Matthew S.

Hi there,
I have some 7 year old Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tires that are starting to look cracked. Some of the "mesh" on the side is starting to look crusty as well. They still hold 100+psa just fine. I ride about 30-50 miles per week. Is this something to worry about or should I just keep on riding??!

700x25

Apparently I cannot post photos yet.

Matthew S.

FINALLY I can post photos!!
Stupid moderation. I'm not a damn bot. 😝

Matthew S.

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Matthew S.

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Matthew S.

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epnnf

Bout how many miles do the tires have? But for tires that old, I would prolly replace w/new

bahula03

Get new tires. Cracking is just about the easiest and most obvious signal tires can give that they're done being able to do what they were designed for (which is a lot more than just containing a pressurized tube).

bahula03

Going by the OP's numbers, between ~11,000 and ~18,000 big swing depending on how many rides are 30 miles and how many are 50

Iride01 

Put your photos on imgur.com or some other hosting site and write the URL for the share link to them in the plain text of your message. Don't try to use any linking tools or bbcode. Remove the https:// from it and put a space arouund the . dots. Viola, it's no longer a URL, but we can figure out how to make it work again. There is also a gallery here you can upload to, but since you are noob they sometimes don't show up to us immediately.

As for the tires, do you ride in busy traffic or down steep hills at 40 mph or better? If you are mostly a 10 - 15 mph rider, I wouldn't worry about them. If that days ride wasn't going to be a very important ride or met my previous exceptions for risk, then I'd ride them.

I'd certainly have some new tires on the shelf though so I could change them and ride the same day if necessary.

spelger

Don't bother with photos. Just buy some damn tires. We don't need to read a thread about you crashing.

dmanthree

Replace them. Tires aren't cheap, but those tires last a long time and are worth it. I'd never road ride on cracked tires.

Matthew S.

Thanks! This is the kind of feedback I needed since they DO still hold air just fine.

Matthew S.

Oh... The tires are old with low miles way back, but I've only been doing the 30-50 miles per week since pandemic started. Thanks all!

Matthew S.

Fancy ideas
cimg0 . ibsrv . net / gimg / bikeforums . net - vbulletin / 2000x1124 / 80-20211106_121210_3addf0bdfdc3c2984c3bfc68bf7ad862cfa2625d . jpg

Matthew S.

Ah I couldn't bother y'all with a crash story

Matthew S.

maybe like 4000 mi ?

epnnf

Thats plenty of mileage for tires, IME. I replace tires after 2 or 3 years, no matter what.

Miele Man

In my opinion, cracking tires are tires that have lost or are losing their resiliency. Thus they are no longer as supple and could fail sooner or later but if Old Mr. Murphy is around, they'll fail at the worst possible moment. Two things are very important on a bicycle (or any road vehicle) and those are good working brakes and good tires in good condition. It doesn't really matter how good your brakes are if the tires lose their grip on the road. I'd get new tires at the earliest you can afford them.

Cheers

billnuke1 

Don’t ride any further than you are willing to walk back…

cyclezen

tires do offgas,, meaning the tire compound does eventually harden, crack and often break off easily, in chunks.
as they age, beyond a point. they lose their 'grip' quickly.
This happens regardless of 'mileage'. Bike tires are thin, so this 'aging' happens quicker/sooner than many other tires, like auto...
Losing grip is hugely scary to me, given how much time I spend descending tight, twisty bits (where all the fun is...)
7 years is a pretty old tire...
here's a Link to an ok article on Tire - use, storage, aging in Velonews
I store my unused tires in a cool, relatively dry closet... but try to use them within 4 years - when there's a good sale, I'll buy 1/2 doz. at a time.
I never get more than 2500 - 3000 mi out my tires - Santa Barbara County has 3rd World roads.... LOL
I usually do about 8K miles/yr , which means the bikes I ride most often will need 1 complete set every yr, and often a more frequent rear replacement.
I consider replacing 5 tires/yr 'normal' for me...
If you ride on flat road, with good surface and very little turning, you might get a few more miles on them.
me... I've had enough road rash to last 5 lifetimes... choices... replacing dubious 'rubber' or buying more boxes of Tegaderm & Second Skin...
Ride On .... with Skin intact...
Yuri

Iride01 

There are all sorts of issues an old and cracked tire will have. But still it's nothing to fear for you life about. Unless you ride fast on twisty downhill roads or you ride where traffic is a big risk for anything that you might have go wrong.

At the most billnuke1 summed it upHowever all the others are correct too. Tires do get harder with age and less grippy. And why not just put new on them and not have to worry. But... if you are waiting for your new tires to come in the mail, then why not go ahead and ride them till they get here? Unless of course you do stuff that demands the extremes of performance from them.

I've had many a flat a 20 mph and just simply slowed to a stop to fix my tire or go home. I even had the sidewall of an old pair of gumwalls spilt like a zipper and the tube blow out and that was still no issue. Just a walk to the house.

I couldn't make the link you posted work. If you put the pic's in BF's Gallery, they still don't show in your profiles album.

Matthew S.

Thank you for the advice! Will do.

Matthew S.

Haha! Yes. Tegaderm is the best!!

Matthew S.

Post #2 is updated with photos 👍

Matthew S.

LOL. Good advice. Ordering new now.