New Tires.

Best thing you could do is park the van in a climate controlled, dark garage when you're not driving it. If that's not practical... um... tire covers?

nate

this is something of a wild goose chase - dry rot is a fungus. modern tires don't get fungus.

if cracking is visible, it's due to u.v. or ozone damage. and unless decades old, is almost totally inconsequential, and avoidable if you park the vehicle in a garage.

and if you read this,

now, let the brainwashed begin their bleating chorus of "tires need to be changed every 6 years" because they believe the deliberately misleading propaganda perpetrated by frod to decoy attention from the inherent instability of their killer suv's.

In this neighborhood I live in, tire covers would disappear over night.Unless I make some tire covers nobody would want.I don't have a garage, I have a carport. cuhulin

Dry rot is a fungus which grows on natural fiber such as wood or a cotton tire casing, Yours are nylon and steel casing.

I thought that "dry rot" was, in this case, a misnomer. Deterioration of rubber surfaces is also caused by oxidation which is catalyzed by heat, sunlight, and presence of ozone. I never considered that a fungus would attack a dry tire like this.

Anybody else a bit confused on this?

At any rate, I think the best way to protect your tires is keep them clean, as cool as possible, and treated with a good rubber preservative. Is there an expert in the house?

it is.

it's not confusing - read it again.

rubber preservative???

you know how condom manufacturers warn against certain types of potions and lotions? because condoms are so thin, any degradation can quickly lead to failure.

same for your tires. do NOT apply lotions and potions. simply store in a dark ozone free room.

Well, the tires on my company car are only a couple years old, and they pretty much have no traction, and the rubber is obviously cracked. I'm actually going to see if I can get new ones within the next few weeks even though they still have 6/32" tread left. The thought of trying to drive in snow on them frightens me. The car is outside 24/7 FWIW.

nate

maybe the cracks will simulate the siping of studless snow tires?

Hah... I doubt it.

I *think* they are Uniroyal Tiger Paws but I don't know that it makes that much difference... IME the environment around here is hell on wiper blades too, I've been using silicone blades for a couple years now after getting sick of how quickly the regular rubber ones would get hard and stop flipping over. Must be something in that lovely NoVA/DC air.

Which reminds me, it's probably about time to rub some silicone in the door/trunk seals so my stuff doesn't freeze shut this winter.

nate