goodyear eagle LS tire crack on side walls

[DebbyM46227]

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to add my 2 cents. I have been putting up with road noise for a couple months. At first I thought it was noise due to our extremely cold winter. I'd hear the noise starting at about 35 MPH. It's warmed up to the 60's the past couple days and I still heard the noise. So I took it to a mechanic this morning to find out what it was, expecting a wheel bearing. He couldn't find anything mechanically wrong with my car (28,600 miles) but said the tread is starting to separate. I also have the stock Goodyear Eagle LS tires. I have cracks like the OP's photo above. I've always kept my tires at about 36 to 38 lbs. inflation to keep the tire pressure light from coming on in the winter when the temps drop.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by DebbyM46227

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to add my 2 cents. I have been putting up with road noise for a couple months. At first I thought it was noise due to our extremely cold winter. I'd hear the noise starting at about 35 MPH. It's warmed up to the 60's the past couple days and I still heard the noise. So I took it to a mechanic this morning to find out what it was, expecting a wheel bearing. He couldn't find anything mechanically wrong with my car (28,600 miles) but said the tread is starting to separate. I also have the stock Goodyear Eagle LS tires. I don't have cracks like that photo though. I've always kept my tires at about 36 to 38 lbs. inflation to keep the tire pressure light from coming on in the winter when the temps drop.

Even if you had different tires, I would think what you are hearing is mainly re the PSI. I kept my tires at 38 PSI for a long time. Last year I noticed the same thing you did over about the same period of time. It seemed worse while I was driving on rural roads around Table Rock Lake in Missouri last August ( I had driven on Interstates (and surface roads) in TX, OK, KS, other side of MO, NE, IA, SD, ND, MN, WI, IL, IN, IL again and then MO again over the previous few weeks). I had the car looked at in Springfield, MO (not at a Toyota dealer), and was told one of the motor mounts was bad (, this turned out to be BS). Back in TX, I had the motor mounts and the suspension checked by a shop that I trust. They said everything was fine, and the conversation turned to the PSI level in the tires. I tried lowering the PSI in each tire to the level stated on the 'sticker/panel' put in the driver's door jamb at the factory (32 PSI), and that did the trick. I was worried that my fuel economy would decrease with the lower PSI level. It didn't.