Tires starting to crack

[steve333]

My service place told me they won't rotate my tires since they are starting to crack. They are 7 years old
My car is a 2013 Mazda 3 iSport Sedan and mainly looking for a smoother ride although I know it will never be good, but I don't want mush.
I currently have Continental Control Contact Tour A/S Plus but I don't see this model listed on Discount Tire anymore.
They do have Continental ContiPro Contact for $138, Control Contact Tour A/S for $154 and ProContact RX for $120, plus a few others but they are more expensive.
They are all 205/55 R16 91H like the ones I have now.
I would switch to another brand if they are as good and less expensive. The cost out the door is about $700 which sucks to have to spend on a 13 yr old car (only 50,000 miles).
Any recommendations appreciated.

 

[N7turbo]

What do you want out of your 3?

More sport or more comfort?

 

[steve333]

What do you want out of your 3?

More sport or more comfort?

More comfort, the ride is harsh

 

[N7turbo]

More comfort, the ride is harsh

When I checked Continental and Pirelli, the ones that stood out to me were the TrueContact Tour 54 and Cinturato WeatherActive.

That led me to the video on this page, which I think you should watch:

Tire Rack

 

[Lazy2.5]

new tires wont do much for comfort. you should check your cold tire pressures and report back.

how bad is the cracking? post a pic. how much tread remaining?

 

[Mazdiod2]

There was just something on TV with a guy recommending replacing tires after 10-12 years regardless of the mileage. You have 50,000 miles on the car, how many on the tires?

I would guess the environment where the car is stored (since it's not driven very much) could affect cracking, etc. I would guess that after only 7 years you could have mild 'checking' -- surface cracks, but genuine cracks down that extend down to the carcass are unlikely, unless there has been some kind of abuse like overheating, overloading, running on low air pressure, or maybe excessive UV or ozone exposure.

I would likely get some more opinions on how bad the cracks are.

I like Continental tires because I think they are one of the better brands and usually have a smooth and quiet ride, but the road surface quality always seems to trump the tire quality when it comes to road noise and comfort.

 

[steve333]

new tires wont do much for comfort. you should check your cold tire pressures and report back.

how bad is the cracking? post a pic. how much tread remaining?

Funny, I looked at the tires and see no cracking but it could be on the other side of the tire.
The tire pressure is always at 36, but they overfilled it to 40 so I took some air out.
Tires will only do so much for ride comfort when the car had a rough ride to begin with and the struts and shocks are 13 years old. I'm sure it will help a little

 

[steve333]

There was just something on TV with a guy recommending replacing tires after 10-12 years regardless of the mileage. You have 50,000 miles on the car, how many on the tires?

I would guess the environment where the car is stored (since it's not driven very much) could affect cracking, etc. I would guess that after only 7 years you could have mild 'checking' -- surface cracks, but genuine cracks down that extend down to the carcass are unlikely, unless there has been some kind of abuse like overheating, overloading, running on low air pressure, or maybe excessive UV or ozone exposure.

I would likely get some more opinions on how bad the cracks are.

I like Continental tires because I think they are one of the better brands and usually have a smooth and quiet ride, but the road surface quality always seems to trump the tire quality when it comes to road noise and comfort.

I like my Continentals because they don't get caught in freeway grooves like some other tires I've tried, and I was wrong about the availability Discount Tire does have these Continentals so I may just go with them.
I don't see any cracks myself but I assume if they said they wouldn't rotate the tires because of it maybe they are on the other side. They don't sell tires so I know it wasn't an up sell.
I would love to get less expensive tires for such an old car but I have had issues before with less expensive Yokohama's and Pirelli's

 

[N7turbo]

new tires wont do much for comfort

Ride quality always goes down as tires get old.

On top of that, the tire he has isn't really a "comfortable" tire, even when new.

OP, that tire doesn't appear to be available anymore.

 

[Lazy2.5]

I recommend to check out this post I made:

Thread 'The "Hidden" Tire Pressure Specs (US/CAN vs. The World)'

Dec 16, 2025

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a really interesting finding regarding tire pressures that explains why the standard US/CAN door-jamb recommendation can feel a bit "off" (either too harsh when solo or unstable when fully loaded).

Shout-out to user @Mazdiod2 from Mexico for pointing this out originally. They mentioned that their owner's manual actually lists different pressures based on load, whereas we here in the US/Canada just get one static number. Apparently this is the standard for the rest of the world; whereas us North American owners are left being treated as if...

• Lazy2.5
• tire pressure
• Replies: 5
• Forum: Lounge

• 

Find the global (essentially anywhere outside of CAN/US owners manual for your car to see what Mazda recommends for the rest of the world (ie. not the North American dummy spec) for tire pressures.

