MTFCA Forum

My new Firestone made in USA 440/450-21 tires bought and installed new this year have cracks developing on the side walls.My 50 year old Lester spare tire still looks new. Last set of new tires was almost 40 years ago, thought these Firestones would be my last tires. Tire code ends in 20, is that the manufacture date?

Seal them with vinal top wax. Mop & glow liquid floor wax seems to be the same stuff.

Yes that is the mfg. date.

USA made? I thought all our tires came from Vietnam....maybe that's just clinchers.

I found this: "Since 2000, the week and year the tire was produced has been provided by the last four digits of the Tire Identification Number with the 2 digits being used to identify the week immediately preceding the 2 digits used to identify the year." In this example, 4920 would be the 49th week of 2020.

You shouldn't have cracking in new tires. Who'd you buy them from?

If those tires are cracking in a year or less IMHO they are defective and the seller should replace them.

Yup, I am thinking I need to call them Monday.

Where do you store the car? Some environments can cause tires to decay rapidly

He lives in NW Michigan on the Lake Michigan shore - clean air, moderate temperatures....beautiful country.

Start contacting seller or Coker. Ask them to help you resolve the issue, describe the problem and the say "several members of the Model T Ford Club of America" suggested that I follow-up on the warranty. That should get some attention.
Don't try to remedy the situation and don't put anything on it - they'll say that the product had an adverse reaction to the rubber on the tire
Coker said: These tires are made in the US, by Specialty Tires of America. Coker Tire Support on September 19, 2016
Their current website doesn't indicate making any size vintage tire https://www.stausaonline.com/

This has been going on for many years

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/25 ... 1334190867

The April 9, 2012 response on tha thread pretty well sums it up.

Some stop at spiderwebs and others continue to degrade. It's a crap-shoot.

Find your sales receipt and if within a year from purchase, return at your expense, or live with them.

Who'd have thunk it? Coker tyres not holding up? Clearly these are not fit for purpose and need to be replaced. Trouble is, would the replacements be any better? Until there are multiple complaints and a heap more pressure, they are not likely to change.

Allan from own under.

My guess is there are plenty enough complaints. Blockley did not stick their neck out and offer up the world's (nearly) most expensive treaded clincher to the market to simply capture and serve the high-end cost-be-damned, sky-is-the-limit Model "T" crowd (of which to the best of my calculations, there are exactly 4 of).

We'll know in 12-18 months as to whether Blockley's cauldron of soup is superior to everyone else's. We'll know that their necessary ROI was achieved if they are still producing them 3 years or so from now.

I have some of the new USA made 475/500-19 Coker Whitewall Radial tires on my Model A and they started cracking after about 16 months. I contacted Coker and they said that if I wanted to control the problem I needed to use the whitewall cleaner and tire treatment they sell. They stated the standard stuff you buy at the parts store is bad for their tires. I ordered and have received the their special cleaner and treatment, but I have not tried it on the tires yet. If this is the solution I can live with it, but it should have been clearly stated in the advertisement for the tires.

...they said that if I wanted to control the problem I needed to use the whitewall cleaner and tire treatment they sell.

Utterly bogus. Tires shouldn't have to be treated with anything to keep them from going bad in only a year or two.

Scott, Blockley has been in the quality end of the classic/vintage/racing tyre market for many years. My hope is that they are well funded enough to resist a sell-out to the usual suspects. We had Insa 21" tyres from South America. They had an unusual tread pattern, but they wore very well and did not suffer cracking. They were bought out and closed down. Then we had Betco start up with beaded edge tyres in Australia, and they went the same way. Meanwhile we have had he same rubbish continue to be offered. It's not that they can't make quality tyres. It is just they won't!

I think when the dust settles there will be enough dis-satisfied customers switching to Blockleys and paying the 20% premium, which is hardly what I would consider 'high end'. They won't have to be that much better to be better value than today's offerings.

Allan from down under.

Jeff let us know how you make out with your tires. I went with Lesters on my Fordor after seeing several on some local Model T @ A's and the owners loved them. The old Sears allstates I pulled off where still in prestty good shape with very strong side walls, gotta love the made to last old stuff.

I have the Coker classic WW on my 39 and just cleaned them up last night, no cracking so far and I do not put any thing on them. I wipe the WW down with my Dynawipe shop towels and cleans the debris off pretty good.

My Lesters I got through Universal, after my good sales experience I would think they are resonable folks and help me out if I was experiencing any tire defect concern. As I understand Coker and Universal tire are one and the same.

As a teenager,I worked at a service station and we sold tires. We stored them in a rack located in a small room we called the air compressor room because there was a HUGE air compressor in it. We noticed some of the tires developed cracks after a short while. The tire salesman told us that anything with an electric motor will emit ozone and will crack rubber. We moved the tire rack to a new location. bobt

bobt wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 11, 2021 6:19 am

As a teenager,I worked at a service station and we sold tires. We stored them in a rack located in a small room we called the air compressor room because there was a HUGE air compressor in it. We noticed some of the tires developed cracks after a short while. The tire salesman told us that anything with an electric motor will emit ozone and will crack rubber. We moved the tire rack to a new location. bobt

My 39 with WW's is parked right next to my Quincy, that might rule out that assumption

Most modern electric motors lack brushes and commutators, and thus they do not emit ozone.

Here is a picture of the cracking. I will be calling Coker Tire Monday.

I saw such cracking recently on a Universal T driver tyre. At its worst, the crack was more continuous and went down to the canvas layer. What you have is not the surface checking often found on older tyres

Allan from down under.

Got a resolution from Coker Tire today. They will replace them at no cost to me. New tires will be shipped in September and I can send the cracked ones back to them then. Nice customer support!

That is very good news that a vendor will go to that length to support their products. This will be spendy for them now but is an investment in their reputation.

Paul

I wonder if that's due to the fabric stretching. (?)

I am pleased that Coker has responded to your problem. If it helps in any way to have specifications changed to supply better products, it will be a winner for us all.

Allan from down under.

Jeff please post info on who you spoke with at coker Thanks

Jeff please contact me off line

Rich, email sent.

The fist question not answered is, "what tire pressure do you use and do you check it often?"