Be safe!!!

[Bamboo Loui]

My Audi was loosing a little air pressure on the front tires over the last month. I did not think too much of it. I thought perhaps I had a slow leak from the rim or the stems on both. I had no real indication in any other way except a very small vibration and a little noise which I have had on every Audi I have owned as the tires seem to cup through normal driving and require rotation quite often. I took the car into service this week for a replacement of my center console latch and truck latch and asked them to check the tires re the slow leak.
I got a call a couple of hours later at the office saying I need to replace all the tires as they would not let me drive the car with the tires in the contition they were in.
I have been taking my Audis, Porsches, even my M5 to this place because of there excellent service and VIP treatment. So I told them to go ahead even though I was forced to change brands of tires which would mean stiffer side walls-- sucks in the pot hole state!!!!

Anyway- once I arrived to pick up the car they let me examine the tires. I was shocked!!! I had just returned from Florida the week earlier-- I had wanted to talke the Audi instead of my wifes Comander but she prevailed and I'm glad she did. We could have been in a serious accident.

Be careful out there!! check your tires!!!! These looked perfect from the outside of the vehicle if inspected!!

Doug

[Last Tango]

What was the build date on those tires? It is printed on the sidewall.

[Just Say N20]

Continental tires came on my Dodge Magnum. They started cupping at 7,500 miles! I had to replace them at 21,000 mostly highway miles. The cupping had become excessive (even with a rotation every 8,000 miles) and the tread was gone.

I could not tell you the last time I got worse performance from a set of tires. I replaced them with Good*Year Assurance (limited selection at the time for a 225/60/18"), and I love them. I'm not racing, so I don't need a monster grippy HP tire. The Assurance tires are fine, very quiet and have an 80,000 warranty. :drive:

I'll never own another set of Continental tires.

[VetteLT193]

I'll never own another set of Continental tires.

you and me both. Had them before, junk is the only proper word.

Lately I've had the best luck buying tires that have the highest, or near highest, max pressure rating. For some reason the cheaper tires seem to have pretty low max PSI's. Better tires seem to carry high max PSI's. Using this method I haven't had a problem.

[mrfixxall]

that's typical for a Continental tire when you don't run the proper tire pressure..seen that happen many of times,you would think they would recall them like Firestone did..NOT! that's why they probably switched your tires to another brand because they see this type of tire self destruct.

NOTE! see that pile of rubber lying on the ground in pic 3,that's from driving with 10 lbs of air pressure in the tire for a long period of time.

[fogducker III]

They almost look like a "re-tread"...:eek!:

[mrfixxall]

They almost look like a "re-tread"...:eek!:

i thought they looked familiar! almost looks like the cracks in your x ole lady's azz :):):)

[fogducker III]

i thought they looked familiar! almost looks like the cracks in your x ole lady's azz :):):)


I was told we have to lay off this stuff....some people get upset because they don't know we are joking around....:wink::hyper:

PS. Better that you have the old girl then me....:doh:

[mrfixxall]

I was told we have to lay off this stuff....some people get upset because they don't know we are joking around....:wink::hyper:

PS. Better that you have the old girl then me....:doh:


Who's joking ?????????



























































HA HA :):cistineb:

rode her hard and put her away VARY WET last night :)

[Bamboo Loui]

What was the build date on those tires? It is printed on the sidewall.

Not sure of the build date because I no longer have access to the tires. I bought them in March of this year! Maybe have 20k mi. on them-- Maybe.

RE brands-- I have tried so many brands I have just plane gotten tired of it. I did check out on Tire Rack. com for there customer reviews-- the continentals had the best rating in almost every area for my quattro-- on the porsches I switched from Michelin to another brand and picked up almost double in miles before I had to re-tire-- In the Audis, I had Dunlop 1st time- and went to the Contis-- either way, I am not real happy.

The tire pressure check system on this car should have notified me if I ever approached 10 psi-- I did have that system checked and they said it was ok-- but the Audi system is not very sophisticated compared to the Porsche or BMW system that will tell you the PSI of each tire-- Audi only notifies you of a pressure problem-- not where or by how much.

