So I take the family out the see my mother in law yesterday and doing my usual cruise speed of 80 mph and after about a 1/2 hour of driving, I hear, "BOOM!!!!!" My wife was in the back seat with the baby and I said to her, "What the hell was that?" She looks back at the road behind us and said, "You must have ran over a rock or something." She sees somthing black flipping down the road. So I don't pay any mind and kept moving along.
As I'm ready to hop on 93 from 95, I hear a humming sound coming from the rear right side. I turn the stereo down and listen.......Damn, I have a flat. I kept driving to get to the next exit because I had my 5 year old and 5 month old in the car and didn't want to put them in a bad situation. I get to the gas station and I look at the tire. It looked like the sidewall gave in one section which kind of worried me and ****ed me off. I only had about 25000 on the tire and it gave way like that? Plus the tire is almost bald.
I liked the Sport A2's but their durability sucks. Then I go on to Tirerack to read other experiences with the Sport A2's and someone else had somewhat the same issues that I had. The person described the A2's as being a great tire in the rain and on dry pavement (I agree). But then the person described the noises that this tire makes after about 15000 to 20000 miles (I had been having a lot of noise coming from these tires after my last rotation. Come to find out, I have a slight bubble in my left right tire). The person also describes how he will never buy this tire again because of his experiences (Same here).
I've had tires that were in worse shape than these A2's and never blew a sidewall. This stuff makes me uneasy and I don't even want to drive the car until I get new tires.

Sport A2 users: Keep watch of how your tires wear and post your experiences.

 

<------- Just got a set of 4 A2's.

Their overall ratings at Tirerack are very good, and they were top-rated in Consumer Reports (although I don't think they do long-term testing), so I'll keep an eye on them.

Thanks for the heads-up, and I'm glad nobody got hurt.

 

Thanks. They are great performers but this issue threw me.

 

That sux...glad to hear that everyone was ok and the situation wasn't worse than it coulda been

 

Glad you are ok.

 

exact same thing happened to me with SP5000!! it was raining HARD that day and I hit a rock or something doing 40mph the speed limit.. then I heard the noise you described.. it got rearlly bad and the car started vibrating after 30 seconds, pulled over and changed my spare tire in the middle of the storm


http://www.pbase.com/maxima1999/tire_blow_up

 

Glad your OK and didn't lose control of the car with the family in it. Perhaps it wasn't the tires fault, it could have been a road hazard that took out the tire.

 

This concerns me...I was thinking about the Sport A2s as my next set of tires in November. I've got Continental CH95s now...

 

That's the beauty of having tires blow while they're on the back and not the front.

I don't know. I scan the road heavily and I was changing lanes at the time. Maybe another car threw something at my tire and it hit the right spot at the right time. This wasn't the only issue with owning these for 20000 miles. The noise got really bad. My car sounded like I was driver a 4x4 with mudders.

I just ordered some Potenzas RE950's. Tirerack's tests show that these tires are top notch.

 

Whew, glad everyone is OK!

I keep a big space between my car and any car I see riding around with a donut on the front. Front tire blowouts are no fun.

 

good to hear that everyone was ok....

 

thanks fellas.

 

Seems the A2s, from what I've read, aren't what they used to be.

I'm going RE950 myself - thanks for reminding me to order off tirerack (even on sale here, price is cheaper w/shipping from TR)

Glad it was a rear tire!

 

I cannot wait to get rid of my stock tires on my 2k2...I swear these tires are like a death trap in the rain or wet roads, and the sounds etc along with what seems like the tire rolling on tight turns...err just want to get new tires and get rid of these...sorry about your situation deezo

 

Everyone's safe, no damage. Things are well.

 

The last set of dunlops I had were the D60 A2's which preceded the Sport A2's. They were great when new but after 20k miles, they became extemely noisy--so much so that I though something was wrong with my wheel bearings or axles. I only figured that it was the dunlops when I slapped on my winter set. The other problem after 20k miles was that the wet performance suffered quite substantially to the point were it was dangerous. To me, they were never any good in the snow, hence the buying of the winter set. After that, I was leery about recommending the Dunlop brand, even if they look to be a value play.

Tough to say whether the blowout reflects the driving conditions or the tire. Even the best of tires have blowouts. Thankfully, you did not lose control and everyone is safe.

 

Out of the many tires I've owned, I've never had a blowout within a year of driving so it makes be think about the quality of the Sport A2.

Anyway, I just had my RE950's installed and they are chunky as hell. They look good and the installer even put them on correctly. I'm happy now and plus I have no more noise at or vibration at 80.

 

You'll love the RE950, cuts through the rain like a knife. I've had mine for 30k miles and they're not showing much wear at all.

 

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sure that wasn't a balance issue?

I have what feels like a slight balance vibration on mine at 70-80 mph, but the dumbazz that put my tires on and balanced them (took him 2 HOURS!!! ) obviously had no clue WTF he was doing. I'm gonna take it back and have somebody else re-balance because I think it might be off.

 

It was a balance issue that couldn't be fixed because the tire lost its roundness with age. There were a lot of things I had to live with regarding these tires.

 

Are you sure you didn't run over a police spike strip

 

Nah, that only happened making the Pike vid.

 

+10

 

At least you were able to make it into safety w/o trouble Dana.

What is the tread wear rating on those tires? Is it at least a "A" rating?

 

They are A but I don't know what the issue was with these tires.

 

Deezo

Can you do me a favor. If you get a chance, can you look at the sidewall of your RE950s and let me know if there is the E-code (E with a number next to it and a circle around it) marking?

Thanks
Al

 

I'll check when I get off this afternoon.

 

E9502.............

 

Deezo

So far so good. Hey, I was wondering, what size were your tires?

Al

 

215/60-15, still on 15's.

 

Buy mine deezo.

 

I've got a set of 4th GEn SE rims I want to get rid of. They are not in the best of shape though...

 

Ehh, I don't know guys. Christmas is coming so I can't do anything major right now. I did want 2k2 wheels but the titanium ones.

 

I've got some silver spray paint....the glossy kind.

 

That was pretty rice of you.

 

C'mon buddy.....

 

Aren't those wheels heavy? I'm probably going to go light weight when I get wheels.

 

well the good thing is that you are safe...
i had those tires on my maxima and they sucked...
they wear quickly and it was bad...
i would never buy there tires again
i like the yokahama ones i just bought..
buy they way my rims are forsale..
I know thats off topic!

 

wtf....i bought these tires 6 months ago cause every1 was all happy w/ them...u peeps need 2 make up your mind