Tires: my tires- dry rotting within the first year?, ford windstar, bad information

Question
Hi barry,

I put 4 new tires on my ford Windstar in Nov. 2006 & with-in 8 months one tire went flat thru dry rotting is what they had said.  So they made me purchase a new tire.  But now another one of our tires is starting to dry rot.  we have driven it for only about 10 months and went about 10,000 mile.  should they be doing that within one year? Would this  just plain bad tires.  Should I accept what the people are telling me & keep buying new tires?


Answer
Jane,

You have been given bad information.

First - tires do not go flat due to dry rotting.

Second - cracking is a natural part of the aging process in rubber, so some cracking is to be expected - even within a year.

The question then becomes one of how much cracking is there and is it at a level to be concerned about?  I suspect the level is not that bad, but that can only be properly assessed by looking at the tires.

Try going to a different tire store and get another opinion.