In 2006, my wife leased a new VW Beetle from a dealership in santa cruz county, California. The car came with a set of new Goodyear Eagle rs-a tires. My wife commutes 40 miles round trip five to six days a week to work. The car has approximately 60K in miles on it. The tires have not been mistreated- surface streets and freeway use only. On 4-25-09, my wife drove to work, parked in a public use garage, and spent eight hours working. When she returned to the car, the driver side front tire was flat. A tow service was called and they put on the spare tire. It was at that time the tow service driver showed my wife the inside sidewall of the replaced tire. In brief, about 90 percent of the sidewall had separated from the main tread to the point the metal bands were exposed. When my wife got home, I crawled under her car and saw the passenger side front tire was also in the same defective condition. I took pictures of both tires and downloaded them onto my computer. The cost to replace all four tires will be over $500 based on a sear\'s estimate. I checked the internet for recalls and safety bulletins on Goodyear tires. I found there was no formal recall of this tire, but Goodyear was doing a \"silent recall\" replacing tires for customer satisfaction. I found many similar complaints about these tires, the Eagle rs-a, separating at the sidewall on the internet. Todd mayer

- Soquel, CA, USA