Vittoria tires cracking
 

A lbs told me I needed now tires since mine have cracks. They are Vittoria Zaffiro road tires that are only 2-3 years old and don’t have a lot of miles on them,
I keep my tires inflated.
I read some reviews that said Vittoria tires tend to crack early.
I hate to start another tire thread but I have a simple question- I think.
Are the Continental Grand Prix 5000 AS TR tires a good choice for general paved mup riding?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b76063252.jpeg
Is this bad or just normal? I’m not sure if this is what he was talking about.

It is bad and also not normal. I like Vittoria but I haven't used their lower cost tires, just the Corsas and Rubino Pros. The GP5K is a fine tire though and would be a good replacement.

Get Schwalbe Marathons. They never crack. I have one still looks like new with 1,600 miles I think, and it was in the closet 8 years.
Nice thick tread for most roads. I also tested this with my SA drum hubs, 39-0 hard stops made easy.

If the tires were frequently exposed to direct sunlight that would make them more susceptible to cracking.

My Caledonia came with Vittoria Zaffiro Pro tires and I figured that when they wore out, I'd replace them with higher-end tires. I've had the bike almost four years and the tires have given me good service. They ae the only tires I've had that wore out without ever getting a flat, and they seem durable, so I bought the same tires as replacements. I wore the rear tire out about a year ago and replaced it with another Zaffiro Pro. The front tire has not worn out yet. The tires are relatively inexpensive, and I like the way they ride, although maybe if I tried something higher-end I'd like them better. To directly address the OP, there's no cracking and I've had no other problems with them. Based on my experience, I'm inclined to recommend them. I'd be happy to hear from others about what I'm missing by not having GP 5000s or something equivalent.

They were only exposed to sunlight while riding and on my bike rack going to and coming from the trails. Otherwise it was in my garage.

I don’t remember exactly when I bought the tires. It may be closer to 4 years ago.

I used Rubino Pros for years. I started having dry rot with them a few years ago and switched to GP5000s. These also dry rot but not as fast or as bad. Might have to do with storing the bikes in the garage, where it gets hot.

How warm is it in your garage? If very warm, it could be a heat related issue. I see that you live in Texas. That could be part of the problem

My bike came with Vittoria Corsa N.EXT (stupid name!) tubeless tyres. The back one got replaced at about 4,000 miles because it was worn out. The front one I've just replaced at about 2 years old because the top layer was starting to crack and peel away from the base in places. I replaced the rear with GP 5k AS and so far I've been very impressed. I would have put the same on the front, but just at the moment they don't seem to be very available in the UK - at least, not at a sensible price - so I've put a standard GP 5k on. I don't think I've ever heard a bad word said about the GP 5000 series.I'm certainly a fan.

These are a high performance tire with reasonable puncture resistance. But as I presume you are not racing I would recommend the Pirelli Cinturato Velo as a significantly more puncture resistant, but still quite fast rolling and very grippy tire. I think this would be a better all-round choice, but the GP 5000 AS is not a bad choice either. It’s just a bit more race oriented at the expense of higher wear rate and less puncture resistant.

It does get hot here in the summer and my garage is on the SW corner of my house.

I think I mentioned the wrong tire. The one I am interested in is the Continental Grand Prix 5000. This is in stock at my lbs and is advertised as the best all-rounder in the field with increased puncture protection.
Apparently there are several different Grand Prix 5000 tire models.

I was looking at my lbs website. The tires I have now that are cracking are only $29 each so they are the bottom of their line tire. Almost anything else will be better.

They still shouldn't have.

Another thing that can cause plastic/rubber parts to go bad in the garage is chemicals in the air. Could be either from leaking containers, or ozone from something that's always on (smells like an old slot car track or model train, or fresh rain). And might have happened only once a while ago, not constantly the entire time.

I don’t keep chemicals like that in the garage. It is attached to the house.
I am starting to think they are just cheap tires showing their age.
The cracks in the pic are the worst I can find and there are not many other cracks that I can find.

I won't consider it a normal thing. But I also wouldn't say it hasn't been seen on many different models and brands of tire by a few others at times. Including me.

I also would likely continue to ride the tire with the expectation of reduced useful life. Though I likely would replace it prior to doing a ride that is something special like a organized ride or other big group ride. Or prior to doing more risky riding, such as going down long fast descents.

However for my normal solo riding, with short hills of moderated grade, I wouldn't worry too much. I've had the sidewall of tires rip and the tube come come out of the casing with a lot of noise and shudder to scare the living daylights out of me. In the most recent on 15 year ago, I just slowed down and came to a stop. Other times I had sidewalls that looked like that, they were changed before they failed. Though the tires were ridden for a short time, even with the defects.

Of course YMMV. And you have to assess your own willingness to accept risk. Since my first days on a bike as a young kid and even till now, I've experienced crashes at over 20mph on a bike and come through all but a somewhat recent one relatively unscathed except for bruising and road rash. So far no crashes due to a side wall giving. Just a scare from the noise and vibration when they have happened to me.

It also certainly wouldn't prevent me from buying the same brand and model tire again. The issue you have, like other sidewalls exhibiting such may likely be just certain environmental factors that might even be brief exposure, that your next tire might not ever experience.

I'm going to disagree that this isn't "normal". Rubber can, and does, crack over time for a vast variety of reasons. Sunlight, heat, being near equipment that runs on an electrical motor and produce ozone (furnace blowers, air conditioning blowers, compressors, etc.), age, poor initial polymer composition (aka cheap rubber), etc. can all cause rubber to crack. Oddly, keeping the inflated and letting them sit flat can cause the rubber to crack since the rubber does respond to flexing in much the same way as it does to more chemically based conditions. The "cracking" isn't because the rubber "dries out" but because the rubber can continue to react even after it has been formulated. All of the various conditions (or combinations) cause the rubber to continue to crosslink and lose elasticity. It happens and it is hard to track down all the ways it can happen.

As to whether or not the tires are safe, they likely are. The side wall isn't likely to blow out under pressure and use. The tire is compromised and care should be taken to avoid problems but they probably aren't going to asplod on you suddenly.

And, no, there is not a tire that this will not happen to. It depends on the conditions.

Since the rest of the tire and the other tire look ok I will ride on them. That gives me time to look for new tires without being in a rush.
I may even buy the same brand again but not the bottom of the lineup.

Just MHO:

The cracking probably looks worse than it really is. As long as the rubber on the sidewall hasn't detached, the cords that provide the strength to the tire will contain the tube. Ergo, it's probably fine for riding short to moderate distances at low-ish, bike path speeds.

OTOH, I doubt $30 to $50 per year is going to break your piggy bank, if you're willing to amortize the cost of new tires.

Keep buying the same tires and not worry about finding higher level tires? That does make some sense-at least for me right now. I don’t do hard long rides or race. I will turn 67 this year and really don’t want a tire to come apart while I am riding and dump me.

Would it do any good to wipe the tires with something like 303 Protectant?

There are several different versions of the GP5000, but my previous comments are valid for all of them. They have reasonable puncture protection for a race tire, but not that good compared to the Pirelli Cinturato I recommended. Particularly if you are not running tubeless.

You would get a few minutes of excitement when you go to ride it