The Continental WinterContact TS 850 P is a premium ultra high performance winter tire known for delivering confident, sporty control in cold conditions, particularly on wet roads. It blends strong wet grip with precise handling and reassuring stability, and many drivers also rate its snow traction highly for a UHP winter option. Comfort and noise levels are generally well judged, though the ride can feel a touch firm. Its main compromises are value for money and a recurring weakness in dry braking versus the very best rivals.
The quick answer
Owners say79%from 20 owner reviews75% would buy againRead the reviews
Strengths & weaknessesWet, ValueSnow, ComfortRelative to its rivals across every test we hold
Built from every independent test result and vetted owner review we hold for this tire - the evidence is all further down the page. Data updated May 2025.
In 245/45 R18, the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P is projected to cost €34.31 per 1,000 miles to buy and run - about €858 over 25,000 miles - based on the price, wear and rolling resistance measured in the 2020 Auto Bild Performance Winter Tire Test.
Tire purchase + fittingExtra fuel vs the most efficient tirecost per 1,000 miles
Assumes a typical car doing 29 mpg (rolling resistance causing 20% of fuel use), fuel at €6.25 per gallon and €70 fitting per set of four. Purchase prices are from the time of the 2020 test; financing costs are excluded.
How good is the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P in the wet?
Across the 9 wet-braking tests it has featured in, the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P stops 2.8% shorter than premium rivals, 6% shorter than mid-range rivals and 7.6% shorter than budget rivals. It has a Tire Reviews wet score of 94/100, and owners rate it 8.5/10 in the wet from 20 reviews.
How good is the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P in the dry?
Across the 8 dry-braking tests it has featured in, the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P stops 1.5% longer than premium rivals, 1.2% longer than mid-range rivals and 11.5% longer than budget rivals. It has a Tire Reviews dry score of 62/100, and owners rate it 8.4/10 in the dry from 20 reviews.
How good is the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P in the snow?
Across the 9 snow-braking tests it has featured in, the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P stops 0.7% longer than premium rivals, 1.7% shorter than mid-range rivals and 34.6% shorter than budget rivals. Across the 3 snow-traction tests, it is 2.1% worse than premium rivals, 3.1% better than mid-range rivals and 137% better than budget rivals. It has a Tire Reviews snow score of 51/100, and owners rate it 7.7/10 in the snow from 20 reviews.
How fuel efficient is the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P?
Across the 7 tests measuring rolling resistance, the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P's rolling resistance is 3.1% lower than premium rivals, 8.8% lower than mid-range rivals and 0.6% lower than budget rivals.
How many miles does the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P last?
Based on test and owner data, the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P is expected to last around 27,005 miles (43,460 km).
More questions about the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P(11)
What do owners say about the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P?
Across 20 owner ratings the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P averages 79%. Owners rate Wet Grip highest at 8.5 out of 10 and Ice Grip lowest at 6.1. 6 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles. 83% of owners score it 70% or better.
How much does the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P cost to run?
In 245/45 R18, the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P is projected to cost €34.31 per 1,000 miles to buy and run - about €858 over 25,000 miles - based on the price, wear and rolling resistance measured in the 2020 Auto Bild Performance Winter Tire Test. The cheapest to run in that test is the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+, at €29.96.
What is the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P's EU tire label rating?
Across its range, the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P most commonly carries EU label ratings of C for fuel efficiency, C for wet grip and 72 dB for noise.
How comfortable and quiet are the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P?
Owners rate the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P 7.9 out of 10 for comfort and noise across 18 reviews.
How well do the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P wear, according to owners?
Owners rate the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P 8.2 out of 10 for wear across 18 reviews. 6 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles, and the typical review covers 4,500 miles.
Would owners buy the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P again?
75% of owners say they would buy the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P again, based on the 20 owner reviews that answered the question. 45% of them gave it the highest possible answer.
What do owners say about the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P's wet grip?
