Continental Tire Blowout on new Q3 with 1900 mi

The tires DO have serial numbers and they ARE documented for your car at delivery. This is NOT a common experience though with the numbers, we can expect 5-8 folks here having something similar. Your TPMS can react fast, but for a real blowout of less than a second or 2, nothing so far installed in tires today can beat that. I had a catastrophic tire failure (puncture) and the TPMS DID react, but in reality just about in time to tell me my tire was flat. This was at 40 mph over about 200 yards. I had NO scary effects and was able to drive the rest of about 600 yards directly to my Audi store - I was headed there anyway, what luck, or not as it cost me $300.

Sorry to heard about the tire, to answer your questions

-I doubt anyone has a serial number for the tires.

-No necessary, if it blows with out losing pressure before, then the pressure sensor wont warning you.

-I had to replace one of my tires at around 5000 miles. Mine didn't blow, but got flat and while fixing it, discount tire discover it was defective. Dealer didn't exchange it because I didn't purchase a tire warranty. Same 19" continental.

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felipefaccini said:

Dealer didn't exchange it because I didn't purchase a tire warranty. Same 19" continental.-

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I just have to say that the tire should be warranted by the tire manufacturer. If a tire is defective they, the manufacturer, should adjust/replace it under their warranty. The warranty will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and tire to tire but their should be some coverage with any defective tire....

Ohio Joe said:

I just have to say that the tire should be warranted by the tire manufacturer. If a tire is defective they, the manufacturer, should adjust/replace it under their warranty. The warranty will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and tire to tire but their should be some coverage with any defective tire....

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I agree, but dealer didn't. ended up buying a new tire and warranty on all 4 of them from Discount Tire. Cost me about $650, Just the tire cost $550 at the dealer.

A refresher on my experience about 6 weeks ago when changing from winter tires back to the Continentals. Three of four tires had a fairly large bubble on the interior sidewall. Discount tire contacted Continental and they agreed to replace all three. They had about 2000-2500 miles on them of which 1000 was one road trip. Rest around town driving. Discount Tire went to bat for me on this one. I have given them a lot of business between our two cars and sending daughters there too. Hearing of the blowout is concerning after my experience.

WOW!, scary!

PuroMexicano said:

WOW!, scary!

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Agreed!!

When we ordered our Q3 I asked the dealer if I could substitute Michelin tires for the stock Continentals as I'd heard bad things about Continental tires over the years.

Of course the answer was, "NO," but I'm going to keep a very close on the tires and inspect them at every gas stop from now on....if even one blisters, I'm getting rid of all of them.

A thousand dollars or so for quality tires is cheap life insurance, IMO.

Oh wet one of the PNW, when doing the inspecting please be sure to look at the inside of the tires as that's where all 3 of my (probably) defective tires had a bubble. Now inspecting the inside could involve some nasty moves for us old dudes. I must admit I'm not a bit nervous about freeway driving with these tires and my anal focus on avoiding Bend's numerous pot holes has only gotten worse. I'm already preparing myself for forking over $1500 for replacement tires when I switch out from winter to summer in spring 2017....worth it for safety but should not be the case on a high end vehicle.

cableguy said:

Oh wet one of the PNW, when doing the inspecting please be sure to look at the inside of the tires as that's where all 3 of my (probably) defective tires had a bubble. Now inspecting the inside could involve some nasty moves for us old dudes.

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Yeah, you're correct, I found the inside of the tires is a tough place to look....so my vow to check the tires every time I fill up is null and void due to the infirmities of college in the '60's, but alternating every couple of months between my local Les Schwab and America's Tire for an inspection and possible four tire replacement seems to be enough incentive for them to keep looking.

They've gotten plenty of business from me in the past.....

That's not a bad idea at all. I think I'll do a mid year inspection at the Discount Tire store this summer to give myself some added peace of mind that I'm not driving around in a ticking time bomb waiting for a high speed blowout (I typo'd above and meant that I AM a bit nervous driving the freeways now with these tires). Hope your staying dry (as in not damp) .

I take it that all these tire issues are with the 19's? Are all the 19's they are putting on in the US continentals? Seems they have some weak/defective sidewalks. I would think a belt would need to deprecate for a bubble and bulge to come through.

I have 18's on my car and they are Pirelli.

ralfo said:

I take it that all these tire issues are with the 19's?

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Yeah, it would seem so.

And it would seem there might be enough of this happening to check serial/lot numbers to initiate a possible recall, but I doubt there's been a big push to find the bad tires if no one is dying.....and I'm not a volunteer.

ralfo said:

I take it that all these tire issues are with the 19's? Are all the 19's they are putting on in the US continentals? Seems they have some weak/defective sidewalks. I would think a belt would need to deprecate for a bubble and bulge to ce through.

I have 18's on my car and they are Pirelli.

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a bubble in the sidewall would be indicative of a innerliner failure..

Wow, this is scary that it also happened to others. I have a 2016 Q3 (6 months old) and the back tire blew...luckily I was not on the Hwy but on a street doing 30MPH. The damage is on the sidewall (2" hole). I am calling Continental. Thank you for posting the number..

Hello everyone. First post. We (I mean my wonderful wife) just got her 16 Prestige and I took it from the dealer to the tire shop and had Michelin Pilot Sports A/S 3+ 19's on and got a set of 18" Blizzak DM-V2 on rims as well. Researching those continentals I was shocked what a crappy tire they are. The Pilot Sports really bring the Q to life. I really wish I got the Q for myself. Fun to drive for sure.

Somewhere in all those papers we got from the dealer is a Continental warranty. Mine was in the case in the glove compartment. According to the warranty, for the person who started this thread, the Audi dealer should have replaced that tire. For the rest of us who've driven around the block twice, the warranty has so many exclusions and limitations as to make it of minimal value. However, remember it is there.