Tires: Toyota Corolla Tire wear, uniroyal tires, underinflated tires

Question
I purchased a new 2003 Toyota Corolla in Sept 02.  I now (3 1/2 yrs later) have only 11,900 miles on the car but the Uniroyal tires are completely cracked all the way around & I'm told need to be replaced immediately.  The warranty is no longer in place (24 month).  My question is: Does this sound reasonable that the tires would be so bad with such low mileage? I don't drive on the freeway and am a safe & good driver.
Thank you.

Answer
Madge,

There are a lot of reasons why rubber cracks, and one of those is excessive stress.  Since you didn't drive the car much, I'll guess that checking the inflation pressure was not one of those things that was done frequently.  Tires gradually leak air - and underinflated tires will cause the rubber to crack quickly.

You might take the tires over to a tire shop and see if maybe the warranty still covers age cracking, but don't be surprised if it doesn't.