Toyo R888 deformation

[Marke]

Friend of mine bought some new (never mounted w/stickers) Toyo R888's not that long ago. He has never used them on the track and he has street driven them very little. (they look brand new)

After he took them off he noticed the inside shoulder looked deformed, 2 of the 4. Best way to describe it is that it looks like some one tried to pull the side wall out from under the thread in random places around the tires (not uniform). In some places where it is really bad the rubber is splitting in a perfect line where the tread and side wall meet.

He contacted Toyo and after he gave them the serial number off the tires they said the tires were 2007 and were degrading. Told him he was out of luck. I have seen old r-comps before and they usually get hard. I am inclined to think they are defective.

Any input or similar experience with these tires?

[kbrew8991]

I was greatly displeased with the grip (worse than RA1s) and wear rate (same as Hoosiers) of R888s - toss them in the garbage and get RA1s or another R-comp tire.

It sounds like the set you have are time bombs - think about what will happen when they finish falling apart at 100+ mph. And it really sucks they won't stand behind their product very well either. Have you tried taking it up with the vendor your friend purchased the tires from? And do you know about their storage conditions?

[Marke]

I told him they were done and to not even use them for the street.

Vendor blew him off, said they were "as is" because they were old stock, although they did not mention that when he bought them. All he knew was that they were new tires at a sale price.

Another source I talked to figured they could fall apart like that if they had been frozen at some point.

[Eric]

Vendor, especially a vendor of performance tires, should know better than to try to sell rcomps that old as new. I'd like to 1) know who they are, 2) give them a chance to make it right or explain themselves, and 3) share their answer.