So, my wife was driving to work yesterday morning and the back tire blew the side wall out on her Rogue. She pulled over with no damage but the tire. I drove up to meet her and changed the tire and inspected the tire for holes, etc. Nothing. Drove to the dealer and was told they have nothing to do with the tires. Call Conti. Got on the phone and was told to go to Discount tire. At the tire store I was told that they do not cover any claims on the tires. But Discount would offer me the tire at 1/2 off. Needing a tire I agreed. After looking for the tire they told me it was a week wait. A week? Now comes the fun part, dealing with the tire company. I sent Conti a nice letter explaining the ordeal. BTW the car as 800 miles and is 2 weeks old. Below is Conti e-mail back to me.

Subject---------------------------------------------------------------Replacement Tire

Discussion Thread---------------------------------------------------------------Response (Ryan) - 06/10/2008 09:49 AM Dear Chris,

[Web Inquiry: X XXXXXXXXXXXX]

A road hazard is not a condition covered by the Continental Tire Limited Warranty For Original Equipment Tires. A road hazard is deemed as any cut, snag, puncture, bruise, or impact break. Unfortunately, the cost of replacing a tire which exhibits this condition would be the responsibility of the consumer.

Thank you

Customer (Chris Lewis) - 06/09/2008 03:41 PM I purchased a 2008 Nissan Rogue on May 17th of this year. My wife was driving to work this morning on the freeway and she heard a thunk under the car and the TPMS light went on. At this time the car shook and she pulled off to the side of the freeway. I drove up to meet her and change the tire. When I arrived the tire side was blown out and ripped. The tire was replaced with the spare. I drove to the Nissan Dealer and they told me to call you. The operator informed me to go to Discount Tire in Chula Vista, CA. At the shop they checked the tread level and looked for holes, etc. They called in to your company and after some talking Discount Tire informed me you rejected the claim, and they refused a replacement. Under your "Policy" #4 What is not covered by the adjustment policy,you state in letter A: Road Hazard: cuts, snags, punctures, bruises or impact breaks and any damage caused by puncture or tire repair.

If the above was the case, the TPMS sensor would of alerted us of the situation. The tires have no signs of wear or uneven tread. The car was a new purchase with only 800 miles on the Rogue. This is a simple case of a bad tire. I will be honest, I have never had your brand of tire. Up to this point I was impressed with the ride and the traction. I hope to be impressed with your customer relations.

I have close up pictures of the damage and any other information that you would like to see. At this point I have a tire on order with Discount Tire in Chula Vista, CA Discount Tire is giving me 1/2 off the high replacement cost. The total for the replacement cost right now stands at 123.00 after taxes. With a week wait time. (My wife was going to see her brother in the morning Tuesday.) With the new car only having 800 miles, I feel this is a unnecessary cost to be levied on a customer. Thanks for taking the time to read this e-mail. Chris

Auto-Response - 06/09/2008 03:41 PM .

As I explained, it was not a road hazard!!! it was not low, it was not ripped. No damage but the huge hole in the side of the tire.

Beware!!!! of this company. This is not a good way to treat a customer.

Chris

Interesting! And too bad you got snagged like that.

IMO the Continentals are a hugely bad choice. For example, our 08 SLawd came with the Conti 4x4 Contacts and at 19 mi. on the odo they only had about 6/32 tread depth! Checked all the other Rogues on Contacts at a dealership and the deepest was 7/32. As a comparison, my wife's FIT came with Dunlops at 15/32. the 06 RAV4 we had before the Rogue had Bridgestones at 15/32.

Discussed this with our SM who said they've been hearing some not-very-fun stories about the OEM Contis. So i went out and got a sweet trade on Yoko Avids which came with 16/32 depth. They ride *much* better and are quieter. So we're glad we junked the Contis and would never look at that brand again. And as the trade was good enough, and if the life on the Avids proves out, it may be that we'll save on trading the skins at delivery vs waiting the short time it'd take for the Contis to go South. And it looks like we'll be a bit safer, hopefully, too.

Also heard from another R owner on Contacts that they're horrible in light snow and pretty scary in the wet.

Since the Rogue has posted some very good stopping distance numbers, it'd be interesting to see a test with the OEM tires compared to something else. Could be that the right tire would improve the distance.

The Conti's were OK in snow this past winter, but not stellar. The VDC and traction control systems cover up alot of these tires shortcomings. Wet weather was not bad either. I would like to replace them, but I'll likely keep them till they wear out. In the meantime, I'm saving for some snow tires and steel rims for winter.

This is the 2nd set of of OEM Conti's I've had. The first set on my Altima were horrible. The 4x4 Contacts are slightly better.

Yes, I am at day 2 with no response. I feel like this will a long road til they wear out. I just couldn't justify the cost to replace them all at this time will 800 miles.

I think I am going to be talking to the dealer.

