Goodyear F1 A2 tyres cracking/splitting - Page 2 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I have to change my opinion of GY F1 A2s. I replaced the original PZeros on my 981C with the GYs as I'd liked them on my TTS previously. Car went for its MOT Friday and Chris at GCR called me to say I need to change the front tyres due to cracks in the sidewalls. The previous PZeros had also cracked and Pirelli accepted they were faulty. Chris showed me the splits on the inside of a tyre. Small slits all around close to the rim, not the same cracking as the Pirellis. I'll take some photos tomorrow and add them. Looks like I'll be speaking to Oponeo/Goodyear Monday. Guess I shouldn't mix the rears with new PS4S at the front, so rears will have to go too. Unless Goodyear can reassure me? Generally I don't give faulty tyre manufacturers a second chance. Could try GY A3, A5, or SS I guess?

Cracking seems to be common across brands. A friend has had his PS4 replaced by Michelin (not PS4S) and the Bridgestones on my wifes car are cracking too.

Was the car parked up over lockdown in the hot sunshine? Perfect conditions for tyres to vulcanise and crack.

I’ve had Pirellis crack but my PS4S have been fine. They are great tyres, if you have the chance to upgrade is definitely worth it IMO. After my aqua planning experience last week on Pirellis (loan car) I’m an even bigger fan of the PS4S.

arcamalpha said: Was the car parked up over lockdown in the hot sunshine? Perfect conditions for tyres to vulcanise and crack. Car is always garaged. The slits are only on the inner tyre wall. Outer sidewalls unaffected.

Told you to fit ps4s last time, lol Good years goto s t 1/2 worn. Only tyres which have cracked on me have been old porker brigstones. While I have used Goodyear’s I can tell when they have gone off and thus binned then 1/2 worn, they go hard and you loose the turn in. I have done 60k plus miles on ps4s tyres, still amazing things.

How old are the tyres?

I’ve seen sidewall ‘crazing’ on different brands of tyres, inc Michelin’s. Usually it’s an age thing, but a vulcanologist would be able to explain. It could be to do with the way the tyres were treated and stored between manufacture and supply. The date stamp on the tyre would be a reasonable indicator of whether you have a claim against the manufacturer/supplier.

Here are two slits top and bottom left just outside the rim... ...and here is one long slit through the whole photo...

I'll check the date tomorrow...

That is very surprising. PS4S. I look forward to your review. S.

Looking at the bottom half of my 2nd photo there appears to be two slits running alongside each other. Both front tyres exhibit the same issue.

Koln-RS said: I’ve seen sidewall ‘crazing’ on different brands of tyres, inc Michelin’s. Usually it’s an age thing, but a vulcanologist would be able to explain. It could be to do with the way the tyres were treated and stored between manufacture and supply. The date stamp on the tyre would be a reasonable indicator of whether you have a claim against the manufacturer/supplier. You think an individual with an indepth knowledge of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena, would be preferable to someone who's an expert on rubber It's an interesting perspective, I'll grant you that

Charles Gooodyear might know. He invented vulcanisation, a hardening of latex rubber, which is what lead to the development of modern tyres.

Porsche911R said: Told you to fit ps4s last time, lol Good years goto s t 1/2 worn. Only tyres which have cracked on me have been old porker brigstones. While I have used Goodyear’s I can tell when they have gone off and thus binned then 1/2 worn, they go hard and you loose the turn in. I have done 60k plus miles on ps4s tyres, still amazing things. I did wonder how the fronts had worn just 2mm in 30k miles when RPM measured them at a health check last year. But if the compound is faulty, they've not given me any scary moments. First set of GY rears lasted 25k miles. 2nd set of rears on now have done 12k and are half worn, as are the fronts (almost) at 37k now. 60k out of your PS4S sounds good.

PS4S would appear to be the way to go. Just not sure I could ever trade in my 18”s (which mean Goodyear’s for the foreseeable)... If you have the option to switch to PS4S on 20”s then go for it.

I'll see if I can get a contribution back from Oponeo/Goodyear toward the set of PS4S. No rush... doesn't look like I'll be using it much for a month...or two.

Geneve said: Charles Gooodyear might know. He invented vulcanisation, a hardening of latex rubber, which is what lead to the development of modern tyres. Nah, Charles was a chemist, not a vulcanologist

DJMC said: I did wonder how the fronts had worn just 2mm in 30k miles when RPM measured them at a health check last year. But if the compound is faulty, they've not given me any scary moments. First set of GY rears lasted 25k miles. 2nd set of rears on now have done 12k and are half worn, as are the fronts (almost) at 37k now. 60k out of your PS4S sounds good. I dont get 60k lol I have done 60k on PS4s's

Tyre dates 7/15 & 8/15, purchased 2/16. Spoken to GY tech Dave Mullins. It happens he says. Could be various reasons. Get them back to GY and they'll make an allowance per amount of wear IF it's a fault. Meanwhile... PS4S ordered! N0 marked 20" all round. £770 for four fitted. Is that good? Is it worth keeping/selling the displaced GY rears at 5mm remaining? I guess I could try.

