The Continentals are Junk: Gotta Go. 3 flats 3,000 miles

[Steve Urquell]

Our situation is worse than most. We drive 3 miles of rock road daily which carves tires up.

With the county putting SB2 down on the hills that eliminated the big sharp rocks getting turned up and cutting tires so it is somewhat better however we don't get much more than 20,000 miles out of a set no matter what they are.

So you think a cheap tire might be best however cheap tires have light construction and get cut all the time like these Contis. They are more hassle than they are worth.

So our balance is finding a tire that will resist the road while not being too expensive. We ran Michelin Defenders on her other car with good cut resistance but they were expensive to be worn out in 20,000 miles.

So: Tough tire>high performance tires are what we need.

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[Maui]

I sold tires for a looooong time. People who leave their vehicles in the garage are least likely to get punctures. (I was going to say driveway, but Urquel's driveway ate one of his tires. "DID i DO THAT?")

As for the rest of us, road hazards are on every inch of every road, and parking lots. Going to the local dump is like a tire minefield. Construction vehicles hauling stripped roof materials loaded with loose nails. I found a full pair of pliers that punctured a tire once that were discovered in one piece when the tire was removed from the rim. My Honda Valkyrie lost a rear tire to a staple.

The point? No tire is puncture proof. My tire of choice when selling was always Michelin.
(naked, I look like the Michelin Man) I never saw a defective Michelin, but have seen them ripped to shreds from their environment.

 

[fozcycle]

My Mav runs in the South so I am most concerned with rain. Longest trip to date is Tampa to Louisville. Ran smooth with 32+ mpg.

 

[A.Bursell]

I've had such positive results with Michelin that I really don't look at other tires anymore. One of the things I look for is how much weight the tires take when balancing. There are other factors of course, but in general the Michelins seem to take less weight. I rotate tires front to back at every 5k oil change and check pressure often. Might be excessive, but I got 80k miles out of my last 70k mile set (truck) and on my car I have 38k miles and they still have lots of life left. Have never rebalanced any of them.

 

[Aherpa]

This flat sucks. And I mean flat #2 in 3,000 miles. First one was ~500 miles first thing in the morning with the wife calling me at 0600, I changed it and I looked at the hole in it. Looked like a 1/4" piece of pipe went in and out of it. It was fixed at my dealership at no charge. I came home after changing the flat and found a piece of bent .22LR brass on my concrete garage aloha.

That is weird and I kinda thought that could have happened but I've never had that happen and I've had .22 brass in the driveway for 23 years. Move on--freak occurrence but I have never punctured a tire with a piece of brass. Strange.

OK. This morning wife calls me. I have a flat, at the gym, L front. I set up to change it and go take a look, pump it up with my Ryobi inflator and find the hole. Looks like an in/out from a nail but no nail present. Right in the tread blocks so thick rubber, right?

I decide to plug it and put the rasp in the hole--it's like a lawnmower tire--no resistance at all. If you've ever plugged a tire you know they are tough as heck, especially right in the thickest part of the tread. This one had nothing. I put a plug in it and I am prepping for the usual resistance and ram it all the way into the tire flush with the tread.

Well...I didn't like the thought of all the plug swinging around in the tire--especially with no resistance and possibly pulling itself out so I got another plug and pushed the first one into the tire with the install tool. I have some really thick truck plugs. Put rubber cement on it and gently push it in. This tire must be made of toilet paper it goes in so easy.

Get it finished and it holds air. Wife is upset because of 2 flats in 3,000 miles. I was a mechanic for 20 years, we have lived 1.5 miles down a dirt road for 23 years so I have had my battles with tires. I have had 1 set of tires that were this soft and I cut one thru the tread the first week I had them and got rid of them.

My road is in the best shape it has ever been out here--county put down SB2 in all the rough spots so rock cut tires have reduced to nil lately. I just can't see me dealing with the Contis if they are this soft. Sorry for the long rant--I'm just frustrated right now at the thought of replacing all the tires with this few miles on them.

