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I bought my car (22 AMG GLE 53 Coupe) in Dec 2021. Since then, I have replaced tires four times: the Right rear twice in 6 months, the Left rear once, and the left front. These tires have the original 21" Continental tires.
Maybe it's the luck of the draw, and I live in Austin, TX. With all the construction going on, perhaps it is this bad. I don't see the same behavior with my other car. Infiniti QX60. Why is my AMG so susceptible to nail punctures?
Nails unfortunately are just apart of daily road hazards, regardless of the make/model aside from the width of the tire.
I would average about 4 tire punctures a year, one puncture the day I left with my car literally two miles from the dealer. Motorcycle rear tire puncture with 15 miles on it (1inch of the tire actually makes contact with the ground).
Most of the times, the nail punctures can simply be patched rather than a full replacement. Dont be discouraged, hopefully the luck sways back in your favor soon.
Last edited by vincheung; Jan 31, 2024 at 10:45 PM.
Don't send your bad luck my way. I've only had one nail in 25yrs of driving. This was 2 months ago. It didn't lose any air but I could hear the nail head hit the pavement with each rotation so it afforded me plenty of time to get a free patch at Discount Tire.
Just bad luck, and the bigger the tires the higher the chance it catches a nail. Performance tires are also stickier so they pick things up and throw it rearwards. Nobody actually knows how nails puncture tires since they generally lay flat on the ground, but one of the theories is that if you drive over a nail with the front tires it may stand it up just enough to puncture one of the rear tires, which is why nails in the rear tires are most common. My last set of rear tires had three punctures in about 1.5 years. They were even close together on the one with two punctures, but it was still repairable.
The stock Continentals are absolute trash, I popped one on a rock on a gravel road last summer (not even a nail in sight, just a sharpish rock), the guys at the tyre shop said those tyres are known for it. Took a plug for a truck tyre to fix it.
They'll be getting replaced with something sturdier when they're worn out.
The stock Continentals are absolute trash, I popped one on a rock on a gravel road last summer (not even a nail in sight, just a sharpish rock), the guys at the tyre shop said those tyres are known for it. Took a plug for a truck tyre to fix it.
They'll be getting replaced with something sturdier when they're worn out.
The stock Continentals are absolute trash, I popped one on a rock on a gravel road last summer (not even a nail in sight, just a sharpish rock), the guys at the tyre shop said those tyres are known for it. Took a plug for a truck tyre to fix it.
They'll be getting replaced with something sturdier when they're worn out.
5000 lbs truck on street tires over sharp rocks, what did you expect would happen?
Exactly, pick appropriate tires for the terrain. Let's be honest, the most off-roading that most of these things see is the curb in a Walmart parking lot, so they don't come with tires made for anything other than paved roads.
5000 lbs truck on street tires over sharp rocks, what did you expect would happen?
I'd expect an SUV to be able to handle a well-maintained gravel road? This wasn't some woodland track, but a proper road. A road that gets used daily by many people. As seen on street view:
The guys at the tyre shop in town that plugged it said those tyres are junk. One of their customers, who lives on a gravel road, had those tyres on a Volvo XC40 and had 4 punctures in a year.
And yes, they'll probably be getting replaced by a more A/T tyre, depending on what I can find. Probably a General Grabber or Yokohama Geolandar in 255/60R19, as nothing much seems to exist in 275/55R19.
I'd expect an SUV to be able to handle a well-maintained gravel road? This wasn't some woodland track, but a proper road. A road that gets used daily by many people. As seen on street view:
The guys at the tyre shop in town that plugged it said those tyres are junk. One of their customers, who lives on a gravel road, had those tyres on a Volvo XC40 and had 4 punctures in a year.
And yes, they'll probably be getting replaced by a more A/T tyre, depending on what I can find. Probably a General Grabber or Yokohama Geolandar in 255/60R19, as nothing much seems to exist in 275/55R19.
My Continental tires, 285s and 315s, have spent probably a thousand miles on back roads, trails and no trails.
I've abused them at crawling speeds, 100% hills, and too fast for conditions. Fractured shale, splintered limestone, sharp rocks round rocks.
They've never let me down.
I wouldn't blame the tires.
The tread isn't any deeper on one of those all-terrain tires.
Why do people blame their equipment? If I hit a rock I'd blame myself. 🙁
I wouldn't blame the tires.
The tread isn't any deeper on one of those all-terrain tires.
Why do people blame their equipment? If I hit a rock I'd blame myself. 🙁
I didn't "hit a rock", I got a puncture on that road. TPMS alerted me to it, otherwise didn't feel anything out of the ordinary while driving. Since there was nothing in the tyre, most likely a sharp rock was sticking out in said gravel road.
The tread depth doesn't matter at all, the strength of the tyre carcass itself does. But sure, don't believe the professional tyre fitters that operate by gravel roads
I didn't "hit a rock", I got a puncture on that road. TPMS alerted me to it, otherwise didn't feel anything out of the ordinary while driving. Since there was nothing in the tyre, most likely a sharp rock was sticking out in said gravel road.
The tread depth doesn't matter at all, the strength of the tyre carcass itself does. But sure, don't believe the professional tyre fitters that operate by gravel roads
Prior generations of Continentals were sketchy in most configurations.
That's no longer the case.
I'm surprised you didn't feel the impact that made the hole that took such a large plug, as shown in your photo. That wasn't a tiny Pebble.
You can have mystery punctures on freeways too.
And no I don't put a lot of stock in Tire store employees. They only see the flat tires.
Be careful out there.
Can't blame picking up nails on inferior product. I too have had my fair share of nails on my current Continentals. However, I would rather pay $30 for a plug, then replace Pirelli Scorpions 3 times, like I did on my X5 - all due to blow-outs. Never have a blow-out until then. The only upside was they were run-flats and I was able to drive to dealership.
Any we really talking "puncture proof" tire brands here? For regular tires, I don't think nails differentiate, they are equal opportunity road hazard
Yep and so are sharp rocks if one drives on gravel roads. Doesn't mean the equipment is bad if one happens to drive over a sharp enough object to puncture the tire. If I had a tire shop I would blame the tires as well every time somebody comes in with a punctured tire so I can sell them a new set of supposedly better tires .
Same deal with folks who buy cars with big wheels and low profile tire combos, then drive through potholes and blame the wheels if they crack or bend. No two potholes, sharp rocks or other hazardous objects are the same, nor will you hit them at exactly the same speed, angles etc., so unless there's repeatable data showing that two different wheels/tires (same dimensions, tire category etc.) perform differently over the same exact hazard and the same exact forces in a repeatable process, it's all just conjecture and anecdotal evidence.
Last edited by superswiss; Feb 2, 2024 at 12:39 PM.
Any we really talking "puncture proof" tire brands here? For regular tires, I don't think nails differentiate, they are equal opportunity road hazard
Of course "puncture proof" isn't a thing, and a nail at an inopportune angle will kill any tyre, but don't try to tell me there's no difference in how different tyres handle road hazards
I can tell you I've driven the same type of roads (including the same road) many times, with similar vehicle loading, at higher speeds, in my Range Rover on Yokohama A/T-S without a care in the world. Whereas after that incident I had to dump the tyre pressures, and baby the GLE over the remainder of the gravel roads on that trip, which was not exactly relaxing. I exchanged my E Coupé for the GLE so I wouldn't have to care so much about breaking something on gravel roads anymore, so much for that.
OP asked for similar experiences, I added mine. It's probably a combination of factors, such as the GLE's weight (so damn heavy...), width (might ride more in places where other cars haven't cleared the nails), but I still very much believe the tyres themselves aren't helping...
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