I would bin them. I bought Goodyears for many years and found them really good........but then had two failures in the space of 3 months on two different cars (not Porsche, both BMWs), different Goodyear tyres (runflat and non runflat). Both were less than 5 years old and were worn but had 2+ mm on them, none had any damage/ been driven under inflated as far as I know. Both went in very similar ways on the inside edge..........one failure happened on the motorway but was runflat so was OK, (lost me 3hrs finding a replacement tyre, getting it fitted etc so I could drive the 125 miles home). Other failed pulling into driveway, again had been on the motorway the night before with 2 young kids in the car so was very fortunate. Failures looked like this....... I now run Michelins on 3 of our 4 cars, PS4s, PS4 and MPSS on the 911, all of them are great and until they let me down Michelin is where my money is going. Edited by Maph7 on Monday 2nd November 11:54

Oponeo (retailer) tried it on, claiming that over three years since manufacture there's no claim possible until I pointed out GY had told me 5 years from sale date and CPA 2015 covers me for 6 years. I get the feeling Oponeo will still say there's no claim so I'll speak with GY again tomorrow. PS4S being fitted later this week. I recall David here saying they take 500+ miles to run in so will have to wait a while to form any oponion.

My local tyre seller of 20+ years has offered to send the fronts back to Goodyear. Although this means I'd only get a wholesale contribution I don't trust Oponeo and they haven't come back to me yet as they promised anyway. PS4S x 4 going on as I type. GY 20" rears will go on eBay shortly.

Did you ask your tyre retailer of 20+ years what you should put on your car before you bought the GY tyres?

Malo said: Did you ask your tyre retailer of 20+ years what you should put on your car before you bought the GY tyres? The PS4S weren't available back in 2016 when the GYs went on. I got chatting to the tyre shop owners a few years later when my wife's car was in and they told me they'd been to a blind testing of the premier brands at a race track and scored each tyre they tested. This was when the PS4S was available and they scored it the highest, saying it was streets ahead of the GY, Conti, Pirelli, etc. tyres there. My GYs were set to wear out front and rear at roughly the same time so I'd intended to try the Michelins at that point. As I recall, it was only the PZero, GY, or Bridgestones which carried the N0 mark prior to the PS4S arrival so Michelins wouldn't have been an option back then as the car was under warranty. Original PZeros were crap and Bridgestones on my 330ci sent it all over the road so they were a no whereas F1 A2s on my TTS were very good. When I spoke to Dave Mullins at GY Tech on Monday I asked about the new GY SS and he said he couldn't recommend them as they weren't N marked and therefore could adversely affect the cars handling, adding that Porsche marked tyres are engineered to cope with the changing oversteer/understeer characteristics of the car. He strongly advised sticking to N marked. This corresponds with my conversations with Jamie McWhir at Michelin a few years back when he lectured me at length about the collaboration with Porsche when designing a tyre for a particular model. I seem to recall the 20" PS4S was designed for the 718, not 981, so there may not be a precise correlation with the 981's handling but Jamie knew I had a 981 and didn't suggest any issues fitting the N marked PS4S to it.

My local tyre seller of 20+ years has offered to send the fronts back to Goodyear. Although this means I'd only get a wholesale contribution I don't trust Oponeo and they haven't come back to me yet as they promised anyway. PS4S x 4 going on as I type. GY 20" rears will go on eBay shortly. Tyre retailer owner's comment... "we get more problems with Goodyears than anything else." Edited by DJMC on Friday 6th November 10:46

Update... GY initially rejected the claim for the two faulty fronts as they were over 5 years old. But as soon as I telephoned them, Dave Mullins said "I know what you're going to say, you bought them under 5 years ago..." He asked me to email the original Oponeo receipt and a few days later, in Jan, emailed: "Hi David. I have amended the claim and have altered it to accepted with an allowance on one tyre of 60% and 65% on the other. The payment has been made to the wholesaler, who returned your tyres to us on Warranty Credit Memo 55********. It would be best to wait about 21 days before contacting your dealer to see if they have received the refund , if they have not then give them the credit note number and they will contact their account manager at the wholesalers. Regards David Mullin Technical Customer Support & Service Goodyear Tyres UK Ltd 08453 453453 option 3" Bearing in mind they'd covered 37k miles an average of 37.5% wear means they'd have done 98,667 miles but for the faultiness! Just waiting to hear what the credit translates to in cash terms from the wholesaler. From that I can see what the dealer's mark up is. Not expecting a great deal back! PS. the PS4S replacements seem fine but I've probably only driven 100 more miles on them due to lockdown.