[Phil S]

just had to re-tire my Sequoia, and while it will always have a "truck" ride, it has always rode very smooth on Michelin's. I had just put a set of Falken's on my wife's Acura, and they seemed to be fine. Turns out Falken makes an SUV tire as well, so I opted for them over the Michelin's this go around....about $350.00 less than the Michelin's. After going back not once, but 4 frickin' times to try and get them balanced properly, I gave up...paid the difference and went back to the Michelin's...smooth as it ever was. I purchased them from the Discount Tire chain place.

I've owned four quattro's over the years, and have had great success from Falken tires before, but this SUV set really stunk.

Tire rotation on quattro's is v. important (not that you didn't already know that). I rotated them nearly every oil change, which for me was about 4,500 miles).

I've never had a car with the pressure check system though....I probably wouldn't trust it anyway.

A friend of mine has a Lexus SC430 with about 45,000 miles on it, drives it like a Florida blue-hair (no offense there anyone, my mother lives there too), and has yet to get 15k or so out of a set of his low-profile / run-flats, pressure-checkin', etc.

Luuvvv the quattro's though...best driver's cars I've ever owned. I would check my tire pressure manually and regularly, but that's just me.

Which brand did you end up going with ? Or did I miss that ?

WKR,
Phil

[Phil S]

Lately I've had the best luck buying tires that have the highest, or near highest, max pressure rating. For some reason the cheaper tires seem to have pretty low max PSI's. Better tires seem to carry high max PSI's. Using this method I haven't had a problem.


That's most interesting......

Just after I had the Falken's replaced by the Michelin's, I took it in for a dealer service, and he put the tire pressure at 44 lbs on the "new" Michelins. Max pressure is 45 methinks. The M+S series was discontinued, so I have the "new" ones now. He said that you need to run these at nearly the max pressure to get the best ride and wear from them. I must say, they do ride nice and smooth..slightly firmer though. On a truck chassis, they are probably as smooth as it gets.

Phil S.

[Last Tango]

The reason I asked about the date on the tires is because it can tell a very important piece of information. Just because the tires are new on the car, does not mean they have not been lurking on the shelf for some time. We assume too readily that because the new tire looks new and smells new, that it is in fact new. I have discovered over the past few years the difficulty in getting 4 matched build date, and actually recent manufacture, tires when replacing a set of four at the same time.
Without getting into the minutia about my experience, I will summarize by saying the following:
1. Read the sidewall on the tires you are about to mount. All four tires should ideally have the same build month. If even a single tire does not match the others, then you will have premature wear of all four. This is because even identical series/model tires made in different months have a slightly different chemistry and thus slightly different operating/handling characteristics and thus minute wear differences, that, over a couple years and tens of thousands of miles, can eventually multiply into problems.
The primary cause of mismatched tires is simple. They get shuffled around in transit from warehouse to warehouse. A particular customer may only need two at a time. Worse, a customer may only want one at a time.
2. Check your tire pressures at least monthly. Set them at the manufacturers recommended pressure for the tire and the vehicle. They have already done all the testing for you. No need to go there on your own. Even a 2 psi variance can cause premature wear. It is posted on a sticker on the drivers door or in the glove box, and in the owners manual.
3. Rubber gets old faster than you think. Just because the tire has tread does not mean the rubber is healthy. Think if it like a gallon of paint in a plastic jug. You see the jug is full and the cap has never been opened, but that doesn't mean the paint inside is still useable after a year in that jug. Tires begin to break down chemically after about 4 years. Even if they have only been sitting on the shelf in the warehouse.
4. Alignment - read your owners manual. Most say do it annually AND when changing tires. One of the biggest causes of premature wear is bad alignment.
If you don't pay to have it done properly every year, then you will pay when you replace your tires more often.
5. Balance every year
6. Driving technique
7. What are your running over rather than driving around...

There are dozens more factors that cause premature tire wear/failure, including massive variations in quality of manufacture regardless of which brand you pick. And as always, in most cases, you get what you pay for.

