I bought a set of FIRESTONE Firehawk tires 5 years ago for one of my classic cars. the car has spent most of it's tome up on blocks, the "Nubs" are still on them. on 3 of the 4 tires, the white letters are cracked, all through the letters & into the surrounding black sidewalls, to the extent of they are bulging, ready to blow. OK, they are 5 years old, but less than 2000 miles & never exposed to bad weather, sitting on concrete, or curb rash. I've had "Off brand tires" that have never given me any trouble way past 5 years. Has anyone had this problem ? I was always warned to stay away from firestone for this very reason, this once I got talked into buying a set. Like the Raven said "NEVERMORE" !

You may have bought them 5 years ago but what does the date code say, they could have been on the shelf for years when you bought them. The date code is melted into the sidewall after the tire is made so it looks like a stamp. It's right after the DOT label but may only be on one side of the tire. It should be 4 numbers, the first two representing the numerical week and the second two being the year.

0110 would be the first week of 2010
4211 would be the 42nd week of 2011
Etc.

Unfortunately tire dealers won't typically warranty the tire under the manufacturers tread life warranty, it says right in the fine print they don't cover sidewall cracking due to ozone or weather exposure. However if you call firestone directly and explain, they will most likely send you to the nearest dealer and give you a good will percentage toward a new tire purchase. It's usually 25,50 or 75% based on the facts given. The number should be 800-367-3872

-Joe

I just bought some Firehawk Indy 500's for my '66 Toronado last year... I had it up on blocks all winter though. I hope I never have this problem... those tires were a pain in the arse to get. Nice tires though

[This message has been edited by Twilight Fenrir (edited 03-17-2012).]

Tires that sit can crack easily due to the oxidation of the plastisizers in the rubber compound near the surface.

Driving the tires and heating them up redistributes the plastisizers and prevents premature cracking.

The rubber compounds used in tires will oxidize (break down) naturally due to nothing more than exposure to air. Whenever I get new tires for a vehicle that will not be a daily driver I always pull the rims/tires off the car right after purchase and spray the entire outer surface of the tire with spray can silicone. I hose them down. When I'm done the tires look like I've emptied a bottle of Armor All on them. A short drive will wear the silicone off the tread surface, but that coating of silicone works wonders to slow the aging process due to oxidation.

[This message has been edited by lateFormula (edited 03-17-2012).]

quote Originally posted by lateFormula: The rubber compounds used in tires will oxidize (break down) naturally due to nothing more than exposure to air. Whenever I get new tires for a vehicle that will not be a daily driver I always pull the rims/tires off the car right after purchase and spray the entire outer surface of the tire with spray can silicone. I hose them down. When I'm done the tires look like I've emptied a bottle of Armor All on them. A short drive will wear the silicone off the tread surface, but that coating of silicone works wonders to slow the aging process due to oxidation.

Huh... never heard of that... I'll have to give that a try. Thanks!

So of all the tires I have here ( some dated 1987, a spare, still like new) 6 are 2004, NONE of them have ANY defects,dry rot, cracks. ONLY FIRESTONE. These are not "Surface cracks", Not dry rot , they are more than 1/8" deep, almost to the "cord". I don't expect firestone to do "anything", just stating a fact.

i work for firestone and see them all the time. i have seen 14 year old firestone tires on a car before... 5-6 year old tires are cracking a little bit, but hell i had 10 year old firestones on my fiero for atleast 2 years and they were fine, not severe cracking. no experiance with the firehawk 500's they are the odd muscle car sizes, and are not very common. they toss old tires after 4 years i think... so they can be 5-9 years old? anyway..

from experiance i would not buy firehawk gt, or potenza grid 19's, they cup,and are heavy as hell. the 760/970/S-04 are good dry performance tires. nice and sticky. and the turanza serenity's are the best all around imo.. hella good ride, grip, etc.. not trying to sell you on firestones, its just what ive seen/ tested/ etc.

ok i stop defending my brand now.

The second set of tires for my 87 GT (bought 1990) were Firestone Firehawks. They suffered from sidewall cracking and tread cracking. They were only on the car a couple of years and were replaced. I only put on maybe 10,000 miles on those tire. I never went back to the Firstone brand.

I wanted to get Firestones for my Toronado, because Firestone made special tires, just for the car back when they came out, the Firestone TFD's. They are, of course, no longer available, but I wanted to stick with the spirit of it. Plus, the Firehawk Indy 500's are just sexy :P And have really good reviews on Tirerack.com I'll go get some silicone spray and hose them down every couple of months, just for good measure. They were a pain to track down, and I'd like them to last a long time.

Curious, I ran a search on tire crackling, and found a nice comprehensive information here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tir...chpage.jsp?techid=30

Basically, summing it up is: Sitting in one place is bad. Sitting in the sun is bad. Cleaning the tires with tire-shiners is bad, running tires low is bad (obviously).

My olds sits in a garage all winter, so no sun issues. And it gets a bunch of miles come summer... so I should be alright for a few years. I guess having to replace them every 4-5 years wouldn't be so bad though...

[This message has been edited by Twilight Fenrir (edited 03-18-2012).]

We don't have auto inspections in Indiana, but I bought my car out of state and was told that the tires that were on it would not pass inspection in most states due to their age (I was told that 6 years or older is not legal). They were Goodyear Eagle GT+4's that had less than 2000 miles on them, but they were 8 years old. They still looked brand new. They rode really good but I replaced them for fear of a the belts seperating.

[This message has been edited by docholliday (edited 03-18-2012).]