Motoring Discussion > Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads Miscellaneous
Thread Author: tyrednemotional Replies: 39
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 Mon 28 Mar 16 23:00 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - tyrednemotional
At last MOT, SWMBOs 2011 Fiesta had an advisory for cracks in the treads on all four tyres.

I had a quick look at them, but nothing much to worry about.

It's due the next MOT in June, but we're going to be very busy (and away from home) for much of the time before then, so inspection and planning for it had to start now.

I was horrified to see fairly significant cracks around the tread on all four tyres, certainly suspect for the MOT, but more importantly, suspect from a safety point of view.

The vehicle is low-mileage (under 20k) and the greater proportion of that was done in the early part of its life when she was working and therefore commuting.

They're OE-fit Hankook tyres, and though I've never seen anything quite like it, I've certainly read of similar occurrences, and seen it blamed on low use. The car was only built 3 months before registration, but I haven't as yet checked whether the tyres were older than that.

In reality, much of the use it gets now is simply to make sure it does get used, and we are planning on going down to a single car (and the motorhome motorcaravan campervan), but my youngest should graduate in June, and it is destined to be passed on to him if he wants it (which he does, depending on his future circumstances).

So, an expensive day tomorrow with re-shoeing all round called for. The first time I will have bought more than two tyres at a time; ever!

Can't even fit cheap ditchfinders either if it's going where it is intended, though the 195/50R15 size are at least common and cheap. I should be able to re-shoe it with a decent brand for sub-£200 (and my local indi is usually very competitive).

The car itself was bought at a significant discount, and has proven to be (other than the fan-resistor I've just replaced) both reliable and robust - I still needed to have a moan about the tyres though. :-(
Last edited by: tyrednemotional on Mon 28 Mar 16 at 23:01
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 Mon 28 Mar 16 23:30 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Lygonos
Got these on my Kizashi - tinyurl.com/uniroyal-rainsport - very good tyre - wet grip is fantastic. Anecdotes suggest wear rate isn't fantastic but on a low mileage car it's largely irrelevant.

£50-55 per tyre fitted appears the going rate for most of the big brands on blackcircles.
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 Mon 28 Mar 16 23:32 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - BobbyG
If low mileage , stick a full set of all seasons on it
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 01:37 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - VxFan
>> They're OE-fit Hankook tyres, and though I've never seen anything quite like it, I've certainly read of similar occurrences, and seen it blamed on low use.

Our previous works van (a Ford Transit Connect) had Hankook's fitted from factory. They went the same way. Less than 20,000 miles, not quite 3 years old and the tyres had to be replaced because they had large cracks between the treads.

edited cos of a spelling mistake
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 29 Mar 16 at 10:37
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 02:06 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - No FM2R
One of my Landcruisers has Hankook tyres. They've always seemed rather good. They certainly last well. [so far]
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 08:47 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - tyrednemotional
....coincidentally, I have Hankooks on my car as well. Very different size and design (and price), and they are fine.

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 Tue 29 Mar 16 08:54 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Zero
I think Mrs Z's 2010 Fester has Hancooks on board, I think they are the OE fit tyres that came with the car, and they sailed through the last MOT no problem.

I'll check.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 09:52 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - henry k
I have a pair of Hankooks that were fitted six months ago for the MoT..
I will keep an eye on them. I am not a high mileage type so I will be interested in their life span, hopefully before age catches up with them.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 17:11 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Zero
>> I think Mrs Z's 2010 Fester has Hancooks on board, I think they are the
>> OE fit tyres that came with the car, and they sailed through the last MOT
>> no problem.
>>
>> I'll check.
Stand by your beds. Nope she has pirellis on
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 10:20 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - spamcan61
>> >> They're OE-fit Hankook tyres, and though I've never seen anything quite like it, I've
>> certainly read of similar occurrences, and seen it blamed on low use.
>>
>> Our previous works van (a Ford Transit Connect) had Hankook's fitted from factory. They went
>> the same way. Less than 20,000 miles, not quite 3 years old and the tyres
>> had to be replaced because they had large cracks between the threads.
>>
Same on Spamette Minor's 2013 Fiesta at 20K, both front tyres had cracks.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 10:43 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Runfer D'Hills
Someone wise, maybe Churchill, not sure, but someone clever anyway once said "0nce is happenstance, twice is coincidence but three times is enemy action"

Rather too many reporting issues to be random?

Might be worth burrowing into a bit more?
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 10:51 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - CGNorwich
Low use is the cause:

"The anti-aging chemicals used in the rubber compounds are more effective when the tire is "exercised" on a frequent basis. The repeated stretching of the rubber compound actually helps resist cracks forming. The tires used on vehicles that are driven infrequently, or accumulate low annual mileage are more likely to experience cracking because long periods of parking or storage interrupt "working" the rubber."
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      1  
 Wed 30 Mar 16 10:37 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Bill Payer
>> Low use is the cause:
>>
The originally fitted Dunlop rear tyres on my daughter's Ibiza were advised as cracked at the cars MOT at 4yrs/30K miles.

