Just noticed the other day when having a quick look under the car the n/s/f tyre (the tyre that takes most abuse from roundabouts ) has several cracks/splits running along the inner sidewall, It looks to have split next to the join where the tread is joined to the sidewall, its almost like someone has run a small blade around certain parts of the tyre. The splits dont look deep, more like just abit bigger than a hairline crack that you can open up abit . How dangerous is it driving with the tyre like this, I know people that havent noticed these cracks until they come to change the tyres, or is it that bad I shouldnt drive the scoob until its replaced?

Fair enough the front two tyres are both Wanli (aka ditch finders) 215/35/18 but they are like new, only approx 2k miles on them both and both inflated to 34psi, no track days and even had to run an engine in on them for 1k miles so havent abused them too much.

I take it this means me buying 2 new tyres as I cant replace just the one on the same axel, and I dont want to buy another Wanli. Ive recently replaced the rears with Yoko Parada spec 2 which ive found very good, they grip so much more than the front so its quite prone to understeering at the moment, so hopefully two of them at the front should settle it down.

Cheers

 

Unfortunately, I split a bit of a chunk in the outside sidewall of my front nearside tyre - took it to the tyre place to check it out and they said as long as inner fabric is not breached or visible then integrity of tyre wall is OK, but might fail MOT.

If I were you, best to err on safety side and take it to tyre place to get a (hopefully honest and not rip-off) opinion.

 

Ozzy

What load rating are they and which model are they fitted to?

The reason I ask is that it's difficult to find any 215/35x18 tyres that have a high enough load rating for the front of an Impreza and this is the sort of thing that can happen if the tyre is being used outside of it's load rating. Basically the inner sidewall runs too hot and the rubber starts to crack, sometimes leading to tyre failure.

Mike

 

Cheers for the replies.

The load rating on the side of the tyre says 215/35 ZR 18 84Y Extra Load, and the car is a 1999 STi5 saloon. The opposite tyre doesnt appear to have any splits in it, but then again that I suppose that doesnt take as much stress from roundabouts.

I'll take the wheel off and have a good proper look when it stops raining.

 

After taking the tyre off, the splits are only small but go round the wheel quite alot, so decided not to risk it and have bought another two yoko parada spec 2's. So just waiting for friday for them to be delivered, thats another £200 quid gone