I had a 2001 Grand Marquis that the dealer put a new set of tires on (Contis) to help sell the car. They were top of line Contis for that car and we drove it for a few years. It never really felt like it was connected to the road. It felt 'jinky' all the time, especially on wet or frozen roads. I even had my dealer look at the suspension because it even felt odd even on a good road.
I normally put Michelin tires on my vehicles and decided to put a different set of tires on before we got rid of the car. With Michelin tires, that car was glued to the road. It cornered great and felt confident to drive. Even my wife noticed the difference saying it felt like she was driving a totally different car.
If my Maverick came with Contis, I was going to replace them before I even took delivery but I didn't have to because mine came with Michelin tires.

 

[NJBob]

Yea the Continentals are junk. The Scorpions are not bad as far as stock tires on a "budget" vehicle go.

TBH, I don't expect any tires from the factory to be good. Even the Mavericks that come with the Wildpeaks are getting a nerfed version of the AT3W's that are actually closer to the Trails but not even sold to consumers anywhere other than on the Mavericks.

Plus, I live in Montana so stock tires gotta go ASAP. Even on the Escape I had 2 months worth of decent weather left and I replaced those stock 225/55R19 with the Wildpeak Trails (which I would not run during winter up here again). They were Bridgestone Ecopia's or something? Terrible tire and the only reason these types of tires (The Ecopia's and Continentals) get used is because of their low rolling resistance and cost FORD gets for them when buying in bulk.

And I second the notion for the Michelin Cross Climate 2's being by far the best tire outside of anything A/T or M/T related. I'm going to give them a shot this winter in 235/65R17 as dedicated snows.

But the real question is what are your driving conditions like and what is your budget?

I think I read somewhere that oem tires are not the same as ones you get from a tire shop. That they are built to oem specs. Even though they are the same model. Could be BS but certainly would not be surprised.

 

[Dignam]

Mine came with the Wildpeaks which I've been pretty happy with so far. They're no snow tires, but handle alright in the snow and ice. Dirt and mud they handle well too.

Back when I had a long commute I had a sedan with dedicated winter tires on steelies. Tires make such a huge difference; that thing was a beast in the snow even without awd.

 

[dalola]

Hmm..... there may be something to this.... Wifey's '21 Honda Pilot w/conti's has had 3 punctures already. It's like the damn thing is a road metal magnet. One screw, one 8mm bolt, and one metal clip-type thing. Unbelievable. Fortunately, all were repairable. Regardless, the conti's are gone this fall. Not much better than the crap Bridgestones on her CR-V, that were worn out before 30K.

 

[MakinDoForNow]

Looking at these Nittos. Load range 106 vs 102 so they should be tougher. Also 75,000 treadwear. I've never run Nitto before but like the specs. Thoughts?
https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/nitto-nt421q/p/15259

Am looking at them. The Michelin primacy on my lariat are 24lbs and depending on size and model of nitro they are, if I remember correctly 27-31 lbs but for the load limits the price appears excellent. The lighter ones appeared to have better tread design for mpg. But?

 

[Steve Urquell]

I think I read somewhere that oem tires are not the same as ones you get from a tire shop. That they are built to oem specs. Even though they are the same model. Could be BS but certainly would not be surprised.

I noticed on my Tacoma the OEM Hankook tires has 10/32" tread while buying them anywhere else they were 13/32. Same with Toyos and Firestone Destination. All 10/32".

 

[Steve Urquell]

Discount tire is gonna price match walmart on the Nittos at $157/ea

 

[Montana]

Just an objective difference of opinion here: Continental makes a decent line of bicycle tires...

And serpentine belts.

Montana, Are you saying you would not run the Wildpeak Trails in the winter? I was planning on swapping out my stocks for the Wildpeak Trails when my truck gets here. I live in Minnesota and ordered a hybrid so tire choice is going to be important for me.

