I’ve never been a fan of the road FEEL on Conti GP4000 or 5000 tube tires, but have used them. Most recently I ran GP5000 with a regular tube and put Orange Seal in the tube, that helped seal wire flats, but did not stop flats from nails and screws on the road.
I ride about 400 hours a year all outside, and getting to the quiet roads involves county highways and there is a lot of construction where I live. Therefore a lot of nails and screws and wires and other debris along the roads. The quiet roads have “goathead” thorns, I even had one in my sandal this weekend (ouch).
For all those reasons I run tubeless and my favorite tires are:
- Pirelli Cinturato (tubeless) is my no flat option, but its slow
- Vittoria Corsa N.EXT is my latest tire to try out, very nice road feel and its sealed a couple issues (one was a construction staple stuck in the tire)
- Specialized S-Works Turbo 2BR T2/T5 (not the faster RapidAir)
FWIW I bought the GP5000 S TR and was unable to mount them without resorting to heroics. They aren’t lined, and I’m not a fan of the road feel, so these were sold.
The 5000 TL was ok but it got a ride-ending flat (yes, tubeless ride-ending flat) before 500 miles. Same with the previous generation S-Works Turbo. Same with Pirelli Race TLR. Did I mention that there has been a lot of construction in this area, for the last 20 years? Anyways, a lot of ride ending flats before adopting the Vittoria Air-Liner inserts.
Hope that helps.