Palpak : Fiesta Continental Tires

We form our opinions based on evidence.

Reading several posts in FordClubPH regarding the low quality of the stock Continental tires, I was initially skeptical blaming the failures on either bad driving or poor roads.

Now based on my personal experience, Continental has lost its grip on quality, maybe like how Motorolla dropped the ball on cellphones and never regained it.

A "condition" lately observed by myself and a bro in FCP Mikejoshua was unveven thickness of the tire causing excessive noise I can only describe as "tsugtsugtsugtsugtsug". (Not the same as in Corneto, but like a pumpboat)

I concluded this when recalling that the sound started when I switched tires back to front, and the noise went quiet when I brought them in their original positions.

Bringing them to the tire shop and having them examined by people of experience, uneven wear was pointed out. In my over 20 years of car ownership, never has this happened. Mabuti pa yung Cheng Shin tires nuon, nairaos nila ang kanilang thread life na walang problema.

Sabi ko nga, Continental is dead to me and it wont be getting any further business from me and any other guy I might chance to influence.

nap check po ba ang cause ng uneven wear ng tire? yung pang ilalim ng car like ball joint, tire rod, wheel bearing ang wheel alingment?

Uneven tire waer, per se, is usually attributed to an underlying problem with the suspension or steering geometry. Unless you meant to say that the tires have developed lumps or bumps on the tread area, which causes the car to wobble even on a smooth blacktop.

To keep costs down on new cars, tires used as OE are typically the cheap or entry-level kind. This is similar to the Goodyear Invicta GL that our previous car came with. Those tires are really bad (lumps everywhere, chunks of tread flying off, etc.)? But to say that all Conti tires are bad is probably inaccurate.

The tire came from the back and caused problems when I moved it forward. I don't think alignment, ball joint and such applies to the rear suspension as the tire is basically there for the ride. The front tires face greater punishment yet they stayed (at the moment) ok.

The casa even replaced the right front drive shaft suspecting it was the source of the problem.

Even they did not suspect that such new tires with such as "prestigious" brand would be the culprit. So did I. Until these incidents.

The noise also comes out after about 5 minutes driving at 100KPH. Something that cannot be diagnosed in a tire balancing machine.

Kung kumain ako sa Jollibee at nakagat ko ipis, hindi na siguro ako ulit kakain dun kahit ilang libong produkto nila ang walang ipis.

Continental is dead to me in the same manner.

With your experience with Goodyear, I wonder if you still bought the same brand afterwards.

When you expect more, you get disappointed more. Nung una, pinagyayabang ko pa nga Conti dahil nga pang Mercedes at BMW.

Tama lang siguro na mag-expect na ang "cheap" or entry-level ng Continental eh katumbas lang ng Cheng Shin ano?

Yung ibang posters, hindi lang ingay, butas ang tumama sa kanila. With this personal experience, I tend to believe hindi kasalanan nung mga posters ang sira. None of which was covered by the warranty.

For those planning on buying the Fiesta, wag kayo magtatampo kung danasin nyo rin ito. Maybe you can leverage the SA to change the tires to some other brand before buying it.

That is the whole point of this thread, to warn future buyers and maybe Ford will have second thoughts on continuing to having Conti as its partner. If a tire blows out and crashes, it does effect the image of Ford. Although they did not manufacture the tires, they chose the brand and installed it on their car.

As to Continental... Continental who?

In what manner is tire wear uneven?

Note that in many new cars, large amounts of camber or toe are used to balance the suspension. To the point where some aftermarket products exist simply to correct excessive stock camber... There are products specifically to address this for the Focus and MINI, for example.

I'd research the "stock" suspension alignment settings before blaming the tires, although the CSC3 is a relatively low-end tire in the Continental range, and it's not really any better than the Dunlop Sport SP10 or Goodyear Eagle NCT5.

Sorry for the ignorance would the Dunlop Sport SP10 or Goodyear Eagle NCT5 be the possible replacements? For those that changed their tires what brand and model did you shift to?

I looked around and I dint see similar dimensioned tires in S&R and two other shops for the Fiesta S.

on a separate but related note, I had complained to Ford that the steering wheel was slight misaligned after the first 1tkm service it still is. The car goes straight and all but when I hold it level it veers to the left. They said they rechecked the balancing as i requested and added checking the rest of the involved parts, but all was good according to them. Has anyone noticed their steering wheel have the same issue?

Also is it customary that they dont provide any documentation on the work that was done on the first 1tkm? I dont really know what it was for as they dint even change the oil since they used synthetic out of the factory.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niky

In what manner is tire wear uneven?

Note that in many new cars, large amounts of camber or toe are used to balance the suspension. To the point where some aftermarket products exist simply to correct excessive stock camber... There are products specifically to address this for the Focus and MINI, for example.

