I have a set of 25c gatorskins on my SS bike and noticed that the front started to get really lumpy. About half the tire around has odd lumps in the center of the thread. Tire has almost no wear. I first thought......did i over inflate it but nope. I just must be defective. I have never seen this before. Time to spend more money i guess. These have maybe 500mi on them. The wear indicators show no wear. Its always something.....

I certainly am not seeing what you are describing. How 'bout a picture?

Under inflation would seem more likely a cause for what you describe than would over inflation. However it might just be a one off thing that we'll never know or you just got a tire from a bad batch that got by whomever inspects them at the factory.

yeah i suspect it hasnt vulcanized correctly at some of the internal layers. Not sure i could capture it in a picture. The result is really faint but you can feel it while running your hand over that part of the tire. Oh well....

Does your tire look something like the tire in this other post in Road Cycling

Hutchinson tire failure - anyone seen this?

I might can believe that it wasn't vulcanized correctly. Use to be an issue on tires for automobiles way back in my childhood. I seem to remember several time my dad had to replace tires for blisters where the tread was coming loose and making a funny sound down the highway.

Continental Bike Tire has a contact page. Email them and see what they say. Some members here in the past do claim they actually got a discount on next purchase or a free tire out of it.

yes....not quite as pronounced......thicker rubber but mildy a lot like this.

I've had Continental tires do as you describe. Several, actually. I've had a Panaracer do it too.

700x38c Panaracer Gravelking by Richard Mozzarella, on Flickr

With Continental, I just gave up & called it wasted money. I sort of figured that between 500 & 5000 miles of use I was unlikely to make much headway in the claims department or be considered to have much in the way of a valid claim no matter how defective they were manufactured.

Under the advice of someone here, at BF, I did let Panaracer know, & they sent me a free tire that was obviously from a different manufacturing lot.

I say contact the company, maybe they'll do right. But they can't have that opportunity if you don't make the first step.

I would reach out to the dealer who sold the tire and they can help you warranty it, if you bought it elsewhere but at least a place that is authorized then reach out to Continental and they can help out and if neither just get a new tire. That sounds like it would be a warranty case.

This happened to me last year. I salvaged a pair of unused Gatorskins from a friend's garage, unknown age, perhaps over a decade. Within a few hundred miles, both were "bubbling" and patches of tread started coming off the rear.

I've used Gatorskins over 10 years. They used to wear down to the threads with no trouble. But in the last 2-3 years, I've had to replace several tires early, because they seem to come apart internally. As if the tread separates from the casing. They will make odd popping or crackling or squishing noises. Sometimes I'll see small lumps about the diameter of a pea. "Something" has changed about how they make Gatorskins.