Just my opinion, but after one winter with them I thought they were certainly better than some previous GY AT 3 peak rated tires that I've owned years ago but they were not quite up to par with the AT3W's. I think they are a great mix for year round tires for most people, but I'd personally rather run dedicated snows and some summer tires. The tread depth in that pattern is just geared more for daily driving highway stuff compared to most AT's that are 3 peak rated and I noticed a lot of slip in them. It was a pretty normal winter last winter too. I would certainly say if you are on a budget to just get the one, or at the very least, get them and try them for the first winter, but with you being FWD (and I know a lot of people will disagree) I would have to say that I would personally not run them in the winter. AWD, worth a test. FWD, dedicated snows especially if icy conditions are frequent enough. I also had AWD on the vehicle they were on and would use "slippery" mode. I don't think you have that option. If I'm being totally honest, if I had a FWD vehicle where I lived, I'd be running studded snows. I actually had some for a previous Subaru Crosstrek and it was night and day during winter. I may even revisit doing just that again this winter.

Discount tire is gonna price match walmart on the Nittos at $157/ea

Good job!

 

[Mikecaro]

This flat sucks. And I mean flat #2 in 3,000 miles. First one was ~500 miles first thing in the morning with the wife calling me at 0600, I changed it and I looked at the hole in it. Looked like a 1/4" piece of pipe went in and out of it. It was fixed at my dealership at no charge. I came home after changing the flat and found a piece of bent .22LR brass on my concrete garage aloha.

That is weird and I kinda thought that could have happened but I've never had that happen and I've had .22 brass in the driveway for 23 years. Move on--freak occurrence but I have never punctured a tire with a piece of brass. Strange.

OK. This morning wife calls me. I have a flat, at the gym, L front. I set up to change it and go take a look, pump it up with my Ryobi inflator and find the hole. Looks like an in/out from a nail but no nail present. Right in the tread blocks so thick rubber, right?

I decide to plug it and put the rasp in the hole--it's like a lawnmower tire--no resistance at all. If you've ever plugged a tire you know they are tough as heck, especially right in the thickest part of the tread. This one had nothing. I put a plug in it and I am prepping for the usual resistance and ram it all the way into the tire flush with the tread.

Well...I didn't like the thought of all the plug swinging around in the tire--especially with no resistance and possibly pulling itself out so I got another plug and pushed the first one into the tire with the install tool. I have some really thick truck plugs. Put rubber cement on it and gently push it in. This tire must be made of toilet paper it goes in so easy.

Get it finished and it holds air. Wife is upset because of 2 flats in 3,000 miles. I was a mechanic for 20 years, we have lived 1.5 miles down a dirt road for 23 years so I have had my battles with tires. I have had 1 set of tires that were this soft and I cut one thru the tread the first week I had them and got rid of them.

My road is in the best shape it has ever been out here--county put down SB2 in all the rough spots so rock cut tires have reduced to nil lately. I just can't see me dealing with the Contis if they are this soft. Sorry for the long rant--I'm just frustrated right now at the thought of replacing all the tires with this few miles on them.

Hey there all you have to do is find a TIRE dealer like my store and we can get you a great DEAL from Conti tires let me Know I am a dealer have 2 mavericks 20,000 no flats

 

[NJBob]

I noticed on my Tacoma the OEM Hankook tires has 10/32" tread while buying them anywhere else they were 13/32. Same with Toyos and Firestone Destination. All 10/32".

Sounds like that's the case. You get starter tires. Like buying an ink jet printer. That's quite a difference.

 

[RedRider]

My sympathy ran out when I re-read your post. So you leave your brass lying all over the garage, and then get upset because it picked up the brass and it acted like the hole-punch tool that you should fully expect? I doubt that the choice of Contis had anything to do with your poor control of your brass. What kind of tire can survive a hole-punch tool?

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