If you happened to pick up the Nissan Maintenance+Plus at any level above Bronze, you should have road hazard coverage on your tires.

http://www.nissanusa.com/pdf/o...s.pdf

Lewy wrote:So, my wife was driving to work yesterday morning and the back tire blew the side wall out on her Rogue. She pulled over with no damage but the tire. I drove up to meet her and changed the tire and inspected the tire for holes, etc. Nothing. Drove to the dealer and was told they have nothing to do with the tires. Call Conti. Got on the phone and was told to go to Discount tire. At the tire store I was told that they do not cover any claims on the tires. But Discount would offer me the tire at 1/2 off. Needing a tire I agreed. After looking for the tire they told me it was a week wait. A week? Now comes the fun part, dealing with the tire company. I sent Conti a nice letter explaining the ordeal. BTW the car as 800 miles and is 2 weeks old. Below is Conti e-mail back to me.

Subject---------------------------------------------------------------Replacement Tire

Discussion Thread---------------------------------------------------------------Response (Ryan) - 06/10/2008 09:49 AM Dear Chris,

[Web Inquiry: X XXXXXXXXXXXX]

A road hazard is not a condition covered by the Continental Tire Limited Warranty For Original Equipment Tires. A road hazard is deemed as any cut, snag, puncture, bruise, or impact break. Unfortunately, the cost of replacing a tire which exhibits this condition would be the responsibility of the consumer.

Thank you

Customer (Chris Lewis) - 06/09/2008 03:41 PM I purchased a 2008 Nissan Rogue on May 17th of this year. My wife was driving to work this morning on the freeway and she heard a thunk under the car and the TPMS light went on. At this time the car shook and she pulled off to the side of the freeway. I drove up to meet her and change the tire. When I arrived the tire side was blown out and ripped. The tire was replaced with the spare. I drove to the Nissan Dealer and they told me to call you. The operator informed me to go to Discount Tire in Chula Vista, CA. At the shop they checked the tread level and looked for holes, etc. They called in to your company and after some talking Discount Tire informed me you rejected the claim, and they refused a replacement. Under your "Policy" #4 What is not covered by the adjustment policy,you state in letter A: Road Hazard: cuts, snags, punctures, bruises or impact breaks and any damage caused by puncture or tire repair.

If the above was the case, the TPMS sensor would of alerted us of the situation. The tires have no signs of wear or uneven tread. The car was a new purchase with only 800 miles on the Rogue. This is a simple case of a bad tire. I will be honest, I have never had your brand of tire. Up to this point I was impressed with the ride and the traction. I hope to be impressed with your customer relations.

I have close up pictures of the damage and any other information that you would like to see. At this point I have a tire on order with Discount Tire in Chula Vista, CA Discount Tire is giving me 1/2 off the high replacement cost. The total for the replacement cost right now stands at 123.00 after taxes. With a week wait time. (My wife was going to see her brother in the morning Tuesday.) With the new car only having 800 miles, I feel this is a unnecessary cost to be levied on a customer. Thanks for taking the time to read this e-mail. Chris

Auto-Response - 06/09/2008 03:41 PM .

As I explained, it was not a road hazard!!! it was not low, it was not ripped. No damage but the huge hole in the side of the tire.

Beware!!!! of this company. This is not a good way to treat a customer.

Chris

Cheers people!

New owner here with only three weeks since I bought my Silver Ice Rogue SL.Chris, I have exactly the same issue with one of the Conti tires, the second week after I got the Rogue one of them basically exploded on the freeway. Lucky for me I was able to stop before any further damage and changed it to the donut.I wrote and call Continental with my complain since I knew Nissan will not take any responsibility on this and I got the EXACT same answer written and by the CS representative. I bought a Good Year meanwhile but I am going to change all 4 for Toyo tires soon since I don't trust Continental any more. I heard some people got Dunlop with their Rogue but I haven't found any reviews about them.I did mention the issue to Nissan when they called me about the survey and to give me the welcome so hopefully they took note.

rhynoz wrote:I did mention the issue to Nissan when they called me about the survey and to give me the welcome so hopefully they took note.

I hope so.

Dear Nissan: Stop putting such crappy tires on your cars!

LOL! I work for Continental Tire! IMO they are some very well built tires, and Nissan is very tough on the ones they take. A lot of the tires are built right here in the U.S in Southern Illinois, but they have plants everywhere. Maybe you got a Mexican Plant tire?

This is my second set of OEM Continentals on a Nissan and I have not been impressed with them. The have a short tread life, somewhat noisy, and overall performance of the tire is not that great esp. in the rain. Fortunately, I have never had a Continental tire fail or had any other 'construction' related issues.

Perhaps some of thier more premium products would fare better. But I for one am going with another brand when replacement is due.

ilinimud wrote:Maybe you got a Mexican Plant tire?

