Conti Sport Contact 3 Punctures

[caprice]

I have had 6 punctures in the past 5 months - 4 of these to the rear off-side and 1 to the front off-side. After 25 years driving these are the first punctures I have ever had....!

Almost every one is a nail pick up and driven through the carcass. I have had only one tyre repaired - the rest were write-offs as a result of deflation and running for no more than 100 metres flat.

Anmyone else experiencing this on C class W203 models. I have the 17" wheel C220 Cdi Sport Edition with the wider lower profile tyres - is this the issue?

Is the problem with the Continentals? Any ideas at all? Most of my driving is on motorways and "A" roads - I cover 30k-35k miles per year and OEM tyres lasted (rear) 31,000 and (front) 44,000 respectively to give an idea of how I drive. The replacements have all been punctured on the off-side and I am beginning to suspect a saboteur - or is this paranoia? Can't afford to keep replacing these like this.

Thanks

 

[television]

This is unheard of on here,,it must be someone laying the nails in your tracks

 

[Alex M Grieve]

This is unheard of on here,,it must be someone laying the nails in your tracks

Quite agree Malcolm - sabotage must be a possibility. Punctures of this sort are a random event and you would be phenomenally unlikely to pick up that number.

Are other people locally affected? I remember seeing lots of cars stopped on the shoulder of a motorway when a lorry had shed a load of something sharp, but normally they are an unusual event for an individual.

 

[Xtractorfan]

If I were you I would check your driving route, its possible you may be driving thru an area that has nails scattered around or spilt, I remember a few years a friend getting some gravel from a building site and it was full of nails, he only noticed after getting a few punctures like yourself..

 

[rf065]

have the 17" wheel C220 Cdi Sport Edition with the wider lower profile tyres - is this the issue?

Is the problem with the Continentals? Any ideas at all?

The only problem is nails on the road.
Has someone had a new fence put up or other home improvements recently.
That is usually where a box of nails gets dropped and is then spread slowly down the street.

Russ

 

[caprice]

Thanks for posts. Funnily enough my first reaction after two or three punctures was that someone was singling me out for some reason - but I have no idea why. My other thought was if the tyres were somehow contributing to the problem.

No known local problems (neighbours etc) and no issues with DIY, fences etc. I live in a coastal village in the new forest (hants) and drive all over the UK as a sales manager for an insurance broking business.

It's a mystery to me - but a costly one. I have just collected car from M-B Dealer Service and they alerted me to this latest puncture - another nail - but good on them: they repaired it for free!!

That was M-B of Salisbury - (thanks Steve).

Not sure what to do now - police aren't interested. Maybe get a USB camera and watch the car to see if someone is doing this?

 

[W203-C220]

The way it makes you feel is the worst thing....

I can totally sympathise and recommend you make the following checks.

1. Always check your tyres for visible nails in the morning, keep a diary - it helps honestly!

2. Always check your tyres when you park somewhere, only takes 30 seconds.

Outside of this those that appear were either hidden under the tyre contact point last check or you got it on X route to Y.

I recall decades ago when I was a 20 year old in an Escort Mexico I had 16 screws in tyres over a 6 week period! I needed 6 puncture repairs from those and oddly all screws were in places 'safe' to repair.
All the guys at work were convinced I was paranoid and making it up. It really shakes you, the thought you are being targeted for some reason? In desperation I made the checks religiously for a week and found screws appearing overnight. Seriously! And my car was never parked out on the road either.
Turned out a young lady at work who'd begged a lift home everyday from me had a crazy/jealous boyfriend, I reckon he & some mates were doing it.
I discovered this about 3AM one day, saw him walking off my driveway and drive off with no lights on. In my morning check I found 3 screws that were freshly driven in. Police were not interested of course, but I stopped giving her rides home and it all went away.
There are some crazy folks out there, but I'm sure you are not amongst them

Half the battle is knowing for certain when you picked up the nails, so don't be afraid to keep a diary of checks, it will pin this down for you.

Good luck with this, interested to see if it just stops - but it surely cant continue!

 

[caprice]

Thanks - It's good to know this hasn't happened just to me.. I am checking the tyres each morning - but there are long gaps between nails/punctures so it might take a while to understand if these are mysteriously appearing overnight or whether there is evidence of someone doing this deliberately - catching anyone would be a different matter.

There are crazy people out there (and I hope it isn't this at all) but if I discover that someone is responsible, they are going to get pursued in every way to ensure this doesn't happen to anyone else - police, civil courts etc.