Drivers generally describe the Continental Sport Contact 3 as a strong-performing UHP summer tire with confident handling, strong braking, and notably good wet-road grip with good resistance to aquaplaning. The most consistent complaint is rapid tread wear (especially on front axles/FWD cars), with many also reporting higher road noise/firm ride and premium pricing. A smaller but recurring theme is tramlining/steering pull on certain cars or as the tire wears, and some note wet/cold performance can deteriorate later in the tire's life.
What owners mention most counted across 189 reviews
Had them as OEM for Audi A6/S-Line/Lemans/2.7 TDI .. changed them now will all 4 new from tireshopper which is a bargain compared to kwikfit around 200 £+ difference .
The response and speed is very good. All the way grip and cornering is excellent.
As an automotive design engineer I know how much development effort goes into tuning car's suspension for the recommended tires. With that in mind I returned the tires on my used CLS to Conti Sport Contact 3 when I bought it.
The tires are great and have lasted very well. I'm just replacing the rears after over 18000 miles of mixed driving which I think is very reasonable for performance tires on a powerful rear drive car. The front's look like they'll last another 10000 which will bring me to next winter when I'll be fitting some Kumho KW27's as snow and ice wasn't one of the Conti's strong points!
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
On Mercedes 250 CGi Estate, rears (245, 40, 17 W) are being replaced at 21,000. Fronts (225, 40, 17, W) have many more miles in them. First experience of Continentals; good all-round tires that feel safe in all conditions. No hesitation in using Contis again (although I gather the o/e Sport3 has been discontinued and will need to replace with pretty much identical Sport5). Worth shopping around ... prices vary considerably.
Which tires do you drive?
Researching the Continental Sport Contact 3? Rate the tires you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
I don't hang around in my car, so totally trust how it holds on the road. Great tire for grip and stopping. A bit disappointed with the wear on the back two, only 8,000miles or 10 months, front two are still ok for now. However after looking at cost of all others and reviews, replacing back 2 with the same again.
Loads of grip in both wet and dry. Amazing really. Don't expect them to work in the winter tho. Below 6 oC the ride becomes hard and the grip suffers. Also hopeless in the snow. They are summer tires tho so this should be expected.
My only real problem is they wear very quickly. 13000 is the best i've managed from the fronts tho the rears are two years old and on 25k
This is an excellent tire, not that i've gone for premium brands in the past but the best i've had by a long chalk. i drive fast on duel c/motorway and have always felt confident doing so with this tire. only once taking a big round about at approx 50 mph did the tires let me know they were about to give way, so off the throttle and no problems. when the tread got very low (illegal) tramlining became noticable and wasn't so easy to put down my 180 bhp to the front wheels but that's to be expected with little tread left!
front wheels lasted around 16000 miles and back still going very strong after 22k so i consider that good wear rate for the torque i'm kicking out.
i've just upgraded to the conti sport 5 for better fuel efficiency and natural progression. will review that tire in a few months.
Used on rear axle (with 225/40zr18 on the front) Great grip in summer on roundabouts at high speed. Good straight line traction. Wander a bit at high speeds but that might be the car. Utterly useless in snow and ice. The first winter I got stranded on my own almost flat driveway so I switch to winter tires each winter now.
Loved the grip on these Contis, but disappointed by the wear. Driven these for 3.5 months and done just over 13000 miles and now they need replacing.
This level of wear might be ok for an average, or low mileage driver, but its too expensive for me to keep putting Conti Sport 3 on again every 3 months.
Have now moved over to Vredestein Quatrac 3s, and will review these when I have put some miles on them.
I bought Contis when I replaced my old worn Pirelli P Zeros. The Pirellis feel faster and more accurate, but the Contis stick better on the wet and are more foregiving when the road standard isn't that good. There might be tiers that beat the Contis in certain categories, but overall they're very good. Overall I'm very happy with the Contis and would buy again.
Having only had the car for a month and covered a 1000 miles, I must say how impressed with the grip levels out of these tires, but not so much with how they last. Car has covered 12k and these need replacing. Road noise could be a little quieter if I'm honest
