Given
41%
while driving a
Kia Motors Stonic
(205/55 R17)
on
mostly motorways
for 25,000
average miles
This is a review after 25kkm and 2 years of usage. I feel that after front had worn down to 5mm (4,8mm to be exact) and rear to 7mm (6,6mm to be exact) I can submit a good mid-life review. I believe these tires will be rotated next year and worn down to 3mm. I'll provide and end-use unless they get trashed before that.
Short version of this review? These are the worst summer tires I have ever used. Period. They are worse than 8-year old 5mm used Fulda's I bought second-hand in 2009.
They offered poor grip even when they were new, but with time their grip is getting even worse. These tires had been the factory fit for Kia Stonic. Maybe normal non-OEM are better but with a brand like Continental this should not be. Driving in wet conditions is straight-on dangerous. I am keeping extra distance, and get skidding on basically most cornering. Braking? Forget about it. I never, ever had a car that had constantly had ABS go off. Even with very, very worn used old tires!
And I am driving less intensively in Stonic then with other cars - just because I know the grip is so lacking and the car is outrageously noisy at higher speeds (engine noise). In dry conditions these tires provide adequate grip only with sun-heated asphalt. With September colder weather the dry grip deteriorated - at 13 degrees Celsius in the morning. Basically I will have to rotate to winter tires sooner than later, since I believe with colder weather their dry grip will be even worse.
Wear? Wear is outrageous. My driving style should bring the tires to wear down way slower. I have managed to get 110kkm out of Pirelli Cinturato P4 to 2,5-3mm thread and 60kkm out of Bridgestone ER300 to 4,5-5,5mm thread. Getting the mentioned wear in Continental tires is outrageous given that the Stonic has less HP and weight than other cars I used with the mentioned above tires. I drive mostly highways with little braking and stable speed to get the best mileage. I'd expect to be on the 6,5-7 mm at this level.
I provide good notes for handling and comfort. They are not noisy and in general the handling is OK. They are predictable when skidding, but honestly this might be the Kia TC kicking in - I see the light flicker every single day I drive this car. Because of poor grip I do sometimes feel that the car is floating like a hovercraft with wet braking.
