halfbiked

It appears my tires are wearing out. This is a little annoying, as they don't have very many miles, though they are somewhat old. Basically, an 'X' pattern is appearing in the sidewalls. Looks to me like cords are poking through the sidewalls. The tires are on a mountain bike, a fairly aggressive tread, made by Onza. When I bought these tires, I got a deal because they had been discontinued. I bought them sometime in the last century/millenium, though I don't recall what year. Shortly thereafter I didn't bike as frequently until this past year. Now I'm mostly on pavement. make that 99% on pavement. More recently the tires have been used in temperatures between 15°F and 30°F, and stored down to -20°F (minneapolis winters!).

Is it likely these tires are shot?

jeff williams

Poking or you can just see them?

If the wall is colored you'll see them easier.
Look for cracks around the knobs or if any of the matt layer is seperating.

If you unmount the tire you can feel how thick the matt is. The walls can be fairly thin, my kevlar ones are, I can see threads -they dont stick out though.

Get new tires, a great way to refresh a bikes ride.
Go to a 1.5 semi-slick if you are on the road maybe.

Also with worn or single replacement, the best tire is always front. You can put your less worn front rear, and buy a new front -never do the reverse.
A front tire failure will more likely bring you down (road), mtb it's steering traction preferred (same, front).

I also thought tires without cross thread layers were inferior to black ones that don't have them, or maybe the layer is just not visible???

I might have to cut up an old tire to find out!