Stock Dunlops = Fragile?
 

I have now had two flat tires in my Fit in 6 months. The first was a slow leak right in the middle of the tread; this was fixed. The second was a rupture of the sidewall from the inside (tire guys weren't sure on that one - maybe a pothole). I don't remember driving through any big holes....hmmm. New tire = $140 installed. Crap.

Question - are the stock Dunlops fragile? These tires are not particularly low profile, but I have never owned a car this small before. Maybe the tires have a very light construction to enhance fuel mileage?

Would the 205/50 Continentals be any "sturdier"?

Thanks

Fragile tires? I don't think so. Just sounds like you have had bad luck. Honda has sold A LOT of Fits and if the tires were defective we would have heard about it by now.

So this was 2 different tires? Or the same one? If it was the same tire, how was it originally repaired?

I agree with bmxman.Its been a year since I bought my 2011 Fit Sport with stock Dunlop tires but I never encountered any problems of any sort with it.Right now,I am considering changing my stock rims with wider Rim Width.;)

I've had the same problems, potholes around DC suck, hard to avoid them some of the time.

One of my stock dunlops had a slow leak, but it still lasted over 50k miles without having to replace it.

Slow leak on my driver side the dealer replaced it. 5 months later same tire hit a pot hole and blew out. Last week nail in tire and couldn't be repaired. Replaced all of them yesterday and road noise is almost gone.

I'm not going to get anywhere near that mileage out of mine. Then again, I won't run tires until they're bald. Mine will probably be replaced around 30K this fall. Still will have legal tread, but I don't want to run through another winter on them at this point in their life.

Believe it or not, my tires were just nearing the wear indicators. I have never gotten that many miles out of a set of tires before. I got them replaced by the exact same tires, hope they last as long as the originals.

I have had almost the exact same problem. These tires are pretty bad, in my opinion.

I've been driving almost 30 years now, and the only time I've ever gotten flat tires was with Dunlops.

I put Dunlops on my Miata, and had 6 flats, at least one on each tire. Replaced them with another brand, never had another flat.

I'm counting the days until I get a flat with the Dunlops on my Fit.

6 Month Update
 

I haven't posted on this for some time, but I still believe that there is some sort of trend here. I just had my third flat; this time a slow leak in a different tire. The car isn't a year old, and I have had three flats (all different tires), with one that needed replacement with a new tire.

I drive this car the same places I drive my other car, a late model Audi with Michelins. No problems in the other car. Other than with the Fit, I haven't had a flat in 15 years. It could be a coincidence, but I do not think so. The tires are not wearing badly; they just seem prone to failures. I bet that the construction of the Dunlops is just lightweight to make them lighter/cheaper.

If I need to replace another tire, I'll call it a day and order 4 tires of another brand. Yikes.

Sp7000 are not fragile, you probably just had bad luck with debris and pot holes.

Make sure your tire pressure is between 33 and 35. GL. :)

I personally believe the ORIGINAL Honda Fit Dunlops are junk. I have heard of multiple complaints like yours. I had one develop sidewall bulges at 13K miles. I can not remember the last flat I had on other cars. My Blazer has 200k miles on it and still has the original unused spare. I probably ought to see if it will cranks down from it's underneath carrier.

I did pick up a nail in one of my Colorado tires at around 80K.

I was on the stock 09 dunlops. I didn't have any problems until I hit 30k miles. By that point they were close to bald and one of the tires had a slow leak. just replaced all four of my tires because the tires had little traction and I don't hot rod or anything.

No problem here. We look ours over twice a month. Our driveways 5 miles of dirt & rocks.

yah, ive not had issues on sp7000's either. it's on my 09 right now.

also had good experience with other dunlops including sp8000's in the past and sp9000's as well.

ive had punctures on much more expensive tires from other brands, but you dont hear me crying about it. why? it's real world. avoid pot holes the best you can, big uneven roads, punctures are part of driving.

now if you encounter tread separation while inflated at the correct psi, then that's a flaw either in design or manufacturing process. for that, i think you can say tire manufacturer needs to fix.

slow leaks at the bead or valve can be other factors not related to the tire.

I got a nail in one at around 5,000 miles, but I plugged it, and haven't had an issue since.

They definitely wear fast for such a light car tho. I usually get tires with at least a 700 wear rating, and they usually last me around 80,000 miles.

I'm at 30,000 miles now, in a year and a half, and the tread on all 4 is down to around 30%. I'm going to try and make it through winter and summer, and replace them right at the end of next summer.

My other late-model vehicle is a 1st generation Tundra (2005). On the Toyota boards there is a lot of griping about Dunlop OE tires as well. Fortunately the Toy came with Bridgestones that seem to have no issues. They lasted not that long, but a reasonable mileage (32k) before becoming not legal as snow tires in CA (5/32").

While I did have one flat in an SP31 on the Fit, it was obviously bad luck and not a quality issue. Some tread patterns do pick up nails more than others. It was lack of traction that caused me to replace the Dunlops long before they wore out.

i have the oem base Dunlap SP31a/s tires. The customer survey over at Tire Rack says they are junk Dunlop*SP31 A/S, look under survey or better yet read the reviews. In fact they place at 23 out of 25 tires in the Passenger All-Season category. So you can find 22 tires that rate better and way better, and only one that is worse. I probably be getting rid of mine sometime next winter. Right now I have my winter tires (Michilen X-Ice Xi2) and I find that they are quieter, plus the ride and handling is better. And ratings say that they should last as long as the all season Dunlaps. That doesn't say much for the Dunlap SP31a/s!!!

And the Dunlap SP7000 do not show up much better in their category either.