Austin A6 3.2

I have a set of 5 Continental ContiProContact 245/40 R18 97H on the optional 18" wheels on my 2005 A6 3.2.

I went to Discount Tire today due to the fact that the front passenger tire was losing air. They took the tire off, checked for a leak and while doing this discovered three stress cracks on the inside sidewall of the tire. I was not only losing air due to the nail that I hit, the cracks in the sidewall also created bubbles when submerged.

We continued to check the other tires and all 5 have stress cracks on them. My car has 16,000 miles on it, I drive under normal conditions, I don't do anything stupid (off-roading and such) and I check the tire pressure once a month.

The guy at discount tire told me to be careful with the tires until I could get them replaced (they didn't have 5 tires in 245/40 R18 available for me, they are ordered).

If you have these tires on you A6, have them checked for cracks in the inside sidewall. Since all of my tires had a cracked sidewall, I doubt it's anything that I did wrong. One I would have considered bad luck, five is not bad luck IMHO.

svail50

Wondering if there is any official recall or watchout posted by Continental ? I'll have to keep an eye on them--Thanks for the heads up !

Austin A6 3.2

I looked around a little on the Web, and I did not see an official recall or watchout posted by Continental.

ACSGP

I've heard of instances with tire dealers selling old stock which have hardened, and the tires developing stress cracks. Have heard about Pirellis, but this is the first time I've heard about Contis.

I run CSC2s on my car, and change them around the 15000 mile range due to wear.

Austin A6 3.2

These tires can't be more than 2 years old (car was sold to me in 07/05), they have plenty of tread left and are the original tires that were on the car when I purchased it. There were not purchased from a tire dealer.

I don't know how long they are supposed to last, but I think two years is well within the life of the tire. They have 7/32 tread left (I think - I didn't watch them very closely when they checked).

The tires have a 60,000 mile warranty from Continental, so they should easily last 16,000 miles ...

NH_AR

I have recently been having a problem with the left rear tire losing pressure. Roughly 5 psi per week. I'll have to take a closer look.

sgroer

I discovered today that all 4 of my tires had long cracks on the inner sidewall. I think there is something seriously wrong with these tires.