About a year ago to the day, I bought a set of Cooper ST maxx tires for the 03. Up until last week I have been quite pleased with them all around.I was checking tire pressures, and noticed the left front was running about 15psi low. upon further inspection I found that the outer bead was cracked almost completely around.. The right front was cracked about half way, and both rears were showing signs of dry rot.I went back to the dealer, and after looking at them he informed me that the ST Maxx series is a commercial tire, and does not have a replacement warranty. after punching numbers, and giving me pro rate quotes, I think he began to notice the frown growing on my face... So he said let me call somebody, and see what they can do....After talking around the corner for about 10 mins he came back and said if I would pay the mount & balance they would swap them out for free:hyper: I wound up getting 10,000 miles for $40 bucks.. I`m just hoping for a little better luck this time around because I really like these tires

That's great that they took care of you. This does have me wondering about how old the tires were before you got them. They may have sat on a shelf for quite a while before you got them and that's how they were able to warranty them. I learned this the hard way and got stuck with the full replacement cost. :banghead: Take a look at this link. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

That's great that they took care of you. This does have me wondering about how old the tires were before you got them. They may have sat on a shelf for quite a while before you got them and that's how they were able to warranty them. I learned this the hard way and got stuck with the full replacement cost. :banghead: Take a look at this link. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

Thats a great link. Its to late to check the old ones, but I`m gonna check the new ones this morning

There is a way to decode the DOT stamp and see when the tire was produced.

[TABLE]

[TR]

[TD]n the example above:

DOT U2LL LMLR 5107[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD] 51[/TD]

[TD]Manufactured during the 51^st week of the year[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]07[/TD]

[TD]Manufactured during 2007[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

My new ones say 0813.. thats probably as new as anyone could expect. We`ll see how this set does.

I work at Cooper tire and the cracking issue around the sidewall is where two different rubber compounds meet. The side wall is comprised of a softer compound vs. the bead area which is very stiff. That being said It's a fairly common issue in tires as you go up in ply ratings ,most people never notice it. I've had a set replaced just as you did, and I've been told it's not really a safety issue but I'm not a engineer and any crack in a tire concerns me! Cooper obviously is smart to swap these out regardless, if you bring it to their attention and they don't warranty them, any safety issue you may have down the road could bring considerable liability costs headed they're way!