Conti 4 Season tyres

Interesting mix of comments at the top above. Generally GP 4 Season tyres get good reviews from people on the forum - they come up in posts quite frequently - do a search on the forum and you should get plenty of hits. 

I've been running GP 4 Seasons on my winter bike for years (and on my commuting bike for years before that) and have never had any problems with them.  The tyres seem to last me years, and typically I throw them out because the rubber is perishing, rather than because I have worn out the tyre. 

I have never found myself pulling threads off my tyres though (although I will concede that on the last set I threw out - again perished - the sidewalls were looking in a fairly poor state).

I will agree though that they are expensive.  On the plus-side - punctures are a very rare thing for me (lucky?)

But (in 4+ years time...hopefully!), I will certainly be interested to consider alternatives when I throw out the current set.

the carcass conti use is a 3-ply 110TPI material, so even if a few threads are coming off the outside ply it shouldn't really be a problem. the threads run in different directions on the three layers. 

I have some fitted to my winter/turbo bike that are 5 yrs old, and have been used for a lot of turbo training as well.  They haven't worn massively on the rear (possibly a testament to the Elite Chrono plastic roller) and still work fine on the road.  There is a little bit of fraying of the yellow threads on the walls of the tyres, but it doesn't seem to have affected the durability.

I had some 6 yr old ones fitted to a bike I keep at my inlaws nr the seaside.  I finally retired them last year as the walls had started to perish, but father in law tells me their car tyres do that too... salty air.  The GP4000s I've fitted since punctured a number of times last year where I only recall one roadside stop previously.  Maybe unlucky, but...

I was riding with a mate a while ago, we hit a very icy patch.  He fell over, I did not.  I also rode through some very icy/snowy patches early last year and stayed upright.  A not particularly scientific test, but make of it what you will!

No complaints at all, would happily buy again (and am planning to buy some 25mms)

Ahh happy again.

Having not used them yet but fitted them, what i liked was how damn easy they were to fit even compared to the other foldables i have used, namely Schwalbes.

Had them both on in 3-4 mins max each, to the point that i started thinking i must have bought oversized tires, but no, same as most all of what i used previously (700x25).

Cheers.

My last pair lasted 5 winters. Only one puncture in that time (lucky?) Just swapped them for new ones as I have just rebuilt the winter bike. More than happy with them (in 28mm version).

actually, edit.. i'm not sure grip is that good (probably why i'm having so much fun ice skating around on them) lol, but super comfy and past the cracking issue on the older edition i do suspect they are very good in terms of puncture resistant as they are really quite thick. Anyhow, not meaning to be off topic sorry..

Interested to hear more thoughts on Continental 4 season. Cheers.

A bit disappointing to hear as i have a new pair of these i'm about to use. 35 euros best price per tire means they are quite expensive at least by most people's standards. 

I think for a robust winter tyre i might go back to using Decathlon's BTWIN protect plus tires which cost 15 each. Their previous incarnation 'puncture protect' developed cracking quickly all over tire but no sign of that after the last 4 months i've been using and abusing (skidding etc) the protect plus.

Decathlon even took it upon themselves to admit publicly to customers that their was a qc issue with some batches of the previous 'puncture protect'. I'd bet instead they all were the same unacceptable quality and Decatlon simply renegotiated a slightly better quality with the producer and rebranded.

i have currently both new unused pairs of both 'puncture protect' and 'protect plus' and up close the rubber composition looks considerably different.

They are both heavy but i forgot how comfy they are and grip seems pretty good. I'm a fan now of 'protect plus'. Hope i'll have a good experience with my 4 seasons though. At more than twice the price i'd expect to feel an improvement in most every regard..

Yes, mine have always done that - I cut threads off rather than let it continue. It's partly UV degradation of the sidewalls  I think. I've stopped buying Conti GP 4 Season's as I invariably think I have a puncture at some point in any ride, probably due to the very flexible sidewall construction. I now prefer Schwalbe (Durano and Marathon Supreme) - more robust and puncture resistant, similar weight and very free rolling and economic to buy as well.

over-rated tyre and still expensive for what they are. There's better options for less, if you're going to buy new tyres then just don't get them again. My 2p worth.

If mine get that point I usually get the random 'unexplained' (ie no visible thorn or glass, for example) puncture, which I hate, and they get binned.  I usually buy a few at a time when there's a web deal on so I'm not spending too much.  That said, they seem to last longer than a few years ago.