Surprisingly hard to see while on the car, but on taking them off they looked horrendous, with open cracks at the base of the tread grooves going right around they tyre.

Car was used for a reasonable everyday commute.

One advantage of putting new tyres on the rear of FWD cars is it stops the rear tyres of lowish mileage cars from getting too old.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 11:08 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Robin O'Reliant
>> >> >>
>> The originally fitted Dunlop rear tyres on my daughter's Ibiza were advised as cracked at
>> the cars MOT at 4yrs/30K miles.
>>
>> Surprisingly hard to see while on the car, but on taking them off they looked
>> horrendous, with open cracks at the base of the tread grooves going right around they
>> tyre.
>>
>>
Mrs O'Reliant's Corsa had the original rears on when we bought it at 63k and 12 years old. Same experience as you, when I noticed the innocuous looking cracks and took one of the wheels off they opened up so much it scared the life out of me. They were not far away from losing the tread band completely.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 13:10 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - tyrednemotional
...well, the local indi has decided to add today onto the bank holiday, so the expense has been postponed by (at least) a day.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 13:21 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Runfer D'Hills
RE ditchfinders - a guy who works for us used to be an area manager for a large chain of tyre fitters. He swears that the budget brands sold very much more cheaply are not poor quality but just older/discontinued tread patterns and that for other than high performance vehicles are absolutely fine.

I've never quite trusted him though...

;-)
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 13:24 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - tyrednemotional
....frankly, at the price-point I'm talking about, I'd rather go with a recognised OE brand....


........like Hankook...........oh, just a minute...... ;-)
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 13:25 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Runfer D'Hills
I had Hankooks on my Westfield you know.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 13:27 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - tyrednemotional
....did you have a Westfield?
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 13:28 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Runfer D'Hills
I don't tend to talk about it much, but yes, I did. Red one.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 13:36 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - tyrednemotional
Come to think of it, I have a dim recollection that someone had mentioned one, from time to time (and again and again and again and.......)

...I've just remembered another reason why I'm quite fond of the Fiesta. Someone knocked the door mirror off it once, and it went back on with little effort, and only minor scuffs.

You never know when that might be a useful attribute ;-).


(And no, that's not a wind-up - or more correctly, it is the absolute truth). Parked up for a walk in the Peak District near, but not adjacent to, a primary school. When we returned, the door mirror surround was lying on the ground, just left there, presumably by someone who had caught it during the homeward school run.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 13:52 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - WillDeBeest
There were Hankooks on my LEC too - two of them anyway. And two Nexens. Both had a turn on the front, and I think I preferred the Hankooks for steering feel and directional accuracy, but who really knows?

People on forums like this will write a lot of rubbish about wet grip and stopping distances with Tyre X rather than Tyre Y, but apart from looks (the Nexens' tread pattern looked like something from the Argos catalogue) I'm not sure the car is that much better on its full set of Michelins. I'd have had to drive pretty irresponsibly to find the limits of the tyres, and certainly to be able to compare across sets.

I decided Michelin was worth the extra in the first place because our own SlightlyFatDirector suggested they could cure my S60 of tramlining over broken Tarmac - which they did - but I'm inclined to think that just shows up the Pirelli P6000 as a poor design rather than the Primacy as a particular good one. They do wear better too, but perhaps that's because they grip more and scrabble less.

The TDS tramlines a bit too, but then (a) it has 255/35s on the back and (b) there's a lot of broken Tarmac on my regular routes. Maybe it would ride better on Michelin than Bridgestone, but given that it's wearing its present rubber very lightly, it'll be a while before I can find out. I certainly won't be making any claims for grip or stopping power.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 14:03 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Armel Coussine
I wonder how long it takes for these hard butyl tyres to warm up and become sticky? Hankook's Half-Hour perhaps?
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      1  
 Tue 29 Mar 16 14:27 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Manatee
Some of them won't grip up if you wait until the middle of Nexen week. Falken useless.

Caravan tyres get a hard time. Standard advice is to replace them after five years. The original Matadors I took off mine at 6 years old were showing no signs of cracking. It now has extra load/reinforced Bridgestones on it, over fove years old and uncracked. So perhaps it isn't inevitable even in a tyre that spends weeks at a time stationary.

I do keep the pressures up - I have a feeling that might be a factor.

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 Tue 29 Mar 16 14:43 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Crankcase
That's terrible AC, hence the green thumb. Have you had an armfull already?
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 15:37 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Armel Coussine
An 'armful'? Surely fluids need a watertight container of some sort.

Anyway, thanks for the 'terrible' which I take as high praise.
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 19:04 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Bobby
>> a guy who works for us used to be an area manager for a large chain of tyre fitters

so he has , kind of, went from car feet to human feet type of thing??
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 19:37 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Runfer D'Hills
Indeed Bobby, and one of the first things he learned was that while you can use the same tyres every day...

