[jvcap]

I am concerned about the tires on my 2012 Challenger SRT8

I have 1,400 miles on the stock tires Good Year Eagle F1 supercar, front 245/45/ZR20 and rear 255/45/ZR20.

After detailing the car I noticed cuts or separations in the sidewalls at the end of the tread area. I have been an auto mechanic for over 20 years and I have never seen anything like this.

I took the car back to the dealer today and they have never seen this either. They recommend I change all 4 because all 4 are separated the same way, some worse than others. Funny thing is I noticed when they showed me the price for the four tires they were not the factory Good Year tires. I told them I felt it was a problem with the tires and that I should not have to pay to have them replaced. The air pressure is set at the cold recommendation of 32 PSI. I checked the air pressure after driving home which is about 40 miles and the PSI was 47 PSI, pretty normal I would say. I have not driven the car in any extreme manner like hard cornering or anything like that. The dealer service rep said they will get back to me??? I will post any results. Does anyone have the same or similar issue? I have some pictures can someone tell me how to attach pictures? Thanks.

 

[ImperialCrown]

This is why the Chrysler warranty and the tire manufacturer warranties are kept separate. There should be a separate tire warranty flyer in your glove box papers. You might want an opinion from a Good Year tire dealer.
I have seen problems like this before and coverage is a coin-flip. Good Year may have to make the final decision or adjustment. It is probably not Chrysler's problem. Stay pro-active on this, get everything in writing and remain courteous..

 

[tazdevil]

I wonder if, by chance, those tires were mounted incorrectly. The Eagles on my Demon have verbage on the tires stating that they must be mounted with the corect side facing out. That tire is unidirectional.

 

[jvcap]

Thanks for the comments.
I will check with the Good Year dealer and yes I am always courteous.
The tires are mounted on the rims correctly.
I will keep you updated as I get this solved............one way or the other.

 

[Super64]

I picked my Challenger up last month, there is definitely an area where a small flap of rubber exists. Didnt know if it was part of the casting process (minor flaw) or the precursor too a catastrophic failure. Please keep me in the loop. Thanks

 

[jvcap]

Hi All,
OK here is the result. of which I am pleased.

the dealership was instrumental in the way they handled the situation. The dealer worked with the Goodyear tire dealership and replaced all 4 tires at no cost to me.

I am very pleased, but there was no explanation of why or what happend. The dealer just said it was a defect that slipped by????

Joe

 

[ImperialCrown]

Thanks for the update. I'm glad that this was done to your satisfaction.
As for an explanation as to 'why' the rubber separated, the reason may yet come out on the internet or in the news. I doubt that yours is the only car that this has happened to.
I imagine that long term over-inflation or a possible material defect would do this.

 

[wire2]

I'm not sure if what I have is the same issue as the OP;
I recently had to replace a pair of 245/45/20 F1's from the front of my '08 Charger SRT with only ~ 25,000 Kms on them. (15,000 mi). There was still 6/32" of tread left (50%) but the inner edge of tread of both of them had been worn deep into the tread, as if it had been scooped out with a sharpened teaspoon. One was showing cords, the other was even deeper, down to the steel belts. My first thought was a wierd alignment issue, but the other 90% of the tread is perfect.(no scuffing, scallops). And the all season tires/wheels I have on in the winter are wearing perfectly even. Yesterday I took it to a tire shop to have the original rears balanced, (255/45/20) and I see they are both wearing the corner in the exact same pattern. The only way I can see this happening is for the tread edge to be lifting off the belts at speed, wearing the corner like that. I plan to jack the rear of the car off the ground, run the car at 130 Km/h and watch to see if the worn area rises away from the belts. Anyone else seen this same pattern?

 

[moparroy]

I hope these are isolated cases cause I have to say I have been really impressed with these F1 tires on my 2010 SRT. The first time that I have been impressed with Goodyear tires (was a die hard Goodrich guy - did not hurt I had a buddy who used to work at the BFG plant). Impressed enough I bought a set of Eagle GTs to replace the TA ZRs I had on the Daytona for 15+ years. I was most impressed the day I "tried" to test the anti lock - car does not get out in rain much so I thought I'd try it one day when it was wet - the seat belt kept me in the car the ABS never engaged.
Couple thoughts:
The cupping described by wire2 reminds me of the early FWD - like my Daytona does - wear in a "scalloped" or "cupped' uneven wear. Apparently something to do with early FWD suspension design - don't understand it fully - pattern on the rear (non-driven) tires (note yours is non driven fronts). The recommended preventative for this from BGF and GY at the time was 1) rotate often and cross from rear to front, 2) run tires at sidewall maximum pressure not vehicle tag reco - I think there was 3rd escapes me at the moment. Think I still have that article somewhere. (Found it - BFG reco X rotation - course on these F1 SRT you cannot but still side to side changes direction of rotation which is the key to evening out this cupping - and actually it does not state the inflation thing - I got that somewhere else - but still believe in it myself - I know there will be some doubters)
One of the reasons I replaced the ZRs on teh Daytona was due to this wear also - because they were directional I could not cross them - I will avoid directional tires as long as I can for this reason.
Also since those early Daytona days I have run all my tires above the reco pressure - usually between 40-45 psi as long as the side wall rating is over 40 - there are still some 35 psi max tires out there - so I run those snows on the van at 35. It makes a slightly rougher ride (and the SRT does not squawk quite as nice in 3rd and 4th) but the tires last longer and the gas mileage is better (IMO anyway).
These F1 I think are rated over 50 psi max - I think even the Eagle GTs are rated 51psi - run them low 40s myself.
You might say what about the nitrogen fill - BS I say - remember your ideal gas law from highschool chemistry - debunks half the claims - I just top em up with air and my experience is in fact the temperature / pressure variation is no less.
My 2 cents - but I do hope those tires stay good as I have seen so far - only 10k km on mine so far - sure they are soft - so were the ZRs but don't drive those cars a lot - I would not buy such tires for a daily driver.
And yes I rotate them religiously - that was the only way I could get 15 years out of the ZRs - when I bought them the guy said they may only last 40k - for me perfect - soft and stick like glue (the counter guy said the same about the Eagle GTs - again I said perfect). I did get about 60k kms on the ZRs but after 15 (actually just checked 19 years) cannot compain for sure.

 

[GLHSHELBY]

my goodyears are uneven, and I`VE seen a lot like it with other peoples cars. On the trucks I`ve had all goodyears would grow bubbles. I always replace my tires with something besides goodyears for the amount of problems I`ve had. I`ve ran into this problem dozens of times on my car lot in the past and always with goodyears

 

[RR75SRT807]

I have an '07 Charger SRT-8. It spends most of its time parked in the garage, and it has just over 20,000 kilometres. The warranty expired this year, and I asked the dealer to look the car over extensively. All they came back with was, "don't take your car on the hi-way until you get new tires". All four of my F-1s had cracks in the grooves between the tread lugs. One tire store told me the tires were defective and recommended that I talk to the Goodyear store. I talked to them with courtesy, and they showed a willingness to work with me, but they told me that given the age of the tires, any allowance would be between zero and not much. Once again, I am reminded that the only reason I was riding on Goodyears is because they came with the car. I replaced them with four BFG G-Force II. The BFGs are a little noisier, but are in all other respects far superior to the F-1s, at least so far.

Dave