I'd research the "stock" suspension alignment settings before blaming the tires, although the CSC3 is a relatively low-end tire in the Continental range, and it's not really any better than the Dunlop Sport SP10 or Goodyear Eagle NCT5.

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"nakabukol" in some portions was the term used by the tire shop. same observation by Sir Mikejoshua in FCP. The noise he described was like defective bearing after the same front to rear swap. BTW metal rims nya at hindi alloy like mine so the tires are what we have in common.

My inexperience might be clouding my opinion but does rear suspension have any camber and toe?

The tire in question was originally located at the rear, THEN produced noise when installed in front, THEN no noise (reduced maybe since nasa likod na ulit) when I swapped them again.

The following day after the tire shop visit, we had the alignment checked and adjusted for the front. If the rear does have any ability to be adjusted (my understanding is only the front is ever adjusted) no necessity was found or done.

With these evidence at hand I rest my case and yes palpak itong model tire na ito and in my book, makes Continental palpak as a company.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niky

although the CSC3 is a relatively low-end tire in the Continental range, and it's not really any better than the Dunlop Sport SP10 or Goodyear Eagle NCT5.

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Never had problems like the ones pointed out by vivafoxpro with the Eagle NCT5 on our Focus, just replaced them with Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max coz they were worn out and it seems harder to find Eagle NCT5's in stock.

PS: By coincidence the 2012 ASEAN Focus uses Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max based on the pics from Thailand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LoBudget

Sorry for the ignorance would the Dunlop Sport SP10 or Goodyear Eagle NCT5 be the possible replacements? For those that changed their tires what brand and model did you shift to?

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Goodyear replacement tires are expensive. If you want a good yet affordable tire, get the Kumho Ecsta SPT. It's cheaper than the Yokohama A-drive (used on the Civic) and Dunlop LM703 (a higher-end model than the SP10 used on the Vios), but I'd say that it's better than both. I've had them on our Altis for almost 2 months now. Got them at 4.1k a piece in 205/55R16, I'm expecting Fiesta tires to be cheaper since they're narrower (195/50R16).

There is no adjustment to be had with a beam axle, but it would be interesting to see what the readings are.

I recall some Focus owners were complaining about poor rear tire wear due to the built in camber. We didn't have those issues on our dear, departed (sold! Wahhhh!) TDCi because the front tires wore down to nubs, first.

I'm with ^. Excessive tire wear is not necessarily a problem on the tires themselves. Structural integrity (up to a certain extent) and trueness is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niky

There is no adjustment to be had with a beam axle, but it would be interesting to see what the readings are.

I recall some Focus owners were complaining about poor rear tire wear due to the built in camber. We didn't have those issues on our dear, departed (sold! Wahhhh!) TDCi because the front tires wore down to nubs, first.

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I think its the stock 1.5(?) degree negative camber of the Focus' rear suspension is a bit too much though, the inner part of the wheels tend to wear out faster.
Treadwear rating for the Eagle NCT5 is 240, while the Assurance Fuel Max is 280, based on what's written on the tire (though in online sites it says 580).
It should at least last a tiny bit longer, the only problem I had with the Eagle NCT5s is they wore out fast.

I'm just curious what the (permanent) camber setting is on the Fiesta's twist beam rear suspension.

PS: What is the Treadwear rating on the Fiesta's OEM Continental tires?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by niky

There is no adjustment to be had with a beam axle, but it would be interesting to see what the readings are.

I recall some Focus owners were complaining about poor rear tire wear due to the built in camber. We didn't have those issues on our dear, departed (sold! Wahhhh!) TDCi because the front tires wore down to nubs, first.

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Another nail to seal Continental's coffin:

The tires stayed swapped 6 months, approx. 10,000 KM causing the mysterious noise. When they were swapped back, the tires that stayed in the rear suspension were OK in front.

By logic, that eliminates the theory that suspension is the culprit.

Here is a picture of the Fiesta's rear suspension :

http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...mb-717x478.jpg

Link : 2011 Ford Fiesta SES: Suspension Walkaround

This confirms my understanding that the rear tire is just there for the ride. Add to this that most of the duty of our fiesta is to carry only the driver. Wala usually load sa likod kaya we cannot theorize mas bugbog yung rear tires.

It was simply defective as it was manufactured. Conti meet Moto. Hello Moto! :)

Just to check, there is no warranty violation as long as we use the same dimension tire right? Also changing the stock rim to another similar size should not affect the warranty?

would going to a 205/55r16 be ok? anyone on that size?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LoBudget

would going to a 205/55r16 be ok? anyone on that size?

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On a Fiesta? If its for a Fiesta, that might be too big.
16's for the Fiesta Sport is 195/50R16 (23.7in diameter).
205/55R16 = 24.9in diameter

*3GEMS

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