Not sure when this happend, but I was on a newly chip sealed road yesterday and whether it was there or somewhere else I got some tar or something on my tire. Cleaning it off I noticed this. That patch in the center is what appears to be a missing piece of rubber. These tires have about 1,800 miles. Shot?

It looks like you simply wore this tire out. Either that or you skidded the tire at some point. In any case, the rubber was really thin in that spot and it wore through to the cords. I don't think the tar had anything to do with it. The width of the worn strip leads me to believe you use a pretty high tire pressure. Generally, lower tire pressure leads to longer tire lifetime.

Thanks. Wear could bit it, but it had a kind of "torn off" look to it with ruff edges.

As for pressure, I run 95f/100r. I don't think that is overly high and I do weigh 200lbs. Those are 25mm tires.

It's just worn out. That's what they look like when you wear the tread down the cords, which is what I do before replacing a tire. I generally put the new tire on the front and move the partially worn front tire to the rear. Pressures sound reasonable.

Okay, the 25mm tires explains the relative width of the wear strip. Yea, those tires are done. You've worn them to the cords.

just blame it on global warming.

j.

+1. Tar is a red herring. It's a Conti so yu should have wear holes in the riding surface of the tires. If you can't see any then....that's because they are gone and should have already been replaced.

i think you should buy a new tire.

Doesn't matter what did it. That tire is done.

FWIW, really fresh tar might be hot enough to damage a tire, but I doubt an entire chip-sealed road would be fresh enough to be that hot. You'd probably have to ride over the tar within just a few seconds of it being laid down for it to be hot enough to damage a tire.

Well, all the gunk in the same area lead me to think it might have been debris caused. I don't see the wear holes on these. They are 4 seasons not 4000s. Maybe they are completely worn, but the front still looks good and I don't see the holes there either. However, the back at least is probably done for as you say.

On a side note, these did not get the milage I would have expected. I think the 4000s have lasted longer but I haven't been tracking it that well.

It don't matter. Worn out tires are a good thing as opposed lots of tread and dry rotting.

It's possible that the tar speeded things up a bit, but the tire was ready to go anyway. I've had some where the tread gets so thin that it just unbonds from the casing - ever seen anything like this?

I had a Vittoria Diamante Pro do that a few years ago. 6500 km, 3 flats none in the last 1000km. It didn't owe me anything.

I'm speechless...

Anyone notice that paving crews are more and more leaving wet asphalt patches without signs/warnings? So upsetting when you're flying along and go through one of these. It takes forever to get the stuff off tires, and it gets thrown into the drivetrain/brakes/etc. Vent over.