So my 8 (or so) year old BFG AT KO's are apparently aging worse than I thought. Actually one of them is at least a year younger, but all appear to be similar.
They've got at least 75% of their tread left, but my drivers rear tire keeps losing 10 pounds of pressure or so while sitting for a week or two.
Got to looking, and sure enough, piece of metal through the side of one of the tread blocks. This is the obvious source of the "major" leakage. Used soapy water however, and noticed air leaking out of a small crack a fraction of an inch away, and another small crack with minuscule air leakage as well a bit from that one. Looking closely, there are small cracks in the tread area pretty much everywhere except the raised blocks themselves. Didn't check the other tires for leakage, but I suspect if they aren't, its just a matter of time. When I say small cracks, most aren't any larger (visibly anyways) than say, this "l" on my computer screen.
The sidewalls aren't dry rotted or anything, they look brand new for the most part. Nothing that seems to be bad from age. The truck was always stored in the shade, so UV damage is going to be minimal.
I looked at my dads tires (different brand) and even his newer ones on the front have similar cracks, probably worse, and the older rears on his truck are a hundred times worse than mine in regards to the cracks, but he's not losing air. His seem to be a bit more concentrated at the bottom of the tread blocks, while mine are not necessarily cracking just at the base of the blocks, but in between the blocks.
Is running tubes even an acceptable "fix"? I hate to spend $1000 on new tires if these can continue to be used some way, but I'm not going to kill someone just because new tires are expensive. I have recently started airing them down quite a bit, so they probably are flexing more than they used to the rare times they see off-road, but I figure if anything, that would lead to additional cracking.
Can't post photo's now, but can in a week or so, if that would help.
They've got at least 75% of their tread left, but my drivers rear tire keeps losing 10 pounds of pressure or so while sitting for a week or two.
Got to looking, and sure enough, piece of metal through the side of one of the tread blocks. This is the obvious source of the "major" leakage. Used soapy water however, and noticed air leaking out of a small crack a fraction of an inch away, and another small crack with minuscule air leakage as well a bit from that one. Looking closely, there are small cracks in the tread area pretty much everywhere except the raised blocks themselves. Didn't check the other tires for leakage, but I suspect if they aren't, its just a matter of time. When I say small cracks, most aren't any larger (visibly anyways) than say, this "l" on my computer screen.
The sidewalls aren't dry rotted or anything, they look brand new for the most part. Nothing that seems to be bad from age. The truck was always stored in the shade, so UV damage is going to be minimal.
I looked at my dads tires (different brand) and even his newer ones on the front have similar cracks, probably worse, and the older rears on his truck are a hundred times worse than mine in regards to the cracks, but he's not losing air. His seem to be a bit more concentrated at the bottom of the tread blocks, while mine are not necessarily cracking just at the base of the blocks, but in between the blocks.
Is running tubes even an acceptable "fix"? I hate to spend $1000 on new tires if these can continue to be used some way, but I'm not going to kill someone just because new tires are expensive. I have recently started airing them down quite a bit, so they probably are flexing more than they used to the rare times they see off-road, but I figure if anything, that would lead to additional cracking.
Can't post photo's now, but can in a week or so, if that would help.