Is there somewhere on the tire to know where they are made?

If we give you this information, will you be able to tell where they are from?

For the size P215/70R16 99H and P225/60R17 98H, which continental tires will you recommend when these ones are done?

Thanks.

Short side comment = My Rogue came with Dunlops (SL AWD, from Edmonds WA)... it was the floor model in January... but I didn't notice which tires the other Rogues had at this dealership.

Pescakl1 wrote:Is there somewhere on the tire to know where they are made?

Look carefully, the location of mfg is printed on the sidewall in small letters. BTW, my Conti's say 'Made in Japan'. Not suprising since the Rogue is made at Nissan's Kyushu plant in Japan. They have to get them on and off the boat somehow... ;-)

illini said...

ilinimud wrote:LOL! I work for Continental Tire! IMO they are some very well built tires, and Nissan is very tough on the ones they take.

That is *very* hard to believe.

If they are so well made and Nissan is concerned, why are they put on the Rogues with only 6-8/32 tread depth? About 3/8-1/2 of what you get when you buy another tire for the Rogue.

And the Contacts ride like Cr*#!

I am not surprised that Lewy had his problem so early. The tires are thin and flimsy...period...based on every Rogue we've seen in Colorado!

This is my second set of OEM continentals (or crap-inentals as I call them). They Vibe came with them too and over on the Vibe forum there are boatloads of complaints on them. Both sets are crap in the winter as well and I had to get winter tires for my Vibe and now again for the Rogue. By the way Toyo Observe winter tires are wicked!! Highly recommend them. Anyway I don't expect my Continentals to last very long as they didn't on my Vibe.

Well i am just a lowly factory worker, not anyone high up in the company lol. My opinion comes from my experience with our tires. I have a set on my Chevy Cobalt that actually have more miles on the than they are rated for, and they still ride great. I think it all depends on which tires you get. They DO make some very high quality tires The ContiSport Contact Series are good tires.

I personally do not know where these 4x4 Contact Tires come from, as i have nevr seen them at our plant. They have been focusing a lot on the UHP tires, and they seem to get good ratings.

We also build General Tires in the same plant (they bought General) aside from the bad rap General got in the 70's, Continental has added a lot of German engineering into the brand and i will buy General's when my current tires are gone. I feel comfortable buying both brands since i can specifically order from the US plant off Tire Rack. I will check and see if non-employees can do that too, i think you just give them the US plant code.

I also noticed that both sets of my continentals turned brown. None of my other tires did this.

Now you all have me wondering. My SL AWD came with Dunlop ST20 M&S'.I thought maybe it was a Canadian thing that I have Dunlops, but I have seen posts from other Canadian owners with Conti's. Could it be Nissan has seen the error of their ways? Or did I somehow luck in?

From the lack of any mention of it, I would say that you might not be mantaining your tire pressures. My wife's Rogue came from the dealer with the tires WAY over inflated. These would have been a hazard if I hadn't lowered them to normal pressure.

Check your tires, check them often. I check pressure every month, or if there is a temp change of more then 20F (morning temp).

Rocket J Dawg wrote:Now you all have me wondering. My SL AWD came with Dunlop ST20 M&S'.I thought maybe it was a Canadian thing that I have Dunlops, but I have seen posts from other Canadian owners with Conti's. Could it be Nissan has seen the error of their ways? Or did I somehow luck in?

No Rocket, the Rogue comes with either the continental tires or the dunlops'.There is no reasons for having ones or the others, just "luck", depending of what they have at the factory when they assembled your car.

BTW, from what I have understand, the dunlops are not that good either (I think there is a thread about that): Both types are just ordinary, not bad, not great.

my tires were also extremely overinflated!!! 45 psi! and unfortunately, I didn't check the pressure until the car was over a month old! have lowered the pressure to the suggested level and no problems, yet!

told my dealership about it, and they said... sorry.

Well, I have dropped my fight with Contiential. They will not respond to me. I have come to the conclusion that I will never have another Contiential brand anything on any car/truck I ever own. I know it is not much, but I feel like every action counts.

I had no choice on the COnti's... both the Alty and Rogue came with them from the factory. I will never buy another set.

Wife had the TPMS light come on yesterday AM. She told me this AM as we were riding to work together. I made her pull over at gas station when she said Rogue was pulling. Rear Pass tire FLAT on rim...i was like WTF woman! Tell me ASAP when light is on! I figured TPMS came on due to first cold temps. Anyway, interior sidewall has 2 vertical rips and looks to have blow-out spidering, but upon closer inspection there is a large chunk of tread missing in-lin with the sidewall damage. She hits everything, re-runs over roadkill, hits the same potholes everyday...I swear to god she does it on purpose. $177+tax for 1 new tire...after 12k miles. I am NOT happy.

At least you're both safe, sounds like it could have possibly turned out much worse.