so no where near worn out yet and still give decent grip. The reason why 3 have gone and not 4, is that the nearside front tyre was replaced early 2019 following a puncture so that has a different build date. Despite this tyre having done over 13,000 miles itself, it's displaying no cracking at all.
Do you guys think this is a manufacturing defect or just the way the car's geometry is set up (although wouldn't explain why the new tyre isn't affected) ? BTW, it's literally just the outer tread block. The remaining 75% of the tread is perfect and none of the 3 main tread grooves display and signs of cracking around the circumference of the tyre ? I'm fairly certain it's not damage due to chemicals as my tyre shine is water based and I don't cover the inside tread block - just the walls. What do you guys think ?
Pictures below:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51683682306_c69625116c_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mK7o7N)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51683950248_dccbbd7a2d_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mK8KLu)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51684358669_463246e8b4_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mKaRbe)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51683950323_42384fbe66_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mK8KMM)
Thread bump on this.
I have a MK8 Gti with the factory Hankook Ventus evo's on 28k ( swopped front to rear) .
They have started to look like this photo too. Not to worried as have some new Michelins ready to go on but just wondering if anyone else has had this issue or any ideas what may cause this??
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I have had this issue on Goodyears and Dunlops recently, the goodyears were only 18 months old when they started showing signs of cracks down the middle of the main water channels (largely shielded from UV light)
I am told it is down to modern rubber compounds and a lot of high performance tyres suffer from it.
The Pzero on our GTI seem fine though and they are 4 years old.
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I have had this issue on Goodyears and Dunlops recently, the goodyears were only 18 months old when they started showing signs of cracks down the middle of the main water channels (largely shielded from UV light)
I am told it is down to modern rubber compounds and a lot of high performance tyres suffer from it.
The Pzero on our GTI seem fine though and they are 4 years old.
Wonder if it could be caused by certain wheel or tyre cleaning products or tyre dressings?
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I have had this issue on Goodyears and Dunlops recently, the goodyears were only 18 months old when they started showing signs of cracks down the middle of the main water channels (largely shielded from UV light)
I am told it is down to modern rubber compounds and a lot of high performance tyres suffer from it.
The Pzero on our GTI seem fine though and they are 4 years old.
The tyre fitter I use says that he sees more Goodyear and Dunlop tyres develop sawtooth issues than other manufacturers. Just started to develop on my mk6 with Dunlops fitted.
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I have had this issue on Goodyears and Dunlops recently, the goodyears were only 18 months old when they started showing signs of cracks down the middle of the main water channels (largely shielded from UV light)
I am told it is down to modern rubber compounds and a lot of high performance tyres suffer from it.
The Pzero on our GTI seem fine though and they are 4 years old.
Wonder if it could be caused by certain wheel or tyre cleaning products or tyre dressings?
Not sure, those things are not normally used on the tread areas.
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I have had this issue on Goodyears and Dunlops recently, the goodyears were only 18 months old when they started showing signs of cracks down the middle of the main water channels (largely shielded from UV light)
I am told it is down to modern rubber compounds and a lot of high performance tyres suffer from it.
The Pzero on our GTI seem fine though and they are 4 years old.
Wonder if it could be caused by certain wheel or tyre cleaning products or tyre dressings?
Not sure, those things are not normally used on the tread areas.
Just mean the shoulder youcan see on pics where dressing has possibly been used.
Would this fail an MOT.?
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AFAIK At this time, unless you can see through to the carcass it is not considered to be an MoT failure
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FWIW I'm having one of my rear Michelin PS4 replaced on Monday. Despite it still having over 3mm tread it's nearly 7 years old, has micro cracks, a sawtooth pattern on the inner shoulder and it's getting noisy like a worn wheel bearing. Not taking a chance as I'm doing a continental road trip next month.
I should really swap the tyres between front and back once a year to even out the wear.
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I have had this issue on Goodyears and Dunlops recently, the goodyears were only 18 months old when they started showing signs of cracks down the middle of the main water channels (largely shielded from UV light)
I am told it is down to modern rubber compounds and a lot of high performance tyres suffer from it.
The Pzero on our GTI seem fine though and they are 4 years old.
Wonder if it could be caused by certain wheel or tyre cleaning products or tyre dressings?
Happened to me way back. I incorrectly mixed a cleaning product I used for the wheels. Tyres ended up scrap. I still use it, correctly mixed and no issues since. Tyres were Goodyear Assy's.
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I have had this issue on Goodyears and Dunlops recently, the goodyears were only 18 months old when they started showing signs of cracks down the middle of the main water channels (largely shielded from UV light)
I am told it is down to modern rubber compounds and a lot of high performance tyres suffer from it.
The Pzero on our GTI seem fine though and they are 4 years old.
Wonder if it could be caused by certain wheel or tyre cleaning products or tyre dressings?
Happened to me way back. I incorrectly mixed a cleaning product I used for the wheels. Tyres ended up scrap. I still use it, correctly mixed and no issues since. Tyres were Goodyear Assy's.
Apc or bilberry etc?