[Bamboo Loui]

"quote"I've owned four quattro's over the years, and have had great success from Falken tires before, but this SUV set really stunk.

Tire rotation on quattro's is v. important (not that you didn't already know that). I rotated them nearly every oil change, which for me was about 4,500 miles).

I've never had a car with the pressure check system though....I probably wouldn't trust it anyway.

A friend of mine has a Lexus SC430 with about 45,000 miles on it, drives it like a Florida blue-hair (no offense there anyone, my mother lives there too), and has yet to get 15k or so out of a set of his low-profile / run-flats, pressure-checkin', etc.

Luuvvv the quattro's though...best driver's cars I've ever owned. I would check my tire pressure manually and regularly, but that's just me.

Which brand did you end up going with ? Or did I miss that ?

Phil

I'm afraid I went with a pretty lousy tire although I really had no choice as it was the only tire available in the area of Canada I was in unless I wanted to wait a few days to get back home-- They are Marada GTXs-- not very good rating from what i can find and I can say they ride rough. The Audi is an A6 "S Line" which has stiffer suspension than the already firm A6 4.2 so I felt every tar strip/expansion joint on the 5 hour trip home- worse than the any ride I have had with any of the Deutche mobiles I have had.

Tango-- since having these Audis and othe German cars, I have found that your list is important. I do almost everything on it as regular except checking the build date-- I am familiar with the shelf life issue, but since I have them checked so often I figured I would be safe. I had these tires rotated about 2k miles ago and would have thought the issue would have shown its face then-

I will be doing the manual checking of air pressure from now on - hopefully a new vehicle before these tires wreck my back

[gcarter]

The reason I asked about the date on the tires is because it can tell a very important piece of information. Just because the tires are new on the car, does not mean they have not been lurking on the shelf for some time. We assume too readily that because the new tire looks new and smells new, that it is in fact new. I have discovered over the past few years the difficulty in getting 4 matched build date, and actually recent manufacture, tires when replacing a set of four at the same time.
Without getting into the minutia about my experience, I will summarize by saying the following:
1. Read the sidewall on the tires you are about to mount. All four tires should ideally have the same build month. If even a single tire does not match the others, then you will have premature wear of all four. This is because even identical series/model tires made in different months have a slightly different chemistry and thus slightly different operating/handling characteristics and thus minute wear differences, that, over a couple years and tens of thousands of miles, can eventually multiply into problems.
The primary cause of mismatched tires is simple. They get shuffled around in transit from warehouse to warehouse. A particular customer may only need two at a time. Worse, a customer may only want one at a time.
2. Check your tire pressures at least monthly. Set them at the manufacturers recommended pressure for the tire and the vehicle. They have already done all the testing for you. No need to go there on your own. Even a 2 psi variance can cause premature wear. It is posted on a sticker on the drivers door or in the glove box, and in the owners manual.
3. Rubber gets old faster than you think. Just because the tire has tread does not mean the rubber is healthy. Think if it like a gallon of paint in a plastic jug. You see the jug is full and the cap has never been opened, but that doesn't mean the paint inside is still useable after a year in that jug. Tires begin to break down chemically after about 4 years. Even if they have only been sitting on the shelf in the warehouse.
4. Alignment - read your owners manual. Most say do it annually AND when changing tires. One of the biggest causes of premature wear is bad alignment.
If you don't pay to have it done properly every year, then you will pay when you replace your tires more often.
5. Balance every year
6. Driving technique
7. What are your running over rather than driving around...

There are dozens more factors that cause premature tire wear/failure, including massive variations in quality of manufacture regardless of which brand you pick. And as always, in most cases, you get what you pay for.

Mark, this is an interesting list.
I haven't had a "performance" car in a ton of years since I'm almost always in a truck or my Expedition.
Is this "normal" on the run of the mill low profile run flats?
It almost seems too much to bother with. I mean, if this is what's done to drive a German car.........
So, are we talking about the suspension characteristics of this particular model of car that's hard on tires?
Or is it about the tires themselves?