ETC. My 2015 Mazda 6 has a rec. pressure of 36PSI in North America. While good for handling, I find this to be stiff when driving lightly loaded.

Turns out that the actual suggested pressure for a light load is 33PSI. This change has made for a noticeably better ride.


As far as the cracking, I would not be concerned about minor cracking. A good tire compound... Shouldn't crack, but if it does, it's usually just superficial. When considering that you don't even see cracks on your tire, so long as you have good tread left, I would just leave it at that.

 

[Lazy2.5]

The tire pressure is always at 36, but they overfilled it to 40 so I took some air out.

Did you check the tire when it was cold or after a drive?

Tires will only do so much for ride comfort when the car had a rough ride to begin with and the struts and shocks are 13 years old.

My Mazda 6 got its first front strut/shock replacement at well over 300,000KM last year.

The ride felt more "controlled" and stable, noticeably improved cornering, but I can't say it did a whole lot for ride comfort. As long as your struts aren't leaking, they are unlikely to be causing any noticeable drop in ride quality.

I'm sure it will help a little

"A little" Being the key word here, frankly. Mazda's are firm.

 

[steve333]

I recommend to check out this post I made:

Thread 'The "Hidden" Tire Pressure Specs (US/CAN vs. The World)'

Dec 16, 2025

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a really interesting finding regarding tire pressures that explains why the standard US/CAN door-jamb recommendation can feel a bit "off" (either too harsh when solo or unstable when fully loaded).

Shout-out to user @Mazdiod2 from Mexico for pointing this out originally. They mentioned that their owner's manual actually lists different pressures based on load, whereas we here in the US/Canada just get one static number. Apparently this is the standard for the rest of the world; whereas us North American owners are left being treated as if...

• Lazy2.5
• tire pressure
• Replies: 5
• Forum: Lounge

• 

Find the global (essentially anywhere outside of CAN/US owners manual for your car to see what Mazda recommends for the rest of the world (ie. not the North American dummy spec) for tire pressures.

ETC. My 2015 Mazda 6 has a rec. pressure of 36PSI in North America. While good for handling, I find this to be stiff when driving lightly loaded.

Turns out that the actual suggested pressure for a light load is 33PSI. This change has made for a noticeably better ride.


As far as the cracking, I would not be concerned about minor cracking. A good tire compound... Shouldn't crack, but if it does, it's usually just superficial. When considering that you don't even see cracks on your tire, so long as you have good tread left, I would just leave it at that.

I find the car rides best at slightly over 36psi, around 37. The lower psi makes me feel the bumps even more

 

[steve333]

Did you check the tire when it was cold or after a drive?

My Mazda 6 got its first front strut/shock replacement at well over 300,000KM last year.

The ride felt more "controlled" and stable, noticeably improved cornering, but I can't say it did a whole lot for ride comfort. As long as your struts aren't leaking, they are unlikely to be causing any noticeable drop in ride quality.

"A little" Being the key word here, frankly. Mazda's are firm.

I checked them this morning.
Yeah, the car always had a rough ride so I'm not looking to spend any money if I don't have to. Frankly I think the tires may do more than new struts.

 

[Lazy2.5]

Ride quality always goes down as tires get old.

On top of that, the tire he has isn't really a "comfortable" tire, even when new.

Tires, old or new, comfort oriented or otherwise typically won't make a huge difference in ride quality. (They can, just underscoring "not huge" here.

There was just something on TV with a guy recommending replacing tires after 10-12 years regardless of the mileage. You have 50,000 miles on the car, how many on the tires?

I bought some lightly used Conti True Contact tires with most of their tread remaining 2 years ago. They were 6 years old when I purchased them.

They started cracking not long after I began to use them. I checked and adjusted tire pressures regularly, but I was not easy on them.

I would replace tires when they are heavily cracked and/or worn, not within some timeframe with no other reason.

 

[Mazdiod2]

Funny, I looked at the tires and see no cracking but it could be on the other side of the tire.
The tire pressure is always at 36, but they overfilled it to 40 so I took some air out.

The tire shop might have some policy about the age of the tires, so they don't want to service them.

If you have the place, time and energy you could try and remove one to check it, but I don't think I would worry too much about it, although you still might want to rotate the tires. If they won't do it, can you find a place to rotate them yourself?

 

[steve333]

The tire shop might have some policy about the age of the tires, so they don't want to service them.

If you have the place, time and energy you could try and remove one to check it, but I don't think I would worry too much about it, although you still might want to rotate the tires. If they won't do it, can you find a place to rotate them yourself?

This was a general service shop that I always go to.
What I could do is go to Discount Tire for a free tire rotation and see if they say anything, but I do trust my shop and they don't sell tires so they really have no reason to tell me they are cracking.