continental gp4000's wear marks and tyre lifespan

evsy
evsy Posts: 111
edited August 2012 in Road beginners
hey everyone.

i noticed last night that my continental 4000s wear indicators have now completely worn away. should i change the tyre immediately or will i get some more miles out of them yet?

how do you know when a tyre needs changing? will you just get lots of p********?

sorry if these are stupid questions.

thanks for your help

evsy

:D

Comments

  • dbmnk
    dbmnk Posts: 217
    you can ride till rubber is gone, which isn't far once you reached the bottom of indicators.
    of course the more wear - the more prone to punctures.
    i'd change them for peace of mind.
  • dbmnk
    dbmnk Posts: 217
    and crc does a good price on the black chilli version right now
  • pilot_pete
    pilot_pete Posts: 2,120
    I have used GP4000s tyres since first changing the frankly horrible original tyres that my Pinarello came with. Rear has lasted about 3000 miles and has just needed changing. I had picked up many small cuts and worn a flat strip right around the centre of the tyre. One cut was just through to the carcass, so even though I hadn't reached the bottom of the wear indicators it was time to change.

    Front has done the same mileage and is showing signs of what looks like perishing, but can't be....so I think it is just scrubbing, which has lead to an overall effect of minute cracks on the shoulders.

    Grip has been excellent, especially in the wet, but I have never tried any other brand/ make other than the original Continental (Sports, or something like that), which really were truly awful.

    PP
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,348
    more and more punctures, especially if it's wet, but depends on your road conditions

    i hadn't checked my commute bike for a while, then after the umpteenth puncture i finally noticed that the wear indicators were gone, doh!

    fwiw i find shiny bikes and ribble are usually the cheapest, check postage rates though
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • oldwelshman
    oldwelshman Posts: 4,733
    Pilot Pete wrote:
    I have used GP4000s tyres since first changing the frankly horrible original tyres that my Pinarello came with. Rear has lasted about 3000 miles and has just needed changing. I had picked up many small cuts and worn a flat strip right around the centre of the tyre. One cut was just through to the carcass, so even though I hadn't reached the bottom of the wear indicators it was time to change.

    Front has done the same mileage and is showing signs of what looks like perishing, but can't be....so I think it is just scrubbing, which has lead to an overall effect of minute cracks on the shoulders.

    Grip has been excellent, especially in the wet, but I have never tried any other brand/ make other than the original Continental (Sports, or something like that), which really were truly awful.

    PP
    What tyres did you Pino have? Mine had gp4000 branded as pinarello.
    http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll245/oldwelshman/
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK5Bfqj5fxY
  • leedsmjh
    leedsmjh Posts: 196
    Pilot Pete wrote:
    Front has done the same mileage and is showing signs of what looks like perishing, but can't be....so I think it is just scrubbing, which has lead to an overall effect of minute cracks on the shoulders.

    PP

    Hmm. I recently binned a GP 4 Seasons tyre after it looked like it was perishing - lots and lots of cracks that were deep enough that you could see through to the fabric underneath. It wasn't that old either.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Where are the wear marks?
    _
  • bobgfish
    bobgfish Posts: 545
    Well I just rode mine till the carcass was showing through the rubber. Only two punctures whilst riding and about 5000Km. They were in the first 500Km !!!
    CyclingInTheLowMountainsOfSchweiz

    CyclingInTheFlatlands
  • andi1363
    andi1363 Posts: 350
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Where are the wear marks?

    pic1.jpg
    http://www.strava.com/athletes/aself
    http://veloviewer.com/SigImage.php?a=10 ... ij&z=a.png
  • oldwelshman
    oldwelshman Posts: 4,733
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Where are the wear marks?
    See the photo above, first time I saw them I thought tyre was faulty :D
    http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll245/oldwelshman/
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK5Bfqj5fxY
  • graeme_s-2
    graeme_s-2 Posts: 3,382
    I have GP4000Ss on my commuter bike. When I started riding it this summer (fixie with Gatorskins in the winter) I wondered why only the front tyre had wear indicators until it finally twigged that the back ones had worn away!
  • pastey_boy
    pastey_boy Posts: 2,083
    http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/cont ... aid:194537
    Viner Salviati
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    Argon 18 E-112 TT
    One-one Ti 456 Evo
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    Orange Clockwork 2007 ltd ed
    Yeti ASR 5
    Cove Hummer XC Ti
  • pilot_pete
    pilot_pete Posts: 2,120
    My FP3 came with Continental Ultra Sports branded as Pinarello tyres http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti%20ultra%20sport.shtml, which were frankly horrible. The rear blew out after about 200 miles, and I mean it went BANG! It had 100psi in it at the time and the carcass just gave way, into a bulge, which I could feel fouling the frame. I got off to look and luckily was not inspecting it that closely when it went....I couldn't hear anything other than ringing for over 5 minutes! I see the RRP on the Conti site is £14.95, so I guess Pinarello get them much cheaper than that.....I guess it is an area where they scrimp to keep the bike price at a certain level.

