Crazy blowout on our 325iT

[windnsea00]

So my mother was driving down the I-5 today (near Sea World Drive) when her right front tire blew out. Luckily she controlled the car and nothing serious happened.

I drove down there to put on the spare and now the car has 2 new tires. It was a Continental Contisport Contact with about 50% life still on it. Check out the damage though (Sorry for the cell phone pic)

 

[kkreit01]

^^ This is why the tire stores make money on selling Road Hazzard...

This is also why I'm ditching my OEM Contitracs before I have 1000 miles on them...

 

[windnsea00]

Actually, I found out this was a de-tread which Continental would be to blame.

 

[Quattro Pete]

So this is a known defect on this tire? Was there a service action or recall on these tires?

I'm curious because the car I'm about to pick up has those same tires.

 

[kkreit01]

Except for a few models, ContiExtremeContact, etc., Continental tires are lousy. Now that Ford should be using Firestone, they are using Conintental. On tirerack.com, the Contitracs on my new Mariner are rated 61 out of 65 Highway All-Season Truck tires. They are very poor for traction in every condition. Last night, I bought a set of Firestone Destination ATs -- with less than 700 miles on the OEM tires. I can't wait to get them mounted (Sunday).

 

[windnsea00]

Not sure if it's a known defect but skip the Contisport Contact's...they were unimpressive. We have the newer version (2) which has a lot better rating at Tirerack and drives better however I would still take a Michelin Pilot Sport or one of those well rated Bridgestone Potenza's over it.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I had the CSC2 on my A4. I actually liked them. Performance-wise, they had just slightly less grip than the Potenza S03 I had before, but they were much quieter, comfy (not that it matters to someone looking for flat out performance), and resisted tramlining better. So, the CSC2 was much more civilized.

Right now I'm thinking of trying either the Dunlop Sport Maxx or Pirelli P-Zero Nero. But if I remember the recent C&D and TireRack tire shootout, the GY F1 GSD3 took first spot.

 

[pastmaster]

WindnSea00,
Just curious as to the age and miles on that tire? Also had it ever been patched, if so, how long ago?
Weidersehen

 

[moribundman]

Quote:

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So this is a known defect on this tire? Was there a service action or recall on these tires?

I'm curious because the car I'm about to pick up has those same tires.

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Pete, I've used Conti Sport Contact and Sport Contact 2 tires for years without any issues. They are some of the best all-around performance summer tires. I must however mention that I use only V or W-rated versions. For example, I don't know if the H-rated version is horrible.

 

[windnsea00]

Not sure on age however but they had ~50% life on them so about 10-15k miles on the tire itself. It had never been patched, AFAIK.

 

[SWS]

Wow. At least you are safe, and it didn't mess up the rim!

 

[pastmaster]

Did Continental do anything for your Mother, warranty wise?
That should be handled by Them or Dealer, if there was a defect. Glad she was safe from harm.

 

[dkcase]

Quote:

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my new Mariner ..... Firestone Destination ATs --

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I wasn't sure if I remembered what the Mariner is... I looked it up -- compare to the Ford Escape ?

I have the Firestone tires on an '02 Jeep Liberty. Excellent tire, as far as I can tell. The stock Goodyear tires were just a hazard -- slipped and slid all over anytime it was wet.