Recently I have noticed that the tread of my tires has cracking in many places and in some cases small pieces of missing rubber or gashes. In a number of places the tread is peeling away in small flaps. Is this just superficial damage or should I replace my tires right away?
This is on an AWD Ford Fusion 2011. Please see the pictures below:
In brief, these tires are shot. They need to be replaced very soon.
It appears they not only have some rubber chunks missing out of them, but they have some very irregular wear patterns. This could very likely be due to an alignment issue with the suspension or possibly some worn out suspension parts causing a misalignment. When you do put new tires on there (hopefully soon), you need to have not only the alignment checked, but also see if there are any worn bushings or other suspension parts which need replaced. If you don't, it's going to be another short period of time when your new tires are worn out as well.
One of my tires was looking air and had a look at it and found this as shown in photos. The other 3 are showing starting signs of the same thing happening. I called GoodYear and they directed me to their Auto Service Center and they offered to replace the tires w/ new ones w/ a discount of $70.99 off from $141.99. Note all 4 tires were installed by my Ford dealership on April 4,2018 w/ 47274 miles on the car. Next Service was on Sept 28, 2019 w/ 61006 for the 60K maintenance service. My car currently has 67200 meaning the new tires only have 20K on them in under 2 yrs. The GoodYear Auto Service Center is stating that it's an alignment issue not the defect of the tire yet are offering me a discount on new tires if I was to replace them. From the looks of the tires in the photo would you say that the rubber is defective and they they should fall under warranty.