    I have just taken the rear Most Chall wheel back to Evans under warranty today as it is knackered after just over 12 months and 5000 miles; Spokes pulling through the rim, one has literally torn through. I weigh 80kg and a well known and respected wheel builder has advised me that the 20/24 spoke count on that rim is not enough for my weight. Again, an area that disappoints on an expensive bike. Having said that, the bike is a great ride and I am overall very pleased with it. Can't wait for my handbuilt 50mm carbon clinchers to arrive now! :wink:

    PP
  • daviddb
    daviddb Posts: 11
    Big thanks for the picture of the wear indicators to " andi1363" - I'm soooooo dim sometimes!! :oops:

    Hey ho; everyday is a schoolday

    david
    2011 Rose Pro-SL 3000 Roadbike
    2006 Lemond Alpe d'Huez broken
    1997 Marin Sausaulito Urban bimbling/Shopper
    1980s Orbea project
  • tigger123
    tigger123 Posts: 60
    You think you are dim? I just checked my Contis on my road bike and discovered that the rear one was fitted, "BY ME" the wrong way round. I knew that my mountain bike tyres had rotation arrows on them but didn't think to look at these tyres when I fitted them. :oops:
  • merak
    merak Posts: 323
    You have road tyres with direction indicators????
  • MrChuck
    MrChuck Posts: 1,663
    Interesting that people are getting past the wear indicators- I recently binned my rear GP 4000 (wihtout the 's') because it was totally squared off but the indicators hadn't quite disappeared. Probably had about 3000 miles on it.

    I like to think I'd got VFM out of my tyres but maybe not! I haven't let them wear down to the canvas snce I was a kid though.

    Replaced it with a GP 4000s so will so how that goes.
  • merak
    merak Posts: 323
    Well I've googled this, and amazingly, GP4000S do have direction indicators. I never noticed them when I was fitting. What on earth are Conti playing at? As these are slicks, it can't possibly make a blind bit of difference. As Conti have admiited: apparently both the indicator (which is very hard to see) and the tread pattern on the side have no function whatsoever.
  • MrChuck
    MrChuck Posts: 1,663
    merak wrote:
    Well I've googled this, and amazingly, GP4000S do have direction indicators. I never noticed them when I was fitting. What on earth are Conti playing at? As these are slicks, it can't possibly make a blind bit of difference. As Conti have admiited: apparently both the indicator (which is very hard to see) and the tread pattern on the side have no function whatsoever.

    How does the wear indicator have no function?
    And it's not at all hard to see.
  • Jrandell
    Jrandell Posts: 20
    MrChuck wrote:
    merak wrote:
    Well I've googled this, and amazingly, GP4000S do have direction indicators. I never noticed them when I was fitting. What on earth are Conti playing at? As these are slicks, it can't possibly make a blind bit of difference. As Conti have admiited: apparently both the indicator (which is very hard to see) and the tread pattern on the side have no function whatsoever.

    How does the wear indicator have no function?
    And it's not at all hard to see.

    i think he means the direction indicators.
    Boardman Team Carbon 2010
  • MrChuck
    MrChuck Posts: 1,663
    Jrandell wrote:
    MrChuck wrote:
    merak wrote:
    Well I've googled this, and amazingly, GP4000S do have direction indicators. I never noticed them when I was fitting. What on earth are Conti playing at? As these are slicks, it can't possibly make a blind bit of difference. As Conti have admiited: apparently both the indicator (which is very hard to see) and the tread pattern on the side have no function whatsoever.

    How does the wear indicator have no function?
    And it's not at all hard to see.

    i think he means the direction indicators.

    Er, yes, obvious when I read it again :oops:
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    For what it's worth, I rode about 5,000km on them (even in the Pyrenees) and never got a puncture.

    Even now there are strings of the bead flying off it (unravelling like a woolen cardigan) and it still won't puncture (though those strongs do wrap themselves round my quick release skewer).

    Waaay past the wear indicator by the looks of it.
    _
  • Stewie Griffin
    Stewie Griffin Posts: 4,330
    I think you should change them Rick :lol:
  • merak
    merak Posts: 323
    MrChuck wrote:

    Er, yes, obvious when I read it again :oops:
    Easy to mistake when most of the rest of the thread was about wear indicators so no problem.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Stewie Griffin wrote:
    I think you should change them Rick :lol:

    Haha, it's a game of chicken, and I will win!
    _
  • tigger123
    tigger123 Posts: 60
    I never noticed them when I was fitting.


    Join the club then. :wink:
  • graeme_s-2
    graeme_s-2 Posts: 3,382
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Even now there are strings of the bead flying off it (unravelling like a woolen cardigan) and it still won't puncture (though those strongs do wrap themselves round my quick release skewer).t.

    A whole section near the bead of my GP4000S tyres has unravelled like this, all the way round on both sides of both tyres. It happened ages ago (probably over 1,000 miles ago), there has been no bulging, and no further wear or deterioration in this area, so I've just carried on riding them. They're such good tyres, and relatively expensive, so I'm loathed to change them until they've completely had it!
  • richdirector
    richdirector Posts: 2
    Glad you showed the pic - I love the tyres and have had (touches wood) in the 1200 km since buying my bike second hand. I was looking for prices to replace them as I thought the 2 holes were cracks and problem .... Doh .... Carry on cycling now until they disappear

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