Tire cracks?!?

[ultrarunner]

I wonder if Nylon tires no longer exist? They seem to last forever... the downside is when cold they would have a flat spot that took a mile or two to go away... still remember thinking something was wrong and then learned typical with nylon tires... I bought these at Wards...

 

[PILOON]

Way back tires were made of natural rubber and were tan in color until Mr Binney (or Smith) added carbon black to shield from UV rays.
Hence the birth of black tires.

Wisely they patented the process.

And the founding of Binney & Smith, the Crayola makers.

While not a tire expert, I wonder if lack of carbon combined with a more plastic like compound is not todays tire problem.

 

[ultrarunner]

I still have a set of those all natural rubber tires... not easy to find and tire life is miserable!

And yes they have cracks but I figure Firestone can't warranty them forever...

 

[RSR]

The tire saga continues ... After being informed by the helpful lady at Carlisle that they would replace my two cracking tires under warranty, I happily waited their arrival. A week later, 1 tire showed up.

Ummmm...

A call to Carlisle straightened out that they had messed up and only sent one. So, they would get the other one out quickly. Great!

It showed up today. When I placed it next to the other tire, it looked noticeably "grayer" in color. That's odd, I thought. On a whim, I decided to check the manufacture date. Now, I'm no expert on this, but I have read that there is a 4 digit code on the tire with the first two digits indicating the week of the year, and the last two digits indicating the year that the tire was manufactured. (Can someone confirm this?)

If that is true, imagine my surprise when I see that the code says 3415. So, they sent me a 4.5 year old tire to cover a warranty claim?!?!?!