Check your Cooper Zeons!!

[huelsmma]

Just wanted to give you guys a heads up on this and have seen other reports of this issue.

I had a Cooper Zeon blow out (purchased set July 2010) have plenty of tread left, tires are rotated every 5k miles. After inspection I noticed deep cracks under the tread/knobs that continued down the sidewall. I looked at the other 3 tires an every one of them is like this. This happened to all 4! All on the inner side (not the side facing out). Will be contacting local Cooper dealer in the am and see what to do.

 

[tomasesto]

Just wanted to give you guys a heads up on this and have seen other reports of this issue.

I had a Cooper Zeon blow out (purchased set July 2010) have plenty of tread left, tires are rotated every 5k miles. After inspection I noticed deep cracks under the tread/knobs that continued down the sidewall. I looked at the other 3 tires an every one of them is like this. This happened to all 4! All on the inner side (not the side facing out). Will be contacting local Cooper dealer in the am and see what to do.

Same happend to mine and a friends but more like after 3yrs and 30k miles or more even after regular rotations and even after a couple inner/outter remounts due to chunking of treads during rock crawls. I was told it was due to improper inflation slowing the carcass ability to dissipate heat... sounded about right cuz since I had been a bit careless in my maintenance so .... finally crack ripped when my wife was driving... just figured it was MY BAD.... who knew :-/

 

[perkj]

I'll be interested to hear what they say. Thanks for the heads up, I have a pair of zeons that I just purchased in march of 2011.

 

[jimbiram]

Just had to replace a tire on mine that just went flat one night. It almost looks like something hit it, and damaged the tire. Don't recall hitting anything, and haven't gone offroad since the end of August, so it may just be tire failure. First time experience with that...about 25,000 miles. Fortunately it was replaced under tire dealer warranty for only $28 bucks which was cost of new warranty on the new tire. Thanks Americas Tire!

 

[perkj]

Interesting thread on the topic...looks like cooper will replace them free of charge including mount/balance: http://www.f150online.com/forums/wheels-tires-brakes/438503-cooper-zeon-ltz-cracked.html

 

[BldrRover]

Same thing happened to my Coopers. Had 2 flats one morning and noticed the cracks throughout all of the tires. I replaced them with the Hankook Dynapro ATM RF10s. In comparison, the Coopers totally sucked. They look great, but treadwear, durability, snow traction and off road traction were not as good. I would not recommend the Coopers after trying the Hankooks.

 

[tomasesto]

Interesting thread on the topic...looks like cooper will replace them free of charge including mount/balance: http://www.f150online.com/forums/wheels-tires-brakes/438503-cooper-zeon-ltz-cracked.html

wow I even actually have 2 as spares ..... hmmm wonder if i can get COOP to cough up a new pair since my last ones split and I even went out and got a new set of STT from tread depot? I need some AT daily drivers also need them to be good in snow travels.

 

[huelsmma]

Yep same cracks as that picture. Went to local cooper dealer and they inspected the tires, have 8/32 still left and got Cooper on the phone and they authorized the replacement of 4 new tires and I just pay for mounting/balance. Just stinks I have to wait a week for the new tires to get here. Oh and the tires were 14 mos old and had 37k miles on them.

 

[perkj]

you should not be paying for the mount and balance since the Zeon LTZ are under the premium warranty. See the Cooper warranty in the premium section - it clearly states free replace, including mount and balance: http://us.coopertire.com/Customer-Care/Warranty-Information.aspx

I'd call Cooper back and tell them you read the warranty more closely and they are to pay mount and balance


Also - any one with cracks, can you please list the production date? You can find the date on the sidewall near where the DOT information is located (you will see "DOT") and its a for digit number near the DOT info, i.e. 0211 (meaning Feb 2011). My Zeons have a 0211 production date, though no signs of cracking. I did see that back in 2006 Cooper issued a major recall for some of their tire lines for this cracking issue.

 

[huelsmma]

Yes I do see about it being covered for m&b and spoke with the Cooper rep. I figured paying for m&b isnt that bad considering this shop is doing me a favor considering I bought the tires from treadepot. The shop insists that the one that blew would be a road hazard tire and not warrantied so Cooper is crediting him for 3 tires, however he was going to just replace the 4.

I have a week until these new tires come in and when i go in i'll try and push it as the cooper rep they will be credited for all handling of tires. Im sure its the tire place trying to make more $.

I'll get the dates off my tires tonight for ya.