;-)
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 Tue 29 Mar 16 19:39 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - WillDeBeest
...you still shouldn't expect much if you leave them under the bed every night.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 10:28 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Bill Payer
>> RE ditchfinders - a guy who works for us used to be an area manager
>> for a large chain of tyre fitters. He swears that the budget brands sold very
>> much more cheaply are not poor quality but just older/discontinued tread patterns and that for
>> other than high performance vehicles are absolutely fine.
>>
>> I've never quite trusted him though...
>>

A leasing company ordered Kwik-Fit to put CEAT tyres on my company car that was near the end of lease. "Same as Pirelli" I was told. It was like going back to Michelin X tyres in the 70's in terms on (lack of) wet grip. ABS system got quite a work out.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 10:44 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - tyrednemotional
....well, for once, my local Indi weren't particularly competitive.

Maxxis :-( all round for 200 notes, or Dunlop for 240.

A bit of web-chasing found a local branch of one of the smaller chains would do the same Dunlop for £176 all round, and all-in.

Given I can't get them mail-order and delivered (not fitted) for much less than £160 from the cheaper usual suspects, this looked pretty good.

Booked in for Monday as we are away (in the other car) in the interim.

(I only wish the tyres on my car were so cheap).
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 11:17 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - WillDeBeest
It doesn't matter how good the quality is if they're made to an outdated design that isn't suitable for a heavier, more powerful modern car.

Against that you can set the tyre-size inflation (sorry) that has gone with increasing bulk. 195x15 used to be a size for a biggish car - it's what my 1996 Saab 900 had and that weighed 1.4t - so a 1990s design that was adequate for that ought to be safe enough on a Fiesta today. But for an extra hundred quid over five years, I'd go for the most up-to-date I could get.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 13:40 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Zero
stand by your beds again.

Just been checking out the brakes on the 2010 Mk7 festa prior to MOT*

The Fronts do have Pirellis on, but clearly they are not OE as I thought, because we have Hancooks on the back. And they are indeed cracking. Enough for, at the minimum and advisory, and at worse a fail.

They have 4mm on, so a change wont go amiss i think.


Got a set of Brembo pads from ECP. They are without doubt the best pads that come out of that place, this set came boxed with a new set of guides, and calliper bolts with thread locking band.

Went in a treat. Two pads, calliper clean, fluid change, 2 hours!
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 13:52 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Runfer D'Hills
They go well, those Fiestas. I've had a couple as renters. A class above most small cars in driving pleasure and responsiveness in my view.

Strangely they "feel" bigger than they are, but of course you know that...

;-)
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 14:05 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Zero
>> They go well, those Fiestas. I've had a couple as renters. A class above most
>> small cars in driving pleasure and responsiveness in my view.
>>
>> Strangely they "feel" bigger than they are, but of course you know that...
>>
>> ;-)

Actually to some in the family, they feel smaller than they actually are. Certainly shorter. And of course after two years of ownership I suspect it might well be shorter than it was when it arrived.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 14:25 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - WillDeBeest
It's not the car's fault, Z, nor is it the driver's. It's people who will keep putting bollards, pillars, other cars, sometimes even entire buildings in the wrong place. So my source tells me, anyway.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 14:53 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Runfer D'Hills
Wind can be an issue according to my source. A sharp gust can remove the most securely attached trim.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 14:55 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Alanovich
My source tells me that the rear parking sensors are too loud in the Mazda. And too non-existent in the SAAB. Both conditions are responsible for any damage.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 18:13 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - Duncan
>> It's not the car's fault, Z, nor is it the driver's. It's people who will
>> keep putting bollards, pillars, other cars, sometimes even entire buildings in the wrong place. So
>> my source tells me, anyway.

Isn't it wonderful that someone on here will remember every little accident and incident that one has!

Of course, Zero has never, ever, ever collided with a bus.
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 Wed 30 Mar 16 15:19 
 Ford Fiesta - Cracks in Tyre Treads - spamcan61
>> They go well, those Fiestas. I've had a couple as renters. A class above most
>> small cars in driving pleasure and responsiveness in my view.
>>
>> Strangely they "feel" bigger than they are, but of course you know that...
>>
>> ;-)
>>
Last year both Spamettes bought Fiesta Zetecs, Major a 2009 1.4 and Minor the aforementioned 2013 1.25 - the latter feels rather gutless to me, but the 1.4 felt pretty good. The dash looks very swish, but the back seat area looks very cheap.

For some random reason Major has now chopped in the Fiesta for a leggy 2009 Golf 2.0TDi 140, which looks and feels very solid, but has far too many expensive highly stressed bits to break for my liking. Thankfully it has a Cxx series engine, rather than the fragile Bxx one.
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