For being expensive tires, these sure do suck...

[yoshirider]

this is a Continental GP4000S tire from a rear wheel. while i know this model has a thin sidewall, it blew out near the side grip. what the heck

[MattTuck]

Was it caused by a puncture? How many miles? Contact Continental directly?

[juanj]

2200 miles on my last set. Zero problems. Could have put more miles on them, but wanted to try something new.

Sometimes stuff just happens. Or is this a recurring problem with these tires?

[oldpotatoe]

this is a Continental GP4000S tire from a rear wheel. while i know this model has a thin sidewall, it blew out near the side grip. what the heck

Did ya hit something? Remember GP4000s, Vittoria Open Cx are designed to be racing tires..with the corresponding thinner casing(lighter), stickier rubber, etc.

[buldogge]

Kinda looks like it took a construction staple...been-there-done-that, unfortunately.

-Mark in St. Louis

[Llewellyn]

Shame about your tyre but anecdotal evidence would suggest that you were probably just unlucky. Seems to be lots of riders using them without this sort of thing happening, me included. These tyres have a very good reputation so it might be worth contacting the distributor or Continental direct as there might be something that they need to look into

The most important thing is that you were (I assume) OK

[yoshirider]

i'm not sure what it was caused by. my boyfriend was riding on a flat road and he heard the tire pop. he said the only thing he may have rode over was one of those sewer covers on the street (a tiny one). i contacted PBK so far.

i think the tires only have 500 miles on them

[bikerboy337]

+1.... I use em for training and get about 2000 miles out of them, swapping front and rear tires after about 1000 miles... but I dont expect they're going to hold up to hitting debris or be super tough tires... that being said, never had an issue with them, I just like the feel on the road better than other tires...

Did ya hit something? Remember GP4000s, Vittoria Open Cx are designed to be racing tires..with the corresponding thinner casing(lighter), stickier rubber, etc.

[false_Aest]

whatever you ran over sucks those tires don't suck.

[verticaldoug]

The side wall blowout was a fairly well known problem back around 2009 or so. The max pressure on the older tires was 105, higher than that blew out the sidewall. I believe conti fixed the quality control problem the following year.

If you bought these at PBK, did you get them on sale? British Retailers are well known for holding onto stock forever until finally getting rid of it at 25% discount when it is ancient. You probably have vintage 2009.

[mike p]

GP4000 are great tires but as oldpotatoe and others said they're race tires not commuters. Looks like you got unlucky and sliced it on something.....don't sweat it just part of riding. Now roll out of your garage on a brand new set of 250.00 tubulars and slice a tire on road debris then you can get pissed!

Mike





QUOTE=oldpotatoe;1332493]Did ya hit something? Remember GP4000s, Vittoria Open Cx are designed to be racing tires..with the corresponding thinner casing(lighter), stickier rubber, etc.[/QUOTE]

[JEMM]

these tires are great! no problems at all.:)

[Ahneida Ride]

Every Conti I owned had sidewall issues ...

[Pete Mckeon]

Money spent does not equate to "bullet proof" in any brand. ALso there are no
guarantees here nor in life. Enjoy the ride. shiit happens!

Get a Gatorskin....TOugh and not necessarily a good ride:confused:


Sorry for your mishap. PETE

[Chief]

I have no bone to pick with these tires. I typically can get about 6k miles out of them.

[slidey]

I ride these tyres as well, and have no issues with them...thus far.

Also, I'm willing to wager that you're better off contacting Continental directly.

i contacted PBK so far.

[Formulasaab]

I was pumping up my Conti Grand Prix tires for a ride last weekend and noticed a little bit of tube starting to poke out through a hole in the sidewall. It didn't rip and didn't pop, but the tire is toast.

I can't really blame them though... I rode them on about 3 miles worth of dirt/gravel the previous ride. I'm just happy they didn't fail completely before I got home.

[oldpotatoe]

I ride these tyres as well, and have no issues with them...thus far.

Also, I'm willing to wager that you're better off contacting Continental directly.

Another 'pitch', from this little LBS.

