Thanks for the feed back.
I totally take on board what you are saying.
I only had only a very few punctures because I am careful ... and most of the ones I had were self inflicted - I have no shame to admit it. But please also bear in mind that sometimes, you have little choice on busy roads or busy packs of riders.
In the end, I don’t believe in a puncture free cycling world ;-)

But from a pragmatic experience point of view, and also with a bit of a professional experience on quality processes, I can see a pattern.
The tyre is the only tiny patch that links us to the road and I therefore believe that the manufacturer should have and show a duty of care.
The way they dismissed the discussions shows not just a lack of understanding of the true duty of care but also a certain arrogance.
It reminds the story of the Elk test on the first A Class a few years ago. The car was a good car but it failed this test that mattered to very people.
Same for The Audii TT first generation. It didn’t have enough down force whilst corenering at high speeds.
The TT was also a very good car.

The point is : I am not dismissing the fact that this tyre is a good product I am not stupid enough to ignore either many thousands of happy cyclist - including close and dear friends.
I am only saying that the pattern on the side wall failures should not be dismissed.

I saw a failure very similar to this on the ride today. GP4000SII. Tube blew out suddenly, sidewall had separated from bead. Occurred across a small enough area that a boot worked to get the cyclist home. Brake pads were correctly set, wheel's brake track was undamaged and there was no other apparent sidewall damage. I was right behind the bike when it happened, we were on very clean pavement. Thankfully the tire stayed mounted-ish while the rider slowed down, and he didn't crash.

There was a batch or run of these tires, iirc 2014?? They were defective.

I’ve seen it happen three times, though not t o the extent of some of the pictures, but definitely un initiated side wall failures.

Haven’t seen it in about 4 years though.

Maurice

I bought a pair of 23s this summer. Slapped them on the wheels as pressured them up. Came back to the bike 15 min later and one of them was completely flat. Sidewall had blown out. I order off amazon so I guess it’s possible I got a tire from that 2014 batch.