Are my tires starting to crack/rot or is it wear and tear?

2.5 years from purchase date, or from the manufacture date?

aeba7 wrote: ↑ 2.5 years from purchase date, or from the manufacture date?

from when i purchased the vehicle new.

Does not look like anything is wrong with them.

Warranty wont cover tires, its a wear and tear item.

As for tires themselves, they look fine.

Pete_Coach wrote: ↑Does not look like anything is wrong with them.

bear20 wrote: ↑ Warranty wont cover tires, its a wear and tear item.

As for tires themselves, they look fine.

Oh ok so the little cracks near the tread, thats normal?

thatsnazzyiphoneguy wrote: ↑ Oh ok so the little cracks near the tread, thats normal?

I got my 4 year old Nokians replaced with a partial refund due to cracking like yours and I wasn't even the original purchaser (used car).

The kms and wear though was very low and it took a factory rep to make the call but Kal tire thought the cracking on mine was severe and too soon given the age and mileage.

So to me yes this is a big deal especially if you do a lot of highway driving.

Even if you eat all the cost to replace, most regular cars come with crappy tires so replacing them usually gives you a safer and more enjoyable riding car.

What kind of car and tires?

Shouldn't happen on 2.5 year old tire though.

They look like winter tires, were you running them all year round?

Over inflation?

LOL those tyres look almost like new. I mean maybe we should see some more pics but they look fine to me.

Also, move to "Wheels and Tires" section.

jzmtl wrote: ↑Shouldn't happen on 2.5 year old tire though.

They look like winter tires, were you running them all year round?

Avatar wrote: ↑Over inflation?

ES_Revenge wrote: ↑ LOL those tyres look almost like new. I mean maybe we should see some more pics but they look fine to me.

Also, move to "Wheels and Tires" section.

thanks for the responses.

there michelon all season tires. they have never seen winter (i.e snow or ice or salt) as i have a dedicated set of steel rimes and blizzak winter tires.

its a toyota highlander, purchased brand new in november of 2017.

mileage on car roughly 25,000KM.

thatsnazzyiphoneguy wrote: ↑ thanks for the responses.

there michelon all season tires. they have never seen winter (i.e snow or ice or salt) as i have a dedicated set of steel rimes and blizzak winter tires.

its a toyota highlander, purchased brand new in november of 2017.

mileage on car roughly 25,000KM.

It's a little bit more than usual, but nothing to worry about really.

When I saw the thread title, I immediately thought they would be Michelins. Sure enough, they are.

Not that premature cracking or dry rot doesn't happen with other tire makers - it does, including Nokian as mentioned above.

Chat with any experienced tire guy off the record, and he will tell you which makes suffer from this the most often.

It's not every tire model in a tire maker's range. Just that some of them use sub-standard materials.

Just gone and checked my 15 year old Michelin Premier A/S tires. No sign of any such cracking at the base of the tread blocks as in OP' s picture. Or anywhere else. Only 20K kms though.
Very different design though, compared to OP's tire, with the tread blocks wrapping smoothly around the tire's shoulder rather than looking like they were just stuck on.

The other big factor that enters into this is whether you park outside or in a garage. Big difference. Because of sunlight.

With a new vehicle, there is usually a separate tire warranty, quite vaguely worded but typically for one year.
Even if you were within the timeframe, I doubt they would deem the tires to be candidates for replacement.
They are not unsafe. It's just that Michelin should not be proud of that happening to one of their tire models in 2.5 years of light use.
Doesn't matter they were supplied directly to Toyota factory to meet their specs. and price - that's not a cheap SUV and should have better tires on it.
Maybe Toyota should bear some of the blame. But I am sure they won't.

I had the same cracking, but this time in-between treads. They were Nexen and they were the original tires that came when I bought my car brand new. Had under 40k/4years. Contacted nexen and they gave me just under $200. Used that to buy a set of all-weather.

Generally original tires on new cars are terrible.