Warranty=defects in materials or workmanship. I have had some tires that obviously hit something, but often I can get a warranty. The value of buying at a LBS, perhaps.

Contact Conti directly, like in Germany, and I can tell you now what the answer will be. Bet the same with PBK...
But good luck, but I don't think that happened JRA.

[Llewellyn]

Given the price discrepancy between PBK, Ribble etc and most LBS's, the OP could just self-warranty and buy another one. Or a different tyre if they don't want to try GP 4000's again.

I love mine, and use them for commuting and training. Never tried them on gravel though - not my cup of tea.

[firerescuefin]

Reading your OP...I would be interested to hear your expectations from these tires. As noted before, they're not the equivalent to run/flat 70K warranty tires for your minivan, they're race tires that met their end on the wrong side of something hard and sharp. What did you expect them to do?...but "these tires suck"...cmon now.

[bironi]

Looking at the photo, I would say the tire was damaged by something you ran over. Even if the sidewall were not cut, I would still be cautious riding that tire.
I have heard very positive reports about Conti tires for several years. I rode them in the early 90's. Due to a few tire sidewall cuts on new tires, and the same for several friends, I have never gone back. I did like the ride. My allegiance goes to consistent quality, if it's not there I try another product. I would never ride Gatorskins. Why give up the joy of cycling for an occasional flat?

[Louis]

The last year or so I've had good luck with my GP 4000's. No sidewall cuts or other unwarranted flat problems. (knock on wood)

[beercan]

I love my gp4000, never had an issue but sometimes my gatorskins cut up in the side wall, just bad luck most of the time when that happens.

[zmudshark]

Every Conti I owned had sidewall issues ...
Really? Every one?
I have them on 6 bikes, no issues.

[djg21]

The puncture appears to be on the shoulder of the tread, with the tear extending onto the sidewall. If you only hit a sewer cover, you must really have walloped it, perhaps with your tires very under inflated. Otherwise you hit something that was very sharp. This looks like operator failure to me.

Everyone who has ridden for any length of time has encountered bad luck and destroyed a new, or virtually new tire by hitting road debris. **** happens. At least it wasn't a stupidly expensive tubular! But it ain't the tires. I routinely ride 4000s tires and rarely have had any issue, even with hours spent on dirt and gravel roads. Chaulk it up to bad luck.

[rounder]

I had a sidewall blowout on a Conti 4000 two years ago. Had been riding them for years with no problems.

The week before, I rode through a stretch of broken pavement (alligatoring). The side of the rim was scratched and had burs. I filed it down and the rim and tire seemed fine. The sidewall blew out on the next ride.

[ultraman6970]

This post deserves ultra to post a couple of pictures of a set of 3x50 tubulars that lasted me like year a half, in the last ride i knew i was going to get home flat so i did not even bother taking a spare because the tubies were in its last ride.

Arrived home with the tube virtually off in 3 places and the sucker did not explode, took tiny air out and made it home.

Need to post pictured of that.

OP, thats what sucks you spend a lot and the crap blows up, bad luck IMO.

[tv_vt]

I think I've had two catastrophic failures like that with 4000s tires. Otherwise they are fine - no flats or punctures. But two major sidewall blowouts.

Have also been using Vittoria Corsas and for their reputation as being fragile tires, I've had really great success with them. And they ride really nice!

[gavingould]

i've not had issues with any continental tires i've owned. get very good mileage out of GP4000s, had some Gatorskins that were ok, cheap Super Sports on the fixed gear, had tubular Sprinters on the track.
i haven't tried many other road tires.

[HenryA]

I've found Conti's to be delicate and that has not changed over many years. Last one I lost (and last one I'll own) was brand new the day it died on a gravel road. They are supposed to be "racing" tires (whatever that means) but if you're big or ride rough roads they are not a good choice. Until you get to their bomb proof models which ride like a bare rim.

In their perfekt German way they're excellent tires, of obviously high quality construction and cosmetically attractive. Und vil perform perfektly when used correktly as determined by the engineers who designed them perfektly. But real life roads are not perfekt.

[technicolor]

That happened to me twice during my brief relationship with these. I was not very impressed with them.

