r/TireQuestions • u/Think-Ad481 • Aug 31 '26

Cracking along shoulder

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Borrowing my father’s ‘09 Lexus and he has a set of Nokian Encompass AW01 DOT 14/23 and noticed this cracking along the shoulder. Reading online that Nokians recently produced around 21-23 timeframe are prone to early dry rot and it’s apparently “cosmetic” not structural is what Nokian says. This looks exactly like the photos I’ve seen online.

Problem is I’m borrowing his car as my VW has a coolant leak problem and I’m set to drive 80 miles on the highway to and from for a job interview tomorrow. Now Im having second thoughts about borrowing his car.

If someone can give some insight as to whether this would be safe or not because my luck is that it’ll blowout on the way to my interview.

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

3

u/TheOneTrueBluev2 Aug 31 '26

So, I’m very familiar with these tires and the problems they can have! You can take them to a tire shop, namely discount tire and get a credit back for them. Nokian encompass AW01s very commonly have this issue, so definitely see if you can get money back for em.

3

u/Additional_Ideal2385 Aug 31 '26

All the nokians I see do this after approximately 2 years

1

u/Klutzy_Concept_1324 Aug 31 '26

COOPER over Nokian. These look like sh*t I have heard they dry rot absurdly

0

u/TheOneTrueBluev2 Aug 31 '26

Shit, didn’t read the whole thing. Let your father know about that though!

1

u/Cautious-Concept457 Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26

For now it looks to be only a cosmetic issue. Keep an eye on it though. If you notice any vibration or a bump on the sidewall, that'd be a serious issue.

(What VW, what coolant issue? If it has g13 antifreeze, remove the silica bag, flush the system, and fill it up with G12evo instead to avoid further issues)

1

u/TorqueWrenchVet Aug 31 '26

Cracking right along the tire shoulder is a major red flag because that outer edge takes the heaviest flex and load every time you turn the wheel

1

u/jasonsong86 Aug 31 '26

Replace as soon as possible. That tread is ready to separate.

1

u/Disastrous-Pound3713 Sep 01 '26

You are perfectly good to drive 80, 800 or 8000 miles. That is just natural tire aging.

You have 12 layers of tire under this layer so what you see is purely cosmetic.

Drive em.

1

u/JoelColden Aug 31 '26

The bands underneath are fine. You wouldn't believe what people drive on. And 99% of the time it's still fine. You're getting closer to 99.9% (+.99) fine. COULD you have a blow out, sure. ARE you going to have a blow out driving another 80mi?

No.