Cleaning my bike yesterday and I noticed the sidewall of one of my Continental GP 4 Seasons tyres was frayed.

Its got the webbed sidewalls, so there’s a few frayed ends and thats it. It hasn’t gone through the sidewall, and its not bulging at all. It looks mostly cosmetic / top layer only.

The tread itself still has loads of wear.

I was thinking of gluing down the frayed bit with some araldite or superglue and keep using it?

I’d keep using it as there’s plenty of tread, no bulges etc. If I could be bothered then I might stick it on the back and keep an eye on it

Why is it fraying ?

Mine did the same. But all appeared OK underneath so have kept on riding it.

The webbed string surface on 4season sidewalls seems prone to tears and fraying but maybe it’s designed to to that because it doesn’t seem to effect their performance. By way of an example; I cut the sidewall on the front tyre two days after fitting them. I was worried about them being on the front so swapped it to the back. After about 4000k it had squared off so I put it on the front and did another 4000k on that set without issue.

It’ll be fine!

I think it frayed on a ride in the Lakes. The ride wrecked one of the other guys tyres – ripped right through the tread.

But I didn’t notice the fray on mine till a few weeks later. I can only presume a few loose rocks on the road caused it. Its not rubbing on anything and I didn’t have mudguards fitted.

Its already the rear tyre, so I’ll keep using it. Might glue it just to tidy it up.

Thanks all!