Cracking Sidewalls - Common Occurrence?
 

Hello-

Recently I had a pair of Panaracer Pasela TG tires replaced under warranty because of cracking sidewalls. Panaracer generously replaced them with a set of Ribmos and now after only a few months cracks on the sidewalls have formed on these as well. I don't have a lot of experience with road tires but I have never had sidewalls cracking on any bike I have had before.

Is this a common occurrence? Just looking for some experience with this as far as safety what others have done.

Thanks!

Are you the same megalowmatt from TGP?

It never happened to me. How old were they? I usually replace my tires every two years or so. Maybe they were just defective? Are you riding in extreme conditions?

Adam

Yes...(now where's that smilie where the guy is hiding under the chair ;)) There seems to be a handful of us here from TGP. I've noticed a few of the same names and had some correspondence with others as well.

Small world!

Adam - the Ribmos are only a few months old as were the Paselas. The bike is always stored indoors both at work and home. It's hard to imagine both sets of tires being defective but as much as I like Panaracer as a company maybe it's time to move on and try something else.

Just to add - I live in Southern California so no extreme weather :)

Uh, what's TGP?

Where did you buy the tires from? If from an LBS do you know how long they had them in the store? "New" tires can age and get dry and have ozone type effects if stored too long in bright daylight locations. Store tires like wine, in a dark celler with nice humidity (from what I've read).

I've got a nice set of Nokian studded MTB tires in the garage with many cracks on them due to summer storage in the garage. Too bad because they look almost new otherwise.

If you did buy the tires at a shop maybe ask if they know how long they had them in the store. Just a thought.

Any chance you are riding them underpressured?

I have a set of Panaracer Pasela TG's, in a 700x32 size. The sidewalls have developed little lines and what appears to be very fine cracks. But it's just cosmetic. I don't even worry about it. I never had them blow out on me yet. I can easily get 3000 km out of those tires. I keep mine inflated to about 80 PSI... they are good quality tires and I will buy them again.

Around here you'll find a lot of love for the Schwalbe tires :) Although I like Maxxis a lot as well.

TGP is "The Gear Page" - pretty much the equivalent of Bike forums for guitarists. We argue the finer points of guitars and amplifiers among other things. You think the helmet and Bikes Direct threads are bad here, go visit TGP :lol:

Anyway, I ordered the Paselas from Niagara and then Panaracer replaced those with the Ribmos directly from their warehouse.

wolfchild thanks for that. Maybe I'll just keep riding them and see what happens.


No - I keep the front at 80 and the back at 90 based on a weight calculation I saw here.



I may just give Schwalbe a try.

Megalowmatt-

While cracking isn't necessarily common, it's not necessarily uncommon as well.

Wanderer asked if you are running them under pressure, which is the 1st question we ask when someone experiences this with one of our tires. A sidewall that is "overflexed" is much more prone to sidewall cracking. Always a good idea to check inflation levels at least once a week (if you are not doing this already).

As unsightly as sidewall cracks are, they generally are not of too great a concern. So long as the fabric carcass is intact the tire should be fine. Sheldon Brown covered this in the article that he wrote on tire wear and tire replacement.

Tire Wear-When should you replace your tires?

I experienced cracked sidewalls on Panaracer made tires as well. I guess that's more of an occurrence for some types of their tires then others. In my experience with Schwalbe tires, I never had cracked sidewalls with them. It has something to do with manufacturing process I guess.

Guy - thanks for the response. That's a big help. I always check tire levels either the night before or right before my commute so inflation level shouldn't be an issue. Upon closer inspection with the tires off, the cracking definitely looks to be cosmetic.

matt

I'm betting it's just the rubber, nothing to worry about. I've had Ribmos on my commuter for the last couple years I've ridden them to the cords without issues

Cracking of rubber and rubber-like substances is accelerated by ozone. At ground level, ozone is a product of the reaction of atmospheric pollutants from the combustion of fossil fuels that is accelerated by ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The Greater LA area is notorious for high concentrations of ground level ozone, albeit that great strides of improvement have been made since the '60's.

The Gear Page is where some people would get in a tither about some of the other things in this pic...

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/904/10jan10012.jpg