Conti tread wear indicator question

Equipment
1

Maybe a basic question, but I’ve noticed on the last few tires I’ve replaced (I still have a stash of Conti GP4000s, not lizard skins), the tread wear indicators (TWIs) are not wearing evenly. It makes me think the two divots are different depths to begin. Has anyone else noticed this? I’m thinking that they’re supposed to act as some sort of warning - if the shallow one is worn but the deeper one is still present, you have a bit of time but be “on notice”. Or maybe I just have defective tires and the divots are supposed to be the same depth? Or maybe somehow I just wear them unevenly (not sure how this would work mechanically…).
Thought this would be a good place to ask.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

2

I can see how they wear unevenly, given that you usually ride quite close to the kerb, where the road is often slightly on a camber. Alsdo your turning circle will usually be tighter in one direction than the other, again because of your position on the road in traffic.

1 Like
3

I looked at the wear. I live in the US, so if it’s due to road camber, the left side should wear faster than the right, but in this case the right one is more worn. And they aren’t really THAT far apart… just really odd.

4

But the right side is where you lean more in corners, and it’s also where more grit is on the road.

I don’t think they have different depth intentionally, but you could of course email conti support and ask.

5

Mine are generally close but not identical. I’d say once you wear one down even if the other is ok, just toss the tire.

6

Rotate your tires about mid-life expectancy? Back to the front and turned 180 degrees.

It may also be the “new bike indicator” :rofl:

7

Yeah, that’s true about the grit… I may email Conti, but just was looking to see if others had similar experiences.
Thanks, @Cleanneon98, that’s kind of what I wondered. I had one tire where one was pretty much gone but the other was still pretty clear.
@ColoradoJames I just replaced both tires instead of the bike. It’s easier these days, since I don’t want to have to navigate finding a new bike right now. :smiley: Also, I can’t rotate the tires the way you suggest because they have a rotation direction.

Anyway, I was just looking for others’ experiences.

8

Pretty sure Continental has said it before, they only put indicators on to get people to stop asking. You can run them either direction though, I always love giving friends who run them “backwards” a hard time just because of my OCD, not because it’s mechanically wrong

9

I used to ride Michelin Pro3 Race tires and those were bidirectional, but they don’t have any tread at all (from what I recall… it’s been a number of years since I switched). I’m sure that you can run the Contis in either direction, but they do have a tread, so I wonder if there is an impact on the rolling resistance. And yes, there is the whole OCD thing of “it’s backwards!” :upside_down_face: