Continental SportContact 5 Review

[Girardi]

For comparison, I've run the following over the last few years:

Falken FK452, Fk453, ze914

Uniroyal Rainsport 3

Kumho Ecsta

Yokohama Parada s2

Hankook v12 evo

When it came time for some new boots I decided it was time to step beyond the mid range offerings and go for some Continental SportContact 5's. They won most of the tyre tests last year and still place highly now, but it was keen to see if it was all hype.

I had four fitted November last year, and the fronts have just been taken off having covered 12k.

Economy wise I switched from a 205/50 profile to 225/45 one, so not a great comparison but lost 2mpg average over the fk453's that they replaced.

Overall grip levels in all conditions have been fantastic, the tyres transformed the car and made it a lot easier to get the power down. In the dry you have utter confidence - I didn't find there to be huge grip going into a corner (a point I will come back to) but as things open out and you get the power on I feel like they hold better than no more nails, no sign of breakaway at all.

In the wet there is very little perceptible difference in capability, and any loss of grip is well communicated and easy to correct. I'm yet to find any conditions where I have anything less than utter confidence in their capabilities. A particular highlight was a massive sudden potential aqua plane situation at 70mph on the M27, where the only indication of a problem was my eyes - the tyres ploughed on regardless.

If I had one complaint (and I do!) it's the amount of feel. Compared to a Yoko or even the 453's that were previously on the car there is a lot less immediate feedback on where you're pointing it. I mentioned about not feeling so much grip going into a corner - it's actually there in spades, I just couldn't 'feel' it was there until the power came down after entry.

On balance though these are by far the best tyres ive owned over the last 150k of driving. The grip and performance was entirely consistent from them going on up to having about 0.5mm of tread where there was some noticeable traction control use in first gear, especially on the more greasy roads. Decided they were totally done when I was getting wheel spin in first, second and third lol.

Is 12k miles acceptable wear on a pair of tyres? Many would say not, I'd say it's fine but most of my commute is motorway miles so I'd imagine these lasting less if more heavily used.

I was going to swap these out for some GoodYear Asymetric 3's as I've heard many good things about them, or the new Pirelli P Zero's which are supposed to be awesome - however Michelin have now gone and released the PS4 so the old Conti's from the back are now on the front and the rear is wearing these:

Won't be long until I have need for these all round - now that will be an interesting comparison...!

[labman1001]

I'd have a heart attack at 12,000 miles from a pair of tyres as I'd be changing them every 8 months

[dieselyeti]

My wife had the Conti's on her Peugeot 308 and after 20000klms they became so noisy we were all convinced the wheel bearings were shot. Changed the tyres and all the noise went away.

[AMD87]

Just ordered a new pair on contisport 5's for my monte.

Not sure when mine were put on as I bought that car in October and have did 7500 miles since then including 2 trackdays at knockhill.

Left side tyres are at 2 mm and the rights are at 5mm so plan is drivers side front on passenger rear and new boots on the front.

[Wardy]

So you didn't notice any degradation of performance and ability from them, below 3mm? That's what I've found in the past when running Contis.

 

Also, did you mention you took them off, with 0.5mm of tread remaining?! 

[CWARD]

So you didn't notice any degradation of performance and ability from them, below 3mm? That's what I've found in the past when running Contis.

 

 

I've had that experience before, combined with quick wear and swore blind not to use them again. I've been using Michelin PS3's or Vred Ultrac Sessanta since with the the former having a slight advantage all round which have have none of the downsides of the Conti's. Unfortunately the new car comes with Conti's :( 

 

[Girardi]

On 1/18/2017 at 17:51, Wardy said:

So you didn't notice any degradation of performance and ability from them, below 3mm? That's what I've found in the past when running Contis.

 

Also, did you mention you took them off, with 0.5mm of tread remaining?! 

 

Nope, there was a marginal difference in the wet, but other than that no real drop off - though I believe the ContiSC 3 did do that, as my dear dad will testify to!

 

And yes, removed at 0.5 on the fronts, because I'm naughty - though as mentioned by that point they really were shagged! Wheelspin all over the place in any gear but you'd get that on any tyre, if you're naughty. No excuse, but this is genuinely because there was no drop in performance until around then so I didn't really think to check. Falkens you notice well before that that they're on their way out...