TKJava

I purchased a Canyon in late summer of 2019 which came with Continental GP 4000 tires, great or so I thought. Its now just under 3 full years later and not that many miles and the tire sidewalls are cracking. They look like a tire that's 15 years old and dried out. The fiber that the tire is made from is showing on the sides like threads sticking out. They look like Canyon bought 10 year old tires and used them on new bikes. Has anyone else seen this on the GP 4000/5000?

Thanks.

Iride01 

Are the tires tan wall tires? The old tan-wall or gum-wall tires of the vintage days didn't have any UV protection and they'd only go a short time before looking like what you are describing. I've been told the new tan-walls are UV resistant, but I swore them off a long time ago. So I've no recent experience with them.

As for typical black wall tires, some people have posted pictures of their Conti tires with the sidewalls worn through and thread showing. Maybe Continental had a bad batch and you just happened to get them. I've never had such with mine and I've been using Conti's for probably 6 years now.

If you ride with super low tire pressure or don't check you pressures every other ride, then maybe you are riding on the sidewalls. Or if rim brakes, are you sure a brake shoe isn't rubbing the sidewalls?

Regardless, just ride them till your first flat then change them.

pdlamb

Obviously OP needs to ride more to wear the tires out sooner.

If the bike was bought new, I'd look at storage conditions; is there a refrigerator or furnace nearby to generate ozone to eat up the rubber? Also, as noted, check the brakes for rubbing on the sidewall. In the meantime, since you can see the underlying threads, I'd go find some new tires to put on. There's nothing to keep a rock, glass shard, or even a sharp stick from poking a hole and flatting you (if you're lucky) or causing a blowout (if you're not lucky) at the worst possible time and location.

andrewclaus

Someone pointed out the other day at the shop that bike tires don't have a date code like car tires do (I didn't know that about car tires). Bike tires might have been stored somewhere for years before sale. As mentioned above, any chemical environment in storage will affect rubber. Last year I salvaged what looked like new Gatorskins. But they were likely stored for about ten years, and the tread started peeling off in chunks within a couple hundred miles.

hcgaloi

I also have GP 4000 on my bike for almost three years. The bike is stored in garage, and I have at most 300mi riding. The tire condition is similar to what you described. I’ll switch to different brand when the time comes

Ogsarg

According to link below, Continental tires do have a date code and you can check that to see how old they are. If they did sit at Canyon for years I'd complain and request replacements. They may not do it, but its worth a try. If the bike sits in the sun a lot or in some other poor conditions, that is another story.

continental date code info

t2p

Conti GP and similar high-end tires are probably not the ideal choice if the tire will see limited use over the course of x number of years

Vittoria (and or similar natural / cotton type casing) might be even more susceptible over time .. ? .. Bontrager R4 or similar .. ?
.

Redbullet

Defective batch, maybe?
I used only GP 4000 for years (except for a few months unsuccessful attempt with Vittoria tubeless) and I found them very reliable and long lasting. Right now, for example, I use a GP 4000 on rear wheel that comes from a bike that was bought as new in 2015. The wear signs show probably more than 50% wear and the rubber has cracks, but the tire still feels robust and there are no issues with the sidewalls. I think it will last close to my "standard" of 9000-10000 km, regardless of its age.

70sSanO

I believe the GP5000’s came out in 2018. I would think that by Summer 2019 GP4000’s had long been discontinued and who knows where the tires came from for your bike.

That said, I tend to agree that it could have been a bad batch. That or old stock.

John

ThermionicScott 

This thread something-something pictures...

Tawraste666

I have seen those loose threads on my conti 4 seasons. I emailed continental and sentvthem pictures. They replied very quickly and told me not to worry, carefully cut them off.
As for cracking, crap from the road and salt (if your roads get gritted in the winter) are terrible for this.
I use autoglym on my tyres once a month as well as wiping down the tyres after every ride.

KerryIrons

I highly doubt that road salt will have any effect on rubber, particularly rubber that uses carbon black filler and certainly has UV stabilizers and free radical scavengers in the compound.