63super88

late last summer I had put coker 3 inch whitewalls on my 88. they were definitely pricey, and I thought they looked great. I kept em clean s can be with bleach-white and armor all shine, until the winter came. the car sits outside and it has been a pretty brutal winter but I figured no big deal, ill just drive it alteast once a week. I now notice a ring of crackling forming around the rims, and even on the face on a few. I tried to take some bleach white and clean it off but cracks cant be cleaned, and im getting a bit angry with it. they are less than 6 months old and if they look like crap by the time summer comes and I show the car im going to be fuming mad!

have any of you had similar problems with white walls like this? was coker not the best choice for an outside car?

or do all whitewalls do this over time? after all 6 months is not a very long period of time at all, and for what I spent they should be lasting a lifetime!!!

Professur

Put a call in to Coker and get their recommendation.

63super88

yea I was planning on giving them a call, maybe taking a few pics. its not so so serious, but is definitely noticeable. im hoping they aren't too far gone and this will just get worse, like a vinyl crack rubber cracking just gets worse and worse once it starts. and yea bleach white may be harsh, and the winter was brutal but less than 6 months is pretty poor durability if you ask me no matter what was done to em (except curb scratching of course, but normal wear I mean come on now, am I right?)

jaunty75

How old are your tires? By that I mean when were they manufactured? There is a date code along the inside edge just above the rim. It looks like this:




The first two numbers are the week number, and the last two are the year, so this tire was made in the 27th week of 2004.

I ask because, while you may have bought them last summer, they could have been sitting on a shelf for quite a while before you bought them.

oldcutlass

Low air pressure is a contributing factor to cracks also. As temperature drops so does the air pressure.

76olds

Shhhh don't tell them you put bleach on your expensive tires.

63super88

well in all reality I only got to spot clean em off once before I had to put my hose away for the winter. besides I don't give a darn what happened, a $200 tire should be spotless and sparkle after 5 months, not look like 5 years of wear that's just pretty friggin lame if you ask me.

and I couldn't find that date stamp, just the plies they used, the psi, and the coker name stamp (which im slowly but surely losing faith in, I mean im not gonna demand new ones and go through the hoops with them about it, but I will surely gripe and moan about it as heavily as I can!)

I don't even know what to do, just drive it I guess who gives a ***** all I know is im a young kid and I work damn hard, $1000 doesn't come easy for me and here I am buying these silly fragile sidewall tires. I thought I was doing a good thing trying to keep these tires and companies alive but I know now why they are a dying breed.

makes me say no wonder the commies are kickin our butts hands down :\. maybe they should outsource their tire plant to beijing, I bet theyd be cheaper even after import tariffs, and last longer too.

oldcutlass

We understand your frustration. The dot stamp is only on one side of the tire, so it may be facing in.

shadetree77

Just ran across this thread through Google search. I'm having the EXACT same problem with the Coker Classic 3 inch white walls. I had a set put on my '52 Buick in September. I put less than 2000 miles on them and right before parking it for the winter I noticed very fine cracking on all four white walls. My car is also an outside stored car (under a large car port). I actually called Coker today and they asked me what cleaning products I had used. I have only used the two products that Coker sells so he said that wasn't the issue. He asked for pictures of the cracks and the DOT numbers so that he could begin the return process. He said that it was most likely a defect in the manufacturing process. I will be taking my car to Coker personally in a few weeks to get them exchanged. Oh and by the way I checked my tire pressure every time I drove the car and filled them up. They were never more than a half pound or so low so low pressure didn't cause it either.

I too am a younger guy who doesn't throw 1000 bucks around lightly so I feel you there. I highly suggest you contact them though. It will be a PITA to send them back but I would be willing to bet they will take care of the problem. I'll post back here in a few weeks with my results. Good luck man!

63super88

Well i can see im not the only one in the boat. they can call it what they like, but a defect in manufacture my ***. a real white wall should be able to stand up to at the very least a year or two before showing that type of wear, no matter what type of whitewall tire cleaner you used (unless you used something very harsh that wasn't designed for whitewall tires, then I understand chemical damage but if the cleaner you used was tire cleaner than that should be irrelevant). its just them trying to say "if its not stored in room temperature and washed with soap+water only our weak fragile inferior product we overcharged you for will deteriorate rapidly". I don't feel like going through the motions with them over it, I just have to sell the car before they start going flat and then its time to find me an even better type oldsmobile.

Allan R

When white walls were common sellers there were very few problems with the white areas checking. It will happen on older tires or poorly maintained ones though, which is not your case. Exposure to the elements (UV and IR) can damage the rubber a fair bit. Have you considered 'bagging' the tires for the winter (as a body shop would when painting a car?)

Different manufacturers use different rubber blends and compounds. I never had issues with Continental, Good Year or Goodrich. I did have checking problems with the wider whitewalls on my 1983 Ninety Eight Regency (wide 1 1/2" white walls) from Uniroyal though.

IMO the white rubber being used in the sidewalls is likely the wrong blend, which probably is causing the short lived appearance of the perfect white wall.

Rocketowner

I have a set from Coker tire on my 1955 that are 8 Yrs. old,have used Westley's Bleche Wite on them every time they have been cleaned,with no signs of cracking or discoloration,but this car has been kept inside except when I drive to shows.As best as I can find,Westley's does not have chlorine bleach in it. Larry

shadetree77

Looks like this mystery may be solved (for me at least). I spent some time on the phone with the customer service guy from Coker. He wanted me to send in pictures of the cracks and the DOT numbers. Up until now, I had never bothered to even look at the DOT numbers. I'll never make THAT mistake again! According to the DOT's, these tires were 12 years old when they were put on my car. Seems someone at Coker messed up and grabbed my tires off of the NOS/display only shelf when they were put on. They are cracking because they are most likely dry rotted. Coker is taking full responsibility for the mistake and I have an appointment to take my car in and get a brand new set put on free of charge. Coker has been nothing but helpful during this exchange. Once I was able to prove the situation by sending in photos, I was all set. As jaunty75 said above, check those DOT numbers!!

oldcutlass

Wow, glad it all worked out for you and Coker stepped up.

Olds64

I'm glad it worked out well for you. That's good info to keep in mind when shopping for tires, especially expensive ones like wide white walls.

63super88

I had actually purchased mine through summit racing online via ebay. I guess im going to have to take a wheel off, check the code, take some pictures and go through them. maybe they'll say talk to coker tire direct, who knows. I hate going through these sort of things, disappointing.