What's happening to my tires?

[Strider]

OEM Goodyear Eagle LS2s on my 2013 X3. Currently ~65,000km on the car, with mileage split between these all-seasons and winters - so maybe 35,000km on these tires. Noticed it on both sides, all around the tire.
Do they need to be replaced?

[ExtraSlow]

So cracking and chunks falling out? Is that what I'm seeing here?
Mileage isn't the main concern here, age is another factor. Those tires were probably manufactured in 2012, so nearly six years old. That's not crazy old, but not young either.

OE tires are usually bottom of the barrel in terms of quality. Just ask anyone to compare the OE Goodyear wrangler SRA or pirelli scorpions to the better and more popular replacement options on a pickup truck.


Coles: buy new tires.

[benyl]

Bad alignment.

[spikerS]

both sides? both sides of each tire, or both sides of the car?

If it is both sides of the car, you either have a bad alignment or too much positive camber. Rebuilt status maybe?

if it is both sides of the tire, while the middle looks pretty much new, you have under-inflated tires.

[Strider]

To clarify, it looks like the top layer of the tread is peeling off. It's only on the outside edge of the tire, on both sides of the car, and only on the fronts (although could've happened on the rears and I didn't notice when I rotated front to back seasonally).

I've owned the car since brand new, so definitely not rebuilt.

Wouldn't an alignment issue lead to uneven wear and not the tread peeling/separating?

[jaylo]

Looks to be a combination of under inflation, high speed cornering or aggressive driving, and not rotating the tires every year may have caused your issue.

Are these OE runflats? It's nearing its end of life since you got 35K on them and 6 years old.

[Strider]

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Looks to be a combination of under inflation, high speed cornering or aggressive driving, and not rotating the tires every year may have caused your issue.
Are these OE runflats? It's nearing its end of life since you got 35K on them and 6 years old.

I rotate them front to back every year when I switch from winters to all season. Can't really say they've been abused, it's an awd suv, not a sports car.

I guess it's just the age... If not for the peeling, there's still tons of tread depth left, would've expected to get to 50k or longer.

[Sentry]

Age won't do that in just 5 years. Alignment. Also, do you drive in gravel roads?

[jaylo]

Under inflation maybe? I would check the front Toe and Camber settings. It's a common occurrence for most OE BMW runflats to wear out on the outside edges of the front tires.

[roopi]

My last truck had this issue and it was a result of under inflation for me.