[bironi]

I've found Conti's to be delicate and that has not changed over many years. Last one I lost (and last one I'll own) was brand new the day it died on a gravel road. They are supposed to be "racing" tires (whatever that means) but if you're big or ride rough roads they are not a good choice. Until you get to their bomb proof models which ride like a bare rim.

In their perfekt German way they're excellent tires, of obviously high quality construction and cosmetically attractive. Und vil perform perfektly when used correktly as determined by the engineers who designed them perfektly. But real life roads are not perfekt.

Again. Where is the like button Mods?

[AngryScientist]

They are supposed to be "racing" tires (whatever that means) but if you're big or ride rough roads they are not a good choice. Until you get to their bomb proof models which ride like a bare rim.


re-think that statement Henry. they are road-racing tires, which implies that you are:

a) not big
b) not riding rough roads.

:banana:

[akelman]

re-think that statement Henry. they are road-racing tires, which implies that you are:

a) not big
b) not riding rough roads.

:banana:

Right. Honestly, all that needs to be said has been said:

1) This might have been a tire from a bum batch. GP4000s used to have sidewall issues. Add to that, UK vendors buy huge batches of product and then sit on the goods for a long time, meaning that it's extra specially possible that this is a tire from a bad vintage.

2) Leaving aside what I just said, these tires enjoy a good reputation for a reason: lots of people use them to good effect. Given that, insisting, based on one data point (or even one hundred data points), that the GP4000 is a crap tire is silly.

3) But even assuming the GP4000 is a good tire, different tires, no matter their maker, are designed for different applications. This is a race tire designed to be ridden on paved roads by human-whippet hybrids. If you are not a human-whippet hybrid or you don't ride paved roads, this might not be the tire for you. And even if you are a human-whippet hybrid riding paved roads, don't count on this tire lasting for more than a few thousand miles. Let me say again: it is a race tire.

4) Sometimes bad things happen to good equipment. Which is to say, even if you're the right person using this equipment in the right way, you still might run over an aardvark or a hedgehog or a carpet tack. These things happen.

By the way, before someone gets their blood all angried up and accuses me of shilling for the Germans, I don't like GP4000s. Despite being fat and riding crappy roads, I prefer even more delicate tires (a condition I blame on Angry).

[charliedid]

It happens...

[lhuerta]

High end tires do not include a guarantee that you will avoid all road debris....it is obvious that you ran over something (as indicated above, looks like the pattern of a construction staple). Whatever you ran over would have destroyed ANY tire. Lou

[rustychisel]

High end tires do not include a guarantee that you will avoid all road debris....it is obvious that you ran over something (as indicated above, looks like the pattern of a construction staple). Whatever you ran over would have destroyed ANY tire. Lou

agreed.

GP4000s are an excellent balance in a race tyre of light weight, strength and durability, responsiveness and feel, size and [errr] supplenessability.

[yoshirider]

We live in the OC and the roads here are pretty good. The particular stretch where it happened should be free of cracks in the road and potholes. The tire came in a retail box that looked like the newest version so I don't think it was a vintage tire. He weighs less than 160lbs.

I forgot to mention that the tube had a 1cm long rip where the tire blew out. It doesn't look like a puncture though.

[krhea]

Reading your OP...I would be interested to hear your expectations from these tires. As noted before, they're not the equivalent to run/flat 70K warranty tires for your minivan, they're race tires that met their end on the wrong side of something hard and sharp. What did you expect them to do?...but "these tires suck"...cmon now.


Took the post right out of my mouth! Well said.

[bismo37]

I rode exclusively GP 4000S on several bikes for at least 5 yrs. I've ridden the 23c on crappy gravel roads and crappy litter-strewn highways. I've had only one sidewall blowout from running over metal debris. A few punctures here and there. But overall, these have been the toughest "racing" tires I've used.

[FlashUNC]

Why are you riding these through the crap instead of a pair of Gatorskins or GP 4 Seasons?

