Tire Sidewall Problems of Volkswagen GTI

On 4 Aug 2012 at about 2:15pm my wife experienced a failure of her right (passenger side) rear tire. The tire is a dunlop sp sport 01 as 225/40r18. The car was being driven at about 35 mph on surface streets. My wife heard a "pop" noise and noticed that the tire inflation warning came on. She immediately called me and aaa. They put on the full-sized spare. When I inspected the tire the inside sidewall showed a "split" in one of the seams. I have experienced the same type of failure (inside sidewall showed a "split" in one of the seams) with the same tire type (dunlop sp sport 01 as 225/40r18) on 1 June 2012. That time the car was being driven on a highway at 65 mph. That time the right front (passenger) tire failed. This is definitely a safety issue! both tires failed wit approximately 30,000 miles on them. The dealer indicated that they were safe to install at the start of the summer season. We switch tires twice a year because the dunlops are considered more of a "performance" tire. After the first failure the dealer ordered a pair of tires. He ordered the same ones so the tread would match. Not sure at this point that I will continue with dunlops.

See all problems of the 2009 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

The contact owns a 2006 Volkswagen Gti. The vehicle has yokohama as430 tires (na). While washing the vehicle, the contact discovered a bubble in the sidewall of the front passenger side tire. The contact has pictures. The current mileage was 58,000 and failure mileage was 20,000.

See all problems of the 2006 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

Revised/update: original complaint 10222650 3-29-08. As per tire forensics specialist right rear tire has 2 nail punctures likely picked up on the freeway, unforeseen. He said that due to punctures,slow to fast pressure changes, the tire heated up, inner sidewall DE-vulcanized. So my tire flattened, car lost control, fishtailed across fwy, I collided with big rig and eventually came to stop on shoulder. Do tire manufactures test for these possibilities for tires they market? if not, why not? it is almost inevitable for any number of car tires to pick up unforeseen objects that could puncture them. Is this a design flaw or equipment material issue in as much as the inner side wall and outer side wall of this particular model of tires is very different in their component structure?? please respond.

See all problems of the 2001 Volkswagen GTI 🔎.

Continental contiprocontact 225/45h 17 tires have splitting sidewalls on both front tires. The tires are slowly leaking air and going flat, one went dead and 2 weeks later the other is now flat. There are more vw Gti's with this same problem reported on online car forums as well. I have pictures of the tears in the sidewall available. . Read more...