[FantasticMan]

Recently bought a pair of Continental GP 5000 tubeless treads. They were great, except that the rear tread just split open on me.

Ive had them for about two months, maybe just over 300k on them, and the riding has all been on clean tarmac around my neighborhood. 
 

I took it into my LBS where I bought the tire, who said they spoke to a Conti rep who said “it looked like road damage” and wouldn’t warranty the tread.

https://ibb.co/ZLnCc6n
https://ibb.co/wQfGrYm

 

It looks to me like it ripped on a seam, not like something tore it open. Besides, for the price a failure of this kind and in these conditions seems like something that should be warrantee-able to me.

 

wanted to get thoughts from folks here? 

 

Topic

[Shades]

I was having problems with

I was having problems with Conti 4 Seasons getting damaged but I was running them at max pressure; educated myself on correct pressures vs weight (ie not max pressure) and no more problems.

[The _Kaner]

srchar wrote:

srchar wrote:

… then bought some Grand Prix GTs that were very cheap and have turned out to be an excellent tyre.

I concur. Much prefer the longevity of the GP GTs. Never really rated the GP4000S. Always had poor experiences, went over to Endurance V2s then Vittoria Corsa G+.

[bluemoonday]

Had a similar experience with
Had a similar experience with two week old 4 Seasons. Apparently most manufacturing failures resemble a tear, with loose fibres evident. Road damage will have clean and neat edges, as you would expect to see from a slice or cut. I wouldn’t have minded if the tyres were well used but being new I assumed, or rather hoped that I would could replace it under warranty!

[Dingaling]

And I’ve done thousands of

And I’ve done thousands of kms on pairs of Gatorskins, 4 Seasons and GP4000 II. The only catastrophic failure was when a screw sliced open the tyre wall of a 4 Seasons.

[Judge dreadful]

I’ve had loads of problems

I’ve had loads of problems with the durability / performance  of Continental tyres. I won’t use them now.

[Boatsie]

Grahamd wrote:

Grahamd wrote:

I use GP4000s and had a failure at a similar distance. Chain Reaction Cycles replaced without any hassle, and tyres have been fault free for over 3 years.

I think your LBS should be doing more.

I bought about 6 Maxxis Refuse tyres. I think they’re great but 2 of them went onto my mates bike. Side wall failure twice and loss of 2 tyres although I haven’t had any issues. All new tyres. LBS is brilliant, he pays the slight extra and gets the same tyres from them now.
Just weird.. I replaced the first, ran out of tyres to replace the second, my loss, his too. We think LBS probably has fresher tyres. I’d have thought your blowout would have been an exchange too.

[AlsoSomniloquism]

As an aside, how easy is it

As an aside, how easy is it getting the tyres on the Hunts. I tried with some Mavics and it needed two mechanics to get the final bit on with tyre irons. Conti guy at a bike show says it is just Mavics that have this issue and they are easy with Hunts. 

[HLaB]

I went off continental for a
I went off continental for a about 10 years, I had too many premature side wall failures (one time on just the 2nd ride). The 5000TL is my first delve back into them and touch wood after a couple thousand miles they seem far more robust :-/

[WDG]

I had a GP4000 that bubbled

I had a GP4000 that bubbled for no reason after a short distance, got replaced by the shop.  But I also put a brand new folding Panaracer on my MTB many years ago and a stone blew the sidewall after two miles.  These things can happen.  Thing is unless you are 100% it is definitely a tyre fault, and you can argue until you are blue in the face, if the shop/manufacturer aren’t interested as it is questionable or open to debate, the only real recourse you have is don’t buy from the shop/manufacturer again.   Chalk it down to experience and move on.

[Jetmans Dad]

CyclingInBeastMode wrote:

Jetmans Dad wrote:

snipped …

The OP went to the shop and got no result, so they need to write to the shop and insist they resolve the matter as its not satisfactory a sales rep saying the tyre has no fault, they should also still contact trading standards because if there is a manufacturing fault it could have serious repercussions for other users.

Agreed … to a point. 

If the shop agrees that this is a fault with the tyre then it is their responsibility to put it right and take it up with Conti. If the shop doesn’t agree that this is a fault, but caused by hitting glass or something similar in the road, I believe it is for the OP to provide evidence that it was a fault, perhaps with the threat of small claims court if they feel they have a strong enough case. 

Not sure how Trading Standards will help here either. You can report a trader (not the manufacturer) for selling dangerous goods, but a single tyre with a fault (if that is what it is) is not inherently dangerous goods. For the item to be classed as dangerous in trading standards terms it would have to be the case that a large number of that make and model of tyre puncture in this way and it was irresponsible of the seller to keep selling them knowing that this might happen. 

Any one individual item can have a fault causing early failure, because we live in an imperfect universe, even if many thousands of those same items are in use by others without any problems. 

[Rapha Nadal]

I had a similar incident with

I had a similar incident with a Schwalbe and it was cut by glass – looked identical to the cut shown in the pictures.

Put it down to bad luck and move along.

[Anonymous]

Jetmans Dad wrote:

As with everything you buy from a retail store, after two months you need to be dealing with the retailer, not the manufacturer.

You bought the tyre from the LBS, and it is up to them to replace it if they feel it is a manufacturing fault or other fault with the tyre itself. They can then take it up with Continental to get their money back on the deal or address any identified faults. 

Your contract for the goods is with the seller, not the maker. That might go some way to explain why Conti are uninterested. 

The OP went to the shop and got no result, so they need to write to the shop and insist they resolve the matter as its not satisfactory a sales rep saying the tyre has no fault, they should also still contact trading standards because if there is a manufacturing fault it could have serious repercussions for other users.

[Jetmans Dad]

As with everything you buy

As with everything you buy from a retail store, after two months you need to be dealing with the retailer, not the manufacturer.

You bought the tyre from the LBS, and it is up to them to replace it if they feel it is a manufacturing fault or other fault with the tyre itself. They can then take it up with Continental to get their money back on the deal or address any identified faults. 

Your contract for the goods is with the seller, not the maker. That might go some way to explain why Conti are uninterested. 

[cougie]

The second photo shows its a

The second photo shows its a diagonal tear in the tyre ? So it wouldnt be down a seam ?  I’d have thought you hit something.   I’ve been using GP4000s for years now.  I did have one that tore with a slash but all of the others have been faultless. 

[peted76]

Would be interesting to see

Would be interesting to see what it looks life from the inside, 

Cyclingbeastmode nailed this I think. 

[Author]

Replies