kmagvette

I just got a set of Hoosier WETS, NC85 compound, from a used rubber dealer Sorry. Anyway, each of the sidewalls has cracks on them. The vendor is suggesting this is normal. I am not comfortable with that answer, but I am not a tire expert either. The vendor has been very good over the past 5 years. I was hoping that a few of you racer guys would opine. Here are some links to pictures. Could they be freeze cracks? Are they safe to use?

Crack1
Crack2
Crack3
Crack4
Crack5

drivinhard

I have seen Hoosiers do that from being on the car when flat (being moved/rolled, etc)

CHJ In Virginia

What are the date codes on the tires - older codes 3 or more years old will be a hardness problem. How far down do the cracks in the rubber go ? Are they all the way to the sidewall cords ? If they are, I would ask for my money back. If the cracks are not deep and the date codes are fairly recent, I would run the tires while watching closely for any further deterioration or depth increase in the crack areas.

kmagvette

Best I can tell there are no date codes...I looked. These are not DOT tires, the only designation melted into the side wall is NC85, there is another oval next to that where I would expect the date codes, but it is blank.

froggy47

They look superficial to me, but I have never had an A6 DOT tire with that.

If you paid full price for them, I would not be happy, it looks to me like it has to do with age.

Why not call Hoosier and ask them about it?

A lot of tires sit around a LONG TIME, and under what conditions? You never really know.

Olitho

Rain tires tend to sit around for many years. I am on my third set of rains and I remember my first set started to crack despite the limited use. The cracks struck me as superficial, but could also tell from a simple fingernail durometer test that they were aged and not good for racing... perhaps track days, but not racing.

Sidney004

I had a similar experience with Goodyear slicks, so my experience may not relate to Hoosiers but.... I was only able to tell if they were usable or not by mounting and inflating them. The bad ones were leakers, they would lose air pressure thru the sidewall cracks. If they were able to hold air or had a very slow leak, I used them.

kmagvette

Couldn't come up with a good reason not to call them. Awesome folks to talk to. They took a look at the pictures and rendered the following assessment: 1) The cracking is not a significant issue. It is the junction between two different compounds and that happens with age. 2) They are old. The last possible year they could have been made is 2007, without any explicit markings, the real age is just a guess.

The vendor sold these as manufactured last year, clearly not the case, and as having more than 75% rubber left - also not the case. Call tags are to be issued as well as a refund when the tires arrive.

Just hope it does not rain this weekend.

Sgt.Gator

I wonder if you had called Goodyear if you would have gotten the same service?