5 year old Cooper Cobras cracking…… ?. Anyone else? ?

[64fury74charger]

Looking over my car and I noticed the tires are cracking and that means no drive time until new tires are installed.

I am not happy with this situation because the tires are just barely 5 years old and have been balanced and rotated as I do with all my cars. Has anyone else noticed this with either cooper or other brands of tires recently??

I guess I expected to run these tires at least into the 10 year old time frame and then replace due to age, not cracking. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Charles Cook]

Damn. Contact the people you purchased them through. They are dated on the sidewalls. That’s a safety issue. They may prorate them for you. But do you really want another set of those is the question.

 

[WileE]

Made in Mexico.

 

[Charles Cook]

Yep

 

[Cojohnso1]

Si. We Probate you Señor?
Lol.

I wish you luck!

 

[64fury74charger]

Purchased at Discount Tire and I am going to talk with them. I am aware they are made outside of the US, what isn’t these days.
I really am disappointed but I am going to research more tires and see what else is available. Wet weather performance is absolutely essential for me and these tires have done very well.

I may have to get less expensive tires which usually means less quality but maybe that’s no longer true. There are numerous tires for about a third less cost that claim great wet weather performance, but my big heavy Charger will certainly sort that out quickly.

 

[bandit67]

I switched over TO Cooper Cobras just because of that same issue I had with the B F Goodrich RWLs. I don't put a bunch of miles on some of my cars and with the B Fs I was barely getting five years with massive disintegration . I better check mine.....sure I m close to five years on them......

 

[Charles Cook]

I need to check mine out tomorrow. I have both BFGs and Cooper Cobras.

 

[khryslerkid]

Looking over my car and I noticed the tires are cracking and that means no drive time until new tires are installed.

I am not happy with this situation because the tires are just barely 5 years old and have been balanced and rotated as I do with all my cars. Has anyone else noticed this with either cooper or other brands of tires recently??

I guess I expected to run these tires at least into the 10 year old time frame and then replace due to age, not cracking. Any thoughts on this?

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How much exposure do they get to the outside elements especially direct sunlight?

I bought mine in 2017 and forgot to check the date on them before I had them mounted. They can sit in storage for quite awhile. The dates on mine are 2013, already four years old. So now they're actually eleven years old! They still look good with no cracks of any kind. The car is garaged kept. Tires were made in Mexico also.

 

[davek]

whats the date on the tire? My Coopers are over 7 yrs no problem.

 

[bobsgtx]

Find the date code on the tires. It will be a 4 digit number after "DOT". It is only on one side. First 2 numbers are the week and last 2 are the year. "4318" is 43rd week of 2018. Always check date codes on tires and batteries to make sure you are getting what you're paying for.

 

[Cojohnso1]

My Cobras are 10+ years old. And not seeing the weather cracking you showed. My problem is getting any service or mounting of this old of tires. Some places won't. And I haven't had the best experience with Good Year. From low profile performance tires. To Good Year slicks. I've done better with Cooper Cobra street and Hoosier slicks. And saved some $$.

 

[Charles Cook]

whats the date on the tire? My Coopers are over 7 yrs no problem.

All but one.

 

[davek]

All but one.

you are correct Mike, but that tire was worn from bad tie rod.

 

[Charles Cook]

you are correct Mike, but that tire was worn from bad tie rod.

Lol

 

[64fury74charger]

Find the date code on the tires. It will be a 4 digit number after "DOT". It is only on one side. First 2 numbers are the week and last 2 are the year. "4318" is 43rd week of 2018. Always check date codes on tires and batteries to make sure you are getting what you're paying for.

I will have to check the dates on my tires. I didn’t do it when I bought them. Either way they should at least give me some credit for these tires. I am still really bummed about this situation.
I don’t want to spend even more money on Michelin tires like my daily driver because I don’t drive this car if the temperature is anywhere near freezing . The Michelin tires on the Camry already have over 45k on them and still look really good. But that’s a different kettle of fish.

 

[RemCharger]

You might have to look on the insides, sometimes they only stamp one side

 

[64fury74charger]

All 4 tires have R7M2 next to the dot stamp. Is this a date code?
If what is this date?

 

[64fury74charger]

Mine are mounted with the white letters inside so maybe I need to look there.

 

[64fury74charger]

Ok, maybe I got it right this time. 0319 and that should be March of 2019 which means the tires were somewhat “fresh” when I got them. Really unfortunate for them because now they will lose my support and I will search out different brands and go from there.

I hope this helps anyone else here who may be considering buying tires. I can assume that most of us generally only drive our classic cars in better weather and like me replacing tires more based on aging out rather than wearing them out. All I ask is to get around 10 years of reasonable service without falling apart.