Copied from Reviews: Conti Sport Contact tyres and guarantee

[BigSteev]

I picked up a pair of these about 3 months ago to use instead of the knobbly off-road tyres on my Gary Fisher so that the winter commute would be easier.
First off, at £20 each including an inner tube, they seemed to be a decent price although not exactly bargain basement. However, they came with a one year guarantee against punctures. Although I was a bit dubious about this it seemed legit so I went with them.
Fitting them to my Bontrager rims was really tough. They just seemed slightly too small only finally going on with a lot of effort/tyre lever usage/sore thumbs, however they have subsequently been moved onto a pair of DT Swiss and they went on a whole lot easier.
Ride wise they've been fine, offering ample grip in both wet and dry conditions and reasonable rolling resistance. Wear too has been fine although I've only put in about 600 miles on them so far, so it's a little early to tell.
Anyway, riding home last Thursday, I finally got a puncture thanks to a piece of flint inbedding itself in the tyre. It only just got through but it was enough to cause a slow puncture which I just about made it home on.
Time to test the guarantee!
I removed the tyre and tube, and packed them, along with my reciept and the guarantee sticker, in my bag. Then it was off to Cycle Surgery where I had bought them. Bit of a puzzled look from the assistant at first, but after he'd checked he returned with a brand new tyre and tube. Result.
OK, so the tyre won't eliminate punctures (although it does have a lot of puncture resistance built in to minimise them), but knowing that they'll be replaced if one does occur is a result in my books.

 

[gaz]

i'm puzzled why there is a guarentee and why it gets replaced if you have a puncture. a small puncture won't de-grade the tyre so no need to swap it out.

 

[I am Spartacus]

well they give it a guarantee... off the website.. so why not...

What is the Safety System Guarantee?

This is a 1 year guarantee against tyre failure which applies to tyres in our Safety System tyre range and to the new Top Contact tyre with double Vectran breaker technology. Each tyre is also supplied with a free Continental Inner Tube .
In the event that a foreign object punctures or cuts into your tyre despite our Safety System breakdown protection, we'll replace the tube and the tyre at absolutely no cost to you!.
How does a consumer make a claim? When you buy a Safety System tyre, be sure to keep the guarantee card in a safe place. You'll need to present this and a valid till receipt to your bike shop. The dealer will swap your defective tyre for a new tyre & tube. Its as simp-le as that.
Each of our bicycle dealers will then receive a credit for the value of the tyre from their Continental tyre supplier.
For further details, please call our information line on 01970 626777 (UK customers only)

 

[Coco]

I've used it as well. Had to ship the tyre off to Wiggle which was a minor pain, but postage was reimbursed.

I didn't even use the provided tube, used the one already on the wheel. They still replaced the tube & tyre.

 

[Tollers]

Surely the guarantee is just a marketing tool expressing confidence in the puncture resistance in order to get the original sale. In that case, great, that means free replacement tyre after a year!

 

[anyuser]

I am about to retire mine in favour of Schwalbe Marathon Supremes. I have had three punctures in as many weeks with my Sport Contacts, each time a small piece of glass that has gone straight through the tyre. The tyres have done about 1500 miles but are out of the 1 year guarantee period, I don't know if that is a reasonable mileage but I did expect more and the tyre surfaces are really cut up from glass etc so I don't trust them any more.