Continental Eco Contact 6 durability / alternatives

[DB72]

Car gone in for MOT today and I've been given an advisory for the front tyres (Continental Eco Contact 6), which were only fitted about 14 months ago (approx. 12500 miles) which I thought seemed shockingly poor considering I don't go around thrashing the car and driving aggressively.

Has anyone got recommendations for tyre brands giving good balance between price vs performance vs durability.  And likewise, warnings about brands to avoid as I seem to remember seeing a few negative posts about Pirelli P7's...?

My size is 215/55/R17

[xman]

What were the exact words of the advisory?

 

I advise you examine the tyres yourself, measure with a depth gauge if you have one or simply check the wear bars to see how close the tyres are to the limit. Many MOT stations that sell tyres basically lie in order ro upsell you some new tyres.

 

I would be wary of buying Continental tyres as they now seem to start life at a ridiculously shallow tread depth of 6mm instead of the 7 to 8mm that others have.

 

My personal favourites are Vredestein Quatro series, they are mid range all season tyres and in my experience have excellent life and don't experience the cracking or abnormal wear of the many premium tyres I've tried, in particular Michelin Cross Climate and Energy ranges

 

Btw my 2018 Superb is fitted with 235 45r18 P7 tyres, done 22,000 miles, fronts reported and checked by myself at 5.5mm tread depth,  less than half worn, rear at 6mm+. Great condition too, incredible. BUT they are noisy and harsh as hell and tend to drone on many surfaces, so not recommended unless you are deaf or have the radio turned up really loud.

Edited 2 March, 2022 by xman

[DB72]

Thanks xman... The advisory states both front tyres close to legal limit. The sent a video and I have checked myself and it's correct.  Interesting to hear what you say about Continental tyres... I'll be making a change to a different brand then although indecisive about brand at the moment.  Thinking about going for an all season tyre but not sure if the continentals were summer or all season tyre but they weren't particularly good in snow even just a couple of weeks after getting them. 

[PetrolDave]

13 hours ago, DB72 said:

 Thinking about going for an all season tyre but not sure if the continentals were summer or all season tyre but they weren't particularly good in snow even just a couple of weeks after getting them. 

The Eco Contact tyres have a hard compound, like all eco tyres, which means they are 'supposed' to last longer but at the cost of grip - so them performing poorly in snow is expected IMHO.

 

My preferred tyres are Good Year F1 or if budget/longevity is more important Vredestein Quatrac - I got over 15000 miles on both of those on my previous Audi RS4 compared to less than 9000 miles on Pirelli PZero.

[DB72]

21 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

The Eco Contact tyres have a hard compound, like all eco tyres, which means they are 'supposed' to last longer but at the cost of grip - so them performing poorly in snow is expected IMHO.

 

To be honest I've never really done much research when it comes to tyres (my bad, I know).  If the Continental Eco tyres don't last very long when that's supposed to be their main selling point then it makes me think they're not very good.

Having learned more about tyres I have now ordered a pair of Michelin Cross Climate 2 all seasons tyres.  A bit more expensive but if they do what they're supposed to do (and last more than 12,500 miles) then I'm happy.

[SurreyJohn]

@DB72 Get your tracking checked, and when the new tyres are fitted ask what pressure they have been set at.  Some tyre depots have good alignment machines, but very few of their fitters are actually trained to use it properly so always worth asking.

 

There is a high chance that your alignment is out, or the tyres were at wrong pressures if they only lasted 12,500 miles.    Going forward I would get the tyres swapped front-back at about 8-10k miles to even out the wear.

[DB72]

Thanks for the input John but I regularly check the pressures myself and the wear does appear to be evenly spread across the tyres.  The backs currently have a couple of millimetres above the tread depth indicator so I'll see how long they last before deciding to get another new set and then swap. 

[threadbear]

I managed to get 35k out of my original Continental Eco Contact 5s by having them swapped around. I now have Eco Contact 6s on the front having done nearly 25k. I did have them on the rear but a bulge was found on the OSR caused by potholes at the last MOT. Now got Nexens on the rear which were reluctantly fitted duing MOT. However they seem decent tyres. 

 

Didn`t release that Conti`s had less tread when new. 

Edited 25 March, 2022 by threadbear
poor grammar