[amoghchaphalkar]

Hey guys,

I wanted to post my recent experience with Continental MC5 tyres on my Abarth. The background of the incident is as follows:

- I was driving from Goa to Pune on 21st March (a day before the lockdown started). We were two cars that started from Goa early in the morning on 21st March.

- We drove till Belgaum (Anmod route). I fueled the car at Belgaum and checked the tyre pressure. Everything was normal (My dashcam clearly shows me halting at the air filling station)

- Post breakfast we left for Pune and drove non-stop to Pune maintaining decent speeds. The quality of tarmac on this patch is well-known and documented. The other car was always behind me (this is important!).

- After we entered Pune, we briefly stopped after the viaduct since the two cars were going to go in two different directions after.

- The two cars left for their respective homes, and about 2-3 minutes after we started I felt the car pulling to the left and steering becoming heavy. I immediately started pulling over, sensing a flat tyre. I was doing around 60-80 kmph when this happened.

- By the time I came to a complete halt, the ABS light had started flashing.

- When I got down from the car to check, I saw this.



















As you can see, the sidewall completely gave up. I have no clue why and how this happened.

The tyre had done 8000 km and was manufactured in August 2018. Do note that this is not the first time I am using MC5. I had them on my Ritz as well as my Punto MJD. Because I had such a good experience with them earlier those tyres were my default choice for the Abarth.

Since this happened right before the lockdown started, I have not got the chance to go to the dealer and escalate this to Continental. Honestly, I am not very hopeful that they are going to entertain my complaint. But I am going to give it a shot anyway.

Do you guys feel this is a manufacturing issue or just sheer bad luck? How hard should I pursue this with Continental? Do I have a case?

@Mods: I posted here since this thread is specific to MC5. If you feel it is appropriate to move this thread to the general Continental Tyres discussion thread, please feel free to do so.

[JayPrashanth]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

...I wanted to post my recent experience with Continental MC5 tyres on my Abarth. The background of the incident is as follows:

One question, did you aggressively change lanes near Pune's Bavdhan (Chandani Chowk)? Asking cos the shoulder rubbing on uneven roads can cause this. I had a similar incident on that road when I moved from lower part of the road to the upper part of the road at speed, my Yoko a-drives on the Figo had a sidewall tear. But in my case, it was the inner side of the front right tyre.

Cheers,

Jay

[anandtheleo]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

Hey guys,

Do you guys feel this is a manufacturing issue or just sheer bad luck? How hard should I pursue this with Continental? Do I have a case?

@Mods: I posted here since this thread is specific to MC5. If you feel it is appropriate to move this thread to the general Continental Tyres discussion thread, please feel free to do so.

I am very sorry to note this unfortunate incident you are facing. If I may ask when you checked the air at Belgaum, did you have to reduce the air to match the specification? I am asking this coz, after a long drive the tyre pressure tends to increase and thats the reason manufacturers suggest to check 'Cold' tyre pressure. Maybe your tyre was under-inflated and lead to heat build-up in the sidewall which gave up eventually?

[ronin]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

Hey guys,
I wanted to post my recent experience with Continental MC5 tyres on my Abarth. The background of the incident is as follows:

It looks like you have driven quite a bit with a flat tyre. I have seen this happen that way. The car runs on the rims and works like a slow knife cutting away the tyre gradually. On a smooth road and a relatively high speed you are looking at quite a number of rotations, enough to cut through the tyre.

[amoghchaphalkar]

Originally Posted by JayPrashanth

One question, did you aggressively change lanes near Pune's Bavdhan (Chandani Chowk)?

Jay

This happened a good 7-10 kms before Chandni Chowk - Bavdhan

Originally Posted by anandtheleo

I am very sorry to note this unfortunate incident you are facing. If I may ask when you checked the air at Belgaum, did you have to reduce the air to match the specification? I am asking this coz, after a long drive the tyre pressure tends to increase and thats the reason manufacturers suggest to check 'Cold' tyre pressure. Maybe your tyre was under-inflated and lead to heat build-up in the sidewall which gave up eventually?

