Drivers generally describe the Continental Sport Contact 5 as a confidence-inspiring UHP tire with strong dry and wet grip, sharp steering response, and secure braking-especially praised in rain and at speed. However, the dominant complaint is very fast wear (often on the front axle), which many feel makes it poor value despite the premium price. A smaller but recurring theme is increased road noise and a firmer/harsh ride as the tire ages or on coarse surfaces.
What owners mention most counted across 195 reviews
Had been using Conti 3 on Insignia, getting 12K on front and nearly 20K on rear. After changing to Conti 5 have only managed about 7K front and rear before tires on legal limit.
Other than the wear rate I was very happy with the tires, but and not prepared to accept the cost of frequent replacement.
Mixed driving, many short urban journeys and a few journeys of hundreds of miles.
Had them on my ex E46 323i and i was more than happy.
The grip, the handling, the road response is just great. I'm not a slow driver, i like my corners fast and thight and this tire made it possible for me to enjoy behind the wheel.
The only thing witht them is that by the 15k km they were on thear thread wear.
But tha't mybe just my driving style and not the tires. Had them for a couple of years, in 8 total.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
Only real problem with these tires is the wear rate which is appalling, I have done less than 10k and just been told the tread on my drive wheels is down to 3 mm. I have never before had to replace tires before 20k and this is the first time I've had Continentals
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Very good tires for grip in the dry and wet. Not bad for comfort and road noise, but they are soft. They wont wear well. I got barely 10k miles from a pair of front tires commuting up and down a motorway before they wore out. You have been warned!
Had these tires on for just over 10k miles and have a few mm left, which should get about 16k miles for all 4. The biggest problem I have with these are the road noise (72db). Swapped them out as they were completely rubbish in the cold winter weather. Car handled well and steering was good with good dry and wet performance in summer. The best thing is the large alloy rim protector, which is the biggest on any tire I have seen. Wouldn't consider these again, purely down to the road noise.
Did a fair bit of sourcing following the previous tires I had on this car. Replaced a front set of General Altimax Sport which, up to now, were the worst set of tires I have every come across. I heard positive reviews about the majority of Continental Tires, however I was also informed that the wear tended to be slightly high. I fitted these tires to the front of my 2.0 TDI Audi A4 to replace the Generals with the hope of drastically improving the handling and grip and ultimately provide a safer handling car.
Upon purchasing these tires, the grip and handling was almost immediately transformed. The grip from these tires in dry and wet conditions is the best I have come across in a tire so far. Very rarely did I come across any loss of grip through corners even under harsh acceleration and found very little wheel spin when pulling away from junctions, even in bad conditions. For heavy surface water I wouldn't say there was anything dramatically impressive, however in comparison to the General Altimax Sports still a vast improvement. The only down side to these tires has to be the wear. I only just managed 8000 miles on these tires and although I occasionally drive aggressively, I attempted to make these tires last and seriously struggled. On the up side, I found the grip on these tires lasted almost until the tires were fully worn out. Only in the last couple of hundred miles did the tires begin to lose straight line grip and aquaplaning became a slight issue in heavy surface water. In terms of progressiveness, I rarely found loss of grip so it is difficult to say, however on any occasion where these tires started to slide it was very controllable and easily correctable.
Because of the steep price on these tires and the very high wear I have decided not to purchase these again. I have instead gone for Pirelli P7 Cinturato Blues. I have purchased the Pirellis before and although they will not provide such precise handling and grip, I find they are a better all round tire for the price. For anyone who is not prepared to fork out every 8000 or so miles I would look else where, however for performance which will continue to last until the tire is almost completely worn, I found these tires hugely impressive.
96%
Member
255/40 R18 W
22,000 miles
Mostly Motorways
Spirited
At 22000km I estimate that these tires are half-way though their useful life.
They are runflats fitted on the rear of a 330d BMW M-Sport.
I cannot fault them in the wet or dry - they give great feedback through the steering and I have every confidence in them in heavy rain conditions.
They get hard use on twisty country roads and also high speed (130kph+) on long distance autobahn use.
These are the quietest and most comfortable runflats I've every had - better than the ContiCSC2s and MUCH better than the Bridgestone Potenzas I had before that.
Came fitted to new Nissan Pulsar. They were fine in the dry and wet braking was OK but wet cornering was dreadful with a tendency to simply break traction and slide. Also they needed changing after only 8000 miles when I used to get 20000 on my heavy old diesel Mondeo. Not all tires are equal, it seems.
The Conti Sport Contact 5s were on the car when I got it new 21 months ago, and I've had no issues with the performance, wet or dry. After around 20,000 miles the backs and fronts were swapped to put the greater tread on the front. Just a week ago, the rears (was front) were replaced after 36,000 miles, while the fronts (were rear) still have 4.3mm left, so should take me close to 40,000miles. As a high mileage driver, I've got no complaints over the longevity, and have had the same fitted again.
Interesting, so many people having problem with wear, new tires came with 7,5mm, after 3 years/30000km 6,0mm rear, 5,5mm front. Maybe problems with right pressure. Driven on Mondeo Estate 2,2 TDCi/155bhp. Mostly city and motorway, Czech Republic, with awfull roads.
Very safe and secure tire in all conditions, but for the price I expect them to last more than 8000 miles. I won't be buying them again and will choose either Michelins or Goodyears
No problem with performance in wet or dry all year round. They had been fitted as standard to my Mercedes A class. Only 8000 miles of conservative driving later and the outside edge of the two fronts were bald. Took it into Mercedes for the tracking checked but all was fine, issue was the tires having poor wearability. Replacing tires every 8000 miles is not good value for money. Would not use this tire again for that reason.