[beeatnik]

Maybe, it's a SoCal thing? In the last 3 years, I've had sidewall issues with about 30% of my GT4000sesesses. There was a point where it seemed like every other tire had sidewall cuts that forced early retirement. No catastrophic failures or related flats but those damn cuts. And, ya, I know they're race tires so I would save them for riding on streets in cities where average home values are 1 mil plus.

As someone mentioned, if you go the UK route you self-insure. I mix it up since my LBS has a good relationship with the Conti rep. My first replacement wasn't even a sidewall issue; I rolled over a giant nail. YMMV

[Likes2ridefar]

The tire is designed for racing and weighs barely over 200 grams. It has the bare minimum protection so it goes as fast and smooth as possible.

The tire could have hit something miles before with you being unaware and it eventually weakened and blew. There are so many scenarios that could cause this that I'd be shocked, and a bit disappointed if someone actually warranty replaced that tire. The only reason they might is because they just want you to go away and not get a bad wrap for grouchy CS.

The tire already shows signs of squaring off...you sure only 500 miles?

The tires do not suck. They are one of the best tires for all around racing, and are more durable, in my experience, than any tire in their weight class. I think that has been pretty much agreed upon here.

There are plenty of tires available that weigh barely more, will ride nicer, last longer, and be less likely to suffer what you experienced. I highly recommend the schwalbe line of tires as they do a great job explaining what to expect from their tires. I like the Durano plus in 25c for daily riding.

[Seramount]

it's a tire...sometimes they fail. could be from road hazards or maybe just a bad molding, who knows...

the 4000s offer a nice ride and I get exceptionally good mileage (~3000 miles) from them.

they're every bit as durable as the clunky Gatorskins I used to use.

[SoCalSteve]

whatever you ran over sucks those tires don't suck.

What he said!

Been using these tires exclusively for years now with no issues or drama at all...Cant say that about Michelin tires (even though I have heard that newest generation is much better).

[CNY rider]

If you want to stick with Conti, and want a JRA tire that's more durable try the GP 4 seasons. Nice ride and durability.

[Pars]

^ Agreed. My previous pair of Gatorskins (28s) had sidewall issues with threads coming off all around the circumference. Got them warrantied and haven't had issues with the replacements. Replaced them with a pair of the GP 4 Seasons and really like them; gators relegated to commuter.

[yoshirider]

thanks for the suggestions. i replaced the tire with a gatorskin i had laying around. hopefully that'll last longer and slow my bf down enough for me to beat/catch up to him ;D

[MilanoTom]

I'd be willing to bet that there's more that you weren't told. I can't count the number of service customers who came into my last shop with all sorts of major problems that supposedly occurred when they were "just riding along."

As for the tires, I've had plenty of expensive tires that sucked; this isn't one of them. You should be taking this up with your boyfriend, not PBK.

Regards,
Tom

i'm not sure what it was caused by. my boyfriend was riding on a flat road and he heard the tire pop. he said the only thing he may have rode over was one of those sewer covers on the street (a tiny one). i contacted PBK so far.

i think the tires only have 500 miles on them

[Pyramor]

Got a blowout on my GP3000 25mm that looks just like it. No idea what I hit since I was going down a bridge rather quickly, but I heard the metal "Twang." Only had about 50 miles on it.

[bluesea]

^ The older version was of course, less safe for sex with less protection.

[Len J]

What he said!

Been using these tires exclusively for years now with no issues or drama at all...Cant say that about Michelin tires (even though I have heard that newest generation is much better).

That's interesting......I've had the exact opposite experience. Every conti I've ever tried including the 4000 has lasted less than 1,500 miles due to sidewall cuts. Otoh, I've never gotten less than 2,300 miles on Pro 3's & 4's.

I wonder what drives the differences in experiences.

Len

[zap]

The 4000 & S tires are Tandem worthy tires......even off road.

Yes, original Conti GP were not very good and the 3000 were the worst ever.

[Peter B]

I did 2300 solo miles across/around the south isle of New Zealand with panniers including gravel and never flatted once. The tires? Conti GP4000 4-seasons in 28c. I retired that set to my tandem captain who logged another couple of thousand miles before fully abandoning them.