Commuting - Catastrophic tire failure

I went to prep my bike for tomorrow morning's commute, and my front tire was flat. I thought "Hrm, slow leaker? It was fine on Thursday when I rode home."
No such luck. The sidewall was ripped clean open for about 2 inches, and the bead was torn from the tire. There are no burrs anywhere on the rim, the tape is in place w/o punctures, and the bike was sitting in my patio closet since Thursday when I got home.
These are Conti UltraGatorskins with less than 150 miles on them. I rode most of January with my Innova studs, and only put about a week and a half of riding in on these Conti's. I don't ride them over-pressure, and I don't have really harsh roads I'm riding them on.

Does anyone know if Conti has a guarantee on their tires? I'm pretty disappointed with this right now, considering I've got a pair of Conti UG's on my Paramount and I've got over 400 miles on them w/o problems.

where these tires folded..... I had exactly the same prob with the same tire but I had folded the tire when i dont think they were folding tires

what has conti or your lbs said

"but I had folded the tire when i dont think they were folding tires"

I always refer to a nameless relative or coworker in similar situations. :)

Contis have been infamous over the years for having sidewall problems, but I thought they fixed that. Take the tire back to where you bought them, and perhaps they will give your another tire. Worth a try.

where these tires folded..... I had exactly the same prob with the same tire but I had folded the tire when i dont think they were folding tires

what has conti or your lbs said

I'll find out today what the LBS says. I only found the problem last night, 5 minutes before the shop closed.
The tires were not folded (by me) and I don't think they were folded by the shop. There's no evidence of kinks in the bead from it being folded.

Contis have been infamous over the years for having sidewall problems, but I thought they fixed that. Take the tire back to where you bought them, and perhaps they will give your another tire. Worth a try.

+1 - and of they don't fix you up take some pics and send them directly to Conti. I'm sure you'll get sorted out if the tires were defective.

I went away from Gatorskins......lost three tires over a period of 6 months to industrial staples at 20+ mph......staples tore the sidewalls open.....not fun.....

Yet to have a similar failure with Schwalbe Marathon Plus's during the last 2 years driving in the same conditions....I do have to stop occasionaly and remove a staple from a tire, but it does not go on to tear the sidewall out...

Hopefully the LBS will replace it.

Then when I get paid I'll order a set of Marathon+ 28's and keep the Conti's as a backup pair. I rode over 3000 miles on my old commuter with a pair of Marathon+ on it, and never had a problem. (But, by the same right, I have almost 500 miles on my PDG-5 with Conti UG 25mm/23mm combo and no problems).

If you get no love from your LBS, take a couple piuctures & write an email to Conti. Offer the pictures. Ask for a new tire. Worked for me with Specializd when my Nimbus Armadillo had wires from the wire bead sticking into the tube

Peeled the bead out of a new Ultra3000 a few years back on a tight corner.

A no-issue warranty claim.

I've got a good relationship with my LBS, so I don't expect any issues on replacement from them. They'll probably deal with sending it back to Conti for waranty replacement. I'll have to post the pix when I get home, but the interesting thing is that it's not actually the sidewall which blew out. The bead is peeled right out of the bottom of where it should be seated in the tire. There's no rubber on the bead at all, it's bare wire ripped out from the tire.

The LBS looked at the damage and grabbed a new tire from the back for me. Waranty replacement, no questions asked.

http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/bb6/e5b/bb6e5b50-6ef1-4fde-97d7-f9fc95fa204a

Just a suggestion and maybe you've already checked this, but I had almost exactly the same problem and it looked pretty much just like that with my Armadillos, so I thought I'd offer. I discovered that my rim had cracked. It was a very small, very difficult to find crack, but it was enough.

Clif, good job.

Take 'em back.

:beer:

This looks bad and glad your LBS took care of you.

I'll throw out a little love for the Conti Gatorskins. I put over 5000 miles on mine last year and have been very happy with them. Only ever had "reasonable" flats (roofing tack, nail, etc.)

The LBS looked at the damage and grabbed a new tire from the back for me. Waranty replacement, no questions asked.

http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/bb6/e5b/bb6e5b50-6ef1-4fde-97d7-f9fc95fa204a

Oh, that. Gatorskins are modeled after the tough hide of the Florida alligator. I used to live near Orlando and have seen many alligators on the side of the road with the exact same pft split in their sides. It's natural and probably shouldn't be covered by any warrantee. The crocodile is much tougher than the alligator and I have never seen a crocodile on the side of the road with or without that sort of skin splitting. Perhaps you should pft purchase a set of pft Continental Crockskin tires.

Just a suggestion and maybe you've already checked this, but I had almost exactly the same problem and it looked pretty much just like that with my Armadillos, so I thought I'd offer. I discovered that my rim had cracked. It was a very small, very difficult to find crack, but it was enough.

First thing I checked after pulling the tire off was to see if the rim strip or the rim was broken. The rim strip was fine (but I replaced it with a Velox just because) and the rim looks fine. This is a brand new bike with only 270 miles on it so far, all reasonably decent roads... Rough and rumbley in parts, but not full of chuckholes.

Actually, to me, it looks like the brake might be rubbing through in that spot. Very common if the brake pad it too close to the edge of the rim.

Actually, to me, it looks like the brake might be rubbing through in that spot. Very common if the brake pad it too close to the edge of the rim.

Nope; thought about that one, too, because I've had that happen with my BMX bike when I was younger. Brakes are lined up clean with the machined surface of the rim. The little flap of rubber which looks like it could be a sidewall cut is just a by-product of the bead ripping out. Where the actual damage to the tire occurred, it couldn't be brake rub since it's at the bottom of the bead (inside the rim).

I've had similar problems with contis - i was using Sport contacts. Had 3 tyres go the same way.

I think that their 'skinwall' tyres are weak.

+1 - and of they don't fix you up take some pics and send them directly to Conti. I'm sure you'll get sorted out if the tires were defective.

I've kinda soured on Conti tires. A couple of Sport 1000 sidewall blowouts, cracks developing in my 4000 and Contacts.

Junk, junk, junk.