This is not a possibility since we stopped for a good hour and half to have breakfast and get fresh in Belgaum. The car was parked in the hotel parking during that time (covered parking, shade). I went to refuel after that. The tyres had definitely cooled down by then. Pressure was 34 psi. Tyres had nitrogen.

Originally Posted by ronin

Looks like you have driven quite a bit with a flat tyre. I have seen this happen that way. The car runs on the rims and works like a slow knife cutting away the tyre gradually. On a smooth road and a relative high speed you are looking at quite a number of rotations, enough to cut through the tyre.

Two things:
1. There is no puncture/damage anywhere else. Only the sidewall has given up.
2. If this was slow deflation I would have definitely felt it when I started the car from standstill 10 minutes before this happened. (And also when I slowed down to stop the car just before this incident happened)

[anandtheleo]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

This is not a possibility since we stopped for a good hour and half to have breakfast and get fresh in Belgaum. The car was parked in the hotel parking during that time (covered parking, shade). I went to refuel after that. The tyres had definitely cooled down by then. Pressure was 34 psi. Tyres had nitrogen.

Well, then that rules out under-inflation as a possibility. Curious to know what was the cause then. If not for the warranty, Continental should at least examine the tyre and let you know what was reason (so catastrophically too) it failed.

P.S - I am curious too, i have 4 MC5s in my Fiesta right now

[ronin]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

This happened a good 7-10 kms before Chandni Chowk - Bavdhan

Two things:
1. There is no puncture/damage anywhere else. Only the sidewall has given up.

Its quite difficult to rule out the possibility of a puncture on a tyre in that condition. The reason why I ventured this possibility is because I have seen it happen multiple times on multiple brands and sizes.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

I wanted to post my recent experience with Continental MC5 tyres on my Abarth. The background of the incident is as follows:

What condition is the other (engine-facing) sidewall in? Do you have any pictures?

The first thing that came to mind was under-inflation, but then you've mentioned that you filled up just a short while before...

Maybe you had a puncture (or leak) after that? Inspect the tread for a perforation or nail etc that could have caused a drop in tyre pressure?

[GTO]

Amoghchaphalkar, this is rather serious! Moving your post to a new thread. Just glad you are okay and there wasn't any untoward incident / accident due to the damaged tyre.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by ronin

The car runs on the rims and works like a slow knife cutting away the tyre gradually.

I will agree.

Is this the rear tyre? It’s not uncommon to miss a small leak initially which deflate the tyre and low pressure damages the tyre as we keep moving without noticing.

I don’t think, this reflects quality of tyre or a manufacturing defect.

Bad luck perhaps.

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by ronin

Its quite difficult to rule out the possibility of a puncture on a tyre in that condition. The reason why I ventured this possibility is because I have seen it happen multiple times on multiple brands and sizes.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

I will agree.

Is this the rear tyre? It’s not uncommon to miss a small leak initially which deflate the tyre and low pressure damages the tyre as we keep moving without noticing.

I ruled out a slow puncture or a leak because on closer inspection of the rims, there is absolutely no signs of the tyre running out of pressure. With a mere few mm of tyre thickness, the rims would take a substantial hit should it run on a flat tyre for a short distance as well.


Without having seen the tyre in person, I believe the tyre had an inner cut that tore apart slowly and gave away.

Very lucky escape since you had already made it home and were at a very low speed comparatively on an otherwise very powerful car.

Someone from Continental should inspect and assess what happened here.

[reignofchaos]

There might have been a small sidewall bubble that was almost invisible which grew due to speed and heat cycling and finally caused the side wall to come off.

[Sebring]

Has continental responded? Are their tyres in India any good? This is a serious product issue, and could have endangered lives. Please keep us posted

[Kosfactor]

It looks like this. Zipper failure caused by puncture /leak.

https://www.tirebusiness.com/article...y-embarrassing

It is a model of tire I recommend to others and have bought them multiple times. When I visited that site a cute little ad of continental tire popped up ironically enough.

[itwasntme]

Are the other tyres from the same batch period? Check them minutely and if you notice any early warning signs that can be an indicator to highlight to Continental.