Wife's 2010 Honda Element in for service, only about 30k miles. Of course they sell her a battery for $130. Tires have adequate tread they say they recommend replacement because they're "dry rotted". They are the original tires and car is garaged. We don't live in Phoenix either. Anybody ever hear that term used about tires? $730, such a deal. She didn't fall for that one. One out of 2 isn't bad!

 

Tires will dry rot but thought it took years to do.. of course it all depends on the weather..

 

Yea, takes many years to do and heat. Not that short of time.

 

Some companies are now saying 6 years is when a tire should be taken out of service regardless of the tread left ... but this should be from date of manufacture so it becomes important to know where to look for that info on the tire ... other say they are good for 10 but inspect every year after 5 . . .


http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/n...-age/index.htm


http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/how-...our-tires.html


tires on a 2010 should be OK BUT at a minimum look at the sidewalls ... are they cracking?


Tires on my 79 looked fine but I knew they were 10 years old so replaced for piece of mind . . and I change out batteries at 5 years regardless. That's my background tho .. safety first.

 

I am no tire expert, but it it pretty easy to spot the signs of dry rot. Check for cracks on the sidewalls, and separation of the tread. If you see evidence of cracking, that's dry rot. If you see it, I would replace the tire, regardless the condition of the tread. You probably won't expierence a blow out (I never have, and I have ridden far too long on a dry rotted tire in my youth), but if my wife was driving, I'd pony up that cash to make it safe for her to drive.

 

They are probably 5 years old, we've had the car 4.5 yrs. Like I said our temps are 15-20 degrees below Phx. I'll take a peek at sidewalls, but this sounds like more of a "well dressed middle aged lady brings 4.5 year old car in for service, nothing's been spent on it here and it's out of warranty now." situation. $130 battery lol. I once drove to Tucson with rear tires so bad I could see some cord. Got off the freeway and BAM! Loudest sound I ever heard a car make lol. Thanks for the info though. Is that why RV owners cover their tires with those things?

 

I've had plenty of dealers try to sell me un-needed stuff over the years and frankly the first MINI dealer I had experience with was the worst .... and I wasn't a well dressed lady . . . 02's didn't have brake wear sensors and right after mine went out of maintenance I put EBG Greens and Brembo rotors on it. Had to go to the dealer soon after for SOMETHING and they told me I needed new pads RIGHT NOW - I'd never had pads replaced under maintenance and was around 30,000 miles; the new pads had a couple of thou on them. I passed the word around to my fellow owners in town and sure enuf, almost everyone got the 'you need now' line ... all being gear heads we knew it was B.S.


BUT $130 isn't totally out of line for a battery, last one I bought was $120 at AutoZone ... dealer is GONNA charge for install .. that's their bread and butter.


So take a look at the tires .... it might be a valid concern - but I'd never buy tires from a car dealer!

 

Battery costs are pretty high anymore for a good battery. The batteries I sell at my dealership are $109.95 plus $25 flat charge (no matter what car it is) to install. Our Cost on the battery is $99. I work at a Toyota dealer, so I would imagine Honda to be close to the same cost. The past 3 years I've watched battery costs jump nearly 40%. I'm not sure why the huge jump the past few years. I bet it has something to do with a shortage of magical charging fairys or something.

 

p.s. got rid of a 2003 ELEMENT about a year ago ... 150,000 miles and was going strong 'til the a/c failed and tranny started acting up .. could not see investing in so much repair but 'til then a good car. Rotors on that dang thing showed no wear and I'd changed the pads at about 100,000 . . .


Son had it at the time and got a couple of thou in trade on a Focus ST . . .

 

p.s. 2
we didn't exactly answer the original question


what IS dry rot as applied to tires?


http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...tires-15408787


"Tires do degrade over time, though, and that process is called dry rot. "

 

Everyone's advice above it pretty good. However, the last place I would trust would be a dealer (long story). If you're still concerned, take it to a tire dealer like Discount Tire and get a second opinion. They should be a bit more honest than the dealer.

 

+1 on going to a 2nd party to get the tires looked at...
Some tires dry rot faster due to manufacturing errors...have seen them go in as little as a year...
Excessive use of tire shine can do it too...

 

I've read about tire aging and replacing, but I can't find any information on the aging of run flats. By my (possibly wrong way of thinking), run flats shouldn't have the same time constraints because of their construction. In other words, they may dry rot, but a blowout wouldn't be as devastating on a run flat as on a regular tire.

Does anyone know of any information on this regarding run flats? Obviously the tire companies want to sell tires so it may be hard to find accurate information if it would decrease their tire sales.

 

Runflats are the same...
Ozone in the air degrages the rubber...hardens it...
Any crack deep enough to see cord is "fatal".... And even shallow cracking from dry rot is a danger...
Any tire can fail...to say a runflat tires deal with aging different IMO just changing the " risk" you assign the danger of loss of control due to a blowout....
A flat runflats still handles like crap....and they STILL CAN DELAMINATE....aka, throw off the tread portion....the "safety" added by a runflats I'd they can run on zero air for a bit, with the sidewalks supporting the weight....but the rubber still ages internally....

 

I have a friend whose tires did the same thing a few years ago. The tire store attributed it to too many brushless car washes.

 

...touch-free carwashes.

 

Here's a pic of a sidewall of her tire, they all look the same. I'm not seeing a problem here. The tires are 5 years old with about 28k miles, they are not runflats and car is always in garage.

 

Seems like classic stealer behavior to me.

Dry rot is uncommon with modern tires unless the car has sat for a long time (and then, not exactly modern tires by definition), but sidewall issues due to running low pressure for too long are pretty common. Particularly for drivers that don't get their cars checked/check out their own cars regularly.

 

I agree. They see nice looking middle aged lady come for service in 5 year old Honda and BAM, sell her a battery for $130 (OK with me) and if she goes for that you go for the quinella and do the dry rot tire routine. For you only $750 if you buy today.You don't want your tire coming apart on the freeway mam, do you?

 

I've got a 2012 Mercedes with Michelin Pilots on it. Dealer called me and said the same thing. "Your tires are dry rotted". I called BS and went to the dealer. They took me out to the shop with the car on the lift and let me look at it. I saw no dry rot as I looked at the side walls. I pointed it out and he says "No, look at the tread". Sure enough, the tires were dry rotted in the tread area and nothing on the side walls! They hadn't seen that before according to the service writer. Of course no warranty due to being the tires that came on it of the showroom floor.

 

We are also degrading the Ozone while the Ozone degrades our tires, bummer.

 

An old Russian trick is to put your new tires on the roof of your garage for a few months to "harden them up" The volatile oils evaporate out and the tires last longer on the car.

I don't know what it does for traction though.

Dave

 

Check with Tire Rack before even going to the stealer. They will ship to a shop of your choice

 

Read the date code on the side wall of the tires. You may think they are 5 years old, but it is possible the tires had a few years on them before they were installed.

I've had 2 sets of tires show symptoms of dry rot. A set of Toyo's & the Dunlop runflats on my wife's MINI. Both showed cracking in the tread grooves. I replaced them at the first sign of dry rotting. Having a tire come apart at speed isn't fun.

I agree with not buying tires from the dealer. That is not their area of expertise & they charge crazy money. You'll get a better deal at any tire store.

 

^ This is what crossed my mind.