Hi

This is my first post here, just looking for some advice/opinions.  I recently bought a 2018 fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost from a local Ford main dealer, however in the second week of ownership I decided to check the tyre pressures and noticed that 3 of the four tyres have cracks in the grooves between the treads. (image attached).  Should I be concerned about this, I personally think they are potentially unsafe but wanted to get the opinion of other owners who may know more about tyres than myself.  I have contacted the dealer but they are refusing to do anything about it. I think it is very poor they have allowed a car like this on the road and am surprised they won't rectify it.  

 

Thanks

You should check these things before you buy the car, not hope that the dealer will sort it out afterwards.

Are they Bridegstone by any chance? I seem to remember reading about another member with a similar issue despite the fact the tyres aren't that old.

They're not an MOT fail, but would probably come up as an advisory.
I wouldn't be expecting anything from the dealer as they are classed as a wear & tear item.

 

28 minutes ago, Mog22 said:

Should I be concerned about this...

No. It's legal and it will pass an MOT.

Hi Guys

 

Thanks for the replies/advice, and yes Luke they are Bridgestone tyres, surprised to hear they are so bad as I thought they were a quality tyre!.  I think the dealer has been a bit cute as I wasn't given an MOT certificate with the car but they were obviously aware of the issue as it was down as an advisory on the MOT.  I will still have them changed myself as I have never driven cars with tyres in this state.  Any views on which tyres are considered good?

Thanks

There are a lot of good tyres.

It depends on your needs (weather, terrain where you live etc.).

I have been using Uniroyal all season tyres for many many years.

Tyres on my car at the moment.

 

Uniroyal Rainsport 3's are good in the rain (I should hope so, given the name!). However, they are quite a soft tyre so wear incredibly fast I found.

I've just fitted some more Michelin Pilot Sport 4's on my ST, although I'm tempted to swap to Goodyear Eagle F1's in about 6,000 miles when they're due again 😂.

Oh yes, Uniroyal rainsport's, forgot about those,  have had them on previous cars and had no problems with them.  Thanks for jogging my memory.  Initial all season sound good too.

17 hours ago, Mog22 said:

I wasn't given an MOT certificate

Hi Kevin, MOT's are on line now the days of a real certificate are gone 😟. Some garages will give you a tatty old bit of A4 paper with faded print and grubby thumb prints but it seems thats an option now !

You can download you MOT results for free from the goverment website and even print it.

Last year my daughter bought an Ecosport from a Ford Dealer and we noticed just before buying it that the sidewalls on both rear tyers were badly cracked. We had to argue for half an hour that we wouldn't be buying it unless they changed the tyres which in the end they did. Like you we later found on line that the garage had marked them down as an advisory on the MOT that they had done the week before.

I know this topic is old, but it caught my eye because I had a similar issue with all four Avon tyres which were fitted on my Mk3 Mondeo.

The tyres were only a couple of years old BUT only had less than 5k miles of use and had good tread depth; come MoT time they were advised, but the car passed.

Tyre specialist advised me they crack like this through lack of use. True enough, the car was parked up outdoors for those two years for weeks on end.

I love the car and still have it, as a weekend runaround. It is now 21 years old and I hope to keep it to achieve "classic car" status.

Since fitted a set of Goodyears and I now make sure to drive it around 40 miles a week. No problems since.

On 1/29/2026 at 8:15 PM, LincsFordFan said:

caught my eye because I had a similar issue with all four Avon tyres The tyres were only a couple of years old BUT only had less than 5k miles of use and had good tread depth; come MoT time they were advised, but the car passed.
Tyre specialist advised me they crack like this through lack of use.

I had 4 brand Avon tyres put on my Fiesta, just wanted something different if I'm honest, this was done 2 years ago, car only done 6k miles in the last two years, my tyres are showing cracking around the tread, sidewall's still look brand new with minimal wear to the tread, car has been in for it's MOT and I asked them about the tyres with the cracking, chap checked the cracking, then checking the dates, he had no issue with the fine cracks, the cracks on our tyres are not as pronounced as in the OP's image.