Tire Flaking: Action

When a customer contacts a retailer concerning the tire flaking phenomenon, dealers must: 

• Conduct a thorough evaluation of the tire condition and determine that they are seeing flake damage on the outer sections of the tire. If damage is seen in the central tread, please refer to the Tire Chip & Chunk section
• Inform the customers of the driving styles that generate tire flaking (Mid corner understeer that generates high pitched tire noise, and/or over application on throttle inputs when exiting junctions that cause the traction control light to come on).

Complaints associated with this phenomenon must initially include a thorough examination of the vehicles tires for the following: 

• Excessive flaking (tread cuts or loss of tread block section, extending deep into the tread rubber beyond the tread wear indicators or in the shoulder area extending beyond the groove depth)
• Cuts and bulges especially within the sidewall
• Overall tire condition including tread depth.

Where the tires do not exhibit excessive flaking, cuts, sidewall bulges and are in generally good condition the customer should be advised that the condition does not affect the overall tire integrity or significantly affect performance and as such are serviceable.