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
Nice tire for dry and wet grip. Disgusting tire for life/wear. Several rotations and alignments through a 8000km lifespan. Each alignment/rotation showed no car issues, but tires went sawtooth on the front outer edges and wore evenly across the tread on all tires within 7000-9000 km for all 4 tires.
A bit more grip, a bit more fuel consumption and a bit more noise than Bridgestone t001 that it came with standard, and that I've re-fit now.
Less than 8000km/5000mi is not acceptable for a car driven normally on outer suburban sealed roads with exemplary car and tire maintenance.
I've had the set (4x 225/45/17) since summer 2015. So far, everything is excellent and even though I've done 16k miles the tires are keeping up to their initial sharpness and performance: the grip in the dry and in the wet is perfect, feeling very comfortable even when the driving is very spirited. Absolutely solid in the rain, no chance of aquaplaning. Excellent handling and feedback, very responsive, can make minimum mid-turn adjustments with extreme precision (the only better I've had is Yokohama AdvanSport because of the more rigid and thicker sidewall). Road noise and comfort are very decent, though could be slightly improved. Only "problem" is the wear (compared to previous Michelin Primacy HP) the Contis are not holding to my expectations, but still it's not extremely bad, I recon I'll manage to reach the 25k miles mark.
Will definitely buy again !
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
I have bought 2 new tires in 2015 and run them for 15.000 km. I have put them on front axle on my 1500kg Bmw 320d.
Advantages : dry and wet grip is very good, good aquaplaning performances, very good wear, in 10.000 miles they look almost like new; also, the noise level is low, but not so low as Vredestein UltracCento that i have on rear axle.
Disadvantages: my tires were made in Czech Republic in 2015. The quality of these tires is poor, because in 2 years they got cracked, they look like a 10 years old tires. And i kept them just like any other tires that i own, and no one cracked like these 2. I don't thrust them if i want to exceed 100MPH. I saw 6 years old Conti SC5 made in Germany without any crack at all, so the quality is maybe better for tires made in Germany. I would buy Conti SC5 again, but only made in Germany
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These tires as self seal are the factory fitment on the VW CC. I am at 40k miles. After my last review i do wonder if they changed the compound as this set has lasted far longer . They provide a good feedback and quite good comfort but are a bit noisey. I assume they are low rolling Resistance as on long journeys I am still getting over 60 mpg. After 10k these tires are still very stable at autobahn speeds , well up to 140mph . Based on this last set I would happily fit again and possibly change from the Uniroyals I run on my other car.
was getting 18000-19000 miles on the front for ayear, more for the back as expected, As xl were abit harder but the sort suspension was not helping either but lived with it, It was about what doing for me on the road. Winter mornings at 05:00 for 27 miles to work on mororway and dual carriageways were no problem. With the surface water on the dualcarraige flooded in places were no problem. But then when going continental (no pun!) in france at 85mph for hours on end like 570 miles in 7+ hours no issues. Driving around mountain roads, hairpin beds and sometimes too much zeal they kept there grip astonishly, even with abit of squeal or as I call it 'whispering kisses'. So i used them for 4 years replacing when need. would buy again. Have changed from passat 2.0tdi 140 sport to a vw cc 180brake so may consider them again when required.
I have a mercedes 320cdi tires fitted in november and now in january are down to 4mm normal driving not good in the wet and ok in the dry had bridgestones on before and the traction control light never came on
I really love those tires. Great grip in wet and dry. But they only lasted 14000km. My driving style is not really slow, more like agressive. So lets say they last one summer agressive driving.
OK, So I drive enthusiastically, so grip is the priority in wet and dry. I like to feel the car and feel what is going on. Aside from the appalling wear, it was by far the best tire I had ever had. If only Continental can make the same tire last even twice the same distance... I'd have bought them by the lorry load.
Feedback is active, you know what's happening, the grip level in the dry was phenomenal. Very surprising in the wet. But again, 6k on the front and 8k on the rear is shocking. Have since fitted Dunlop Sport Maxx RT which were nearly as good as the conti's and on the front lasted 11k. My opinion, well, to some its like chalk and cheese. Try the dunlops if you expect better longevity in this size if your car has the same handling characteristics as my car.
These tires came from the factory, from day one they weren't as good as any other tire fitted previously to any of my merc's. The only thing that was one consolation was that they weren't Run-flats other wise I can imagine are just as worse. After just 6000 of easy going driving the rears were gone completely, not only on mine but other people who have the new C Class weren't faring any better with these, shortest distance being just 5k. Also the fronts had really bad wear inner and outer on all the ones we looked over. Wouldn't use these tires again instead the other tire these left factory with is the Pirelli option which faired a lot nicer overall.
