There's a fair few layers to a tyre, I wouldn't be too quick to judge something based solely on the top one!
Have seen plenty of 2-5 year old budget tyres with a perished / micro cracked look to them, but not an outright cause for concern. The result of a poor quality compound I suppose.
Was shocked with a pair of 2 year old Rotalla tyres on my father's Mondeo. Come MOT time it failed on "split - DANGEROUS" tyres. They looked fine when observed from the face and glancing underneath, but sure enough when removed there were horrific splits down to the substructure all the way round the inner sidewalls, not just one, but both. The set of Gerutti tyres that followed were not much better, after another 2 years they had all shouldered down to canvas despite being rotated and re-tracked. El padre still won't plump for branded tyres, some people will never change!
Common sense at the end of the day. The only contention is that we all have to share the road!
Have seen plenty of 2-5 year old budget tyres with a perished / micro cracked look to them, but not an outright cause for concern. The result of a poor quality compound I suppose.
Was shocked with a pair of 2 year old Rotalla tyres on my father's Mondeo. Come MOT time it failed on "split - DANGEROUS" tyres. They looked fine when observed from the face and glancing underneath, but sure enough when removed there were horrific splits down to the substructure all the way round the inner sidewalls, not just one, but both. The set of Gerutti tyres that followed were not much better, after another 2 years they had all shouldered down to canvas despite being rotated and re-tracked. El padre still won't plump for branded tyres, some people will never change!
Common sense at the end of the day. The only contention is that we all have to share the road!