Tire Degradation

While vehicle owners can rely on tread wear gauges and their tires' wear bars to assess the need to replace worn tires, they must rely on visual inspection to spot surface cracks that also reflect tire degradation.

The fact is that tires are constantly exposed to

• acid rain
• harsh chemicals
• vehicle exhaust
• ozone
• direct sunlight
• fluctuating temperatures

that eventually lead them to lose some of their elasticity and cause them to develop surface cracks.

These small fissures in the rubber compounds may eventually develop on sidewalls or at the base of the tread grooves as a result of overwhelming anti-aging chemicals.

Once they appear, they can compromise safety as much as worn treads.

TIP: "Weather checking," "weather cracking," "ozone cracking," or whatever name surface cracks go by may also be caused by curb abrasion and excessive use of tire cleaner and dressings.

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