Do Continental Tires Shed Their Sidewalls?

I have NEVER known a tire to actually dry rot. Do Continental tires have a bad reputation with the integrity of their side walls? A friend just noticed all four tires on my wife’s car have defects in the side walls. I’ve never seen this in action exhibited in any other tire.

Only when they’re ready to molt to the next size up :wink:

I had Contis on my '07 VW Rabbit, the ProContacts, I never had sidewall issues, but they had phenomenally craptacular tread life and only average grip, replaced them with Yokohama Avid… somethingorothers, still had crappy treadlife, but much better grip

Thanks for your feedback!

I’ve had a couple of sets of Continental ExtremeContact DWS. One set was 50 profile all around, the other is mixed F/R set of 40/35. Two different cars, obviously. Both sets lasted as advertised. I keep pressure at about 10% higher because I like the feel and I find the tires have slightly softer sidewalls compared to the Michelin Pilots on my other car. That said, no issues with sidewalls shedding. Are you sure your wife doesn’t have a habit of parking by feel against the curb? :wink:

If the tires all have bulges in them, perhaps someone accidentally ran over one of those curb stones. That’ll cause sidewall damage, if not pinch flats and/or damaged rims.

Again, it’s been my experience that sidewalls on the Contis are not as stiff as some other tires. The plus side is that it’s a quieter and more compliant road feel.

We have Continental’s on my wife’s SUV. We have had no issues with tread life or sidewalls.

I have no experience with Continental tires, and you may well have just a bad set of tires, but all tires do actually dry rot, or at least deteriorate with age. If your tires are older than six years, age could be the problem(but 10-year life is possible). All tires have a DOT date code on them that gives the two-digit week and two-digit year of manufacture. My SO has had to replace tires that have more than half of the original tread left because he only drives about 3,000 miles per year.

I’ve also had to replace tires prematurely due to dry rot.

I always buy commuter car tires based on the tread wear rating. Higher tread wear will have less grip, performance tires will grip better but wear fast.