Of the 17 owner reviews analyzed for the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P, 9 mention wet grip: 9 praise it (confident wet grip) and 0 criticise it (weak wet grip). One owner wrote: "Extremely good grip with a lot of control and predictability". Read those reviews
What do owners say about the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P's tread life?
Of the 17 owner reviews analyzed for the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P, 8 mention tread life: 5 praise it (long-lasting) and 3 criticise it (wears quickly). One owner wrote: "Wear has once again been good". Read those reviews
What does the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P replace?
Questions and Answers for the Continental WinterContact TS 850 P
I recently had these tires (225/40/18 92V) fitted to my M140i based on your reviews for winter. So far these are living up to the test results beyond expectation. Show moreI recently had these tires (225/40/18 92V) fitted to my M140i based on your reviews for winter. So far these are living up to the test results beyond expectation. One aspect that seriously impresses is the added ride comfort the Contis have over the Michelin Pilot Super Sport normally fitted for the summer. So now I want this ride comfort in a summer tire too. So the question is what do I replace the MPSS with next spring to achieve this? Michelin Pilot Sport 4? Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5? Conti PremiumContact 6? Show less
November 12, 2019
All three of those tires should be more comfortable than the PSS, personally I would choose the Asymmetric 5.
Continental WinterContact TS 850 P is widely praised for strong dry and wet grip, confident handling, and good control in cold conditions, with several high-scoring reviews highlighting excellent snow and even ice performance. Comfort and relatively low noise are commonly noted, while some mention firmer ride. A minority report faster wear and higher price, and a few note limitations on ice or heavy snow. Overall sentiment is strongly positive given the high-scoring reviews and frequency of praise.
What owners mention most counted across 17 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 20 ratings
Owner score79%
Wet Grip85%
Dry Grip84%
Handling84%
Road Feedback83%
Wear82%
Comfort79%
Snow Grip77%
Ice Grip61%
Featured reviews
Most helpful 54%
“This tire performs well in dry conditions and also does well in the wet. Everything else is quite okay, too. However, I had issues with the lateral grip on snow — I was very disappointed in that regard. Because of this...”
“Very good winter tire for a sportscar in dry condition. Pretty pricy and it wears very fast. Snow grip is good but I had loads of problems on ice and very cold temperatures. I expected more from this tire expecially...”
“I have used 215/65 R16 on XC70 for 10 years, winter only on separate alloys. Balanced feedback from the road, no understeer (as had with Pirellis). Very good on snow, wet and dry, okay on ice. Good contol at speed and...”
This tire performs well in dry conditions and also does well in the wet. Everything else is quite okay, too. However, I had issues with the lateral grip on snow — I was very disappointed in that regard. Because of this, I won’t be buying this tire again.
Another winter season over on these tires and I am again very impressed. Although we did not get snow this winter, we did get plenty of weather below 7C including ice and a lot of cold wet weather and I found these tires both grippy and extremely progressive. Wear has once again been good. The tires are noisier and grumblier than my summer tires, and the steering is lighter so feedback is not as good as in summer. On days where temperatures were over 7C the tire was still good, but you could feel on corning that it was not as firm as usual.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tires perform against premium summer and winter tires!
79%
Member
Volkswagen
225/45 R18
5,000 miles
A Combination of Roads
Spirited
The car I used was a Golf GTI mk7.5 and it worked extremely well! Living on the west coast of Sweden the weather during winter time is mostly rain with some snow and temperatures ranging from around -5 to +5 degrees celsius. Extremely good grip with a lot of control and predictability. Could actually push the tires a lot going out of corners, with good grip in the corners and really good braking performance! Really good tire!
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Ideal tire for my BMW. Dry and wet handling is excellent also at warmer temperatures around 10/15 degrees. Low wear, low noise but quite stiff and rigid sidewall especially if compared to Goodyear tires. I would highly recommend it
I have used 215/65 R16 on XC70 for 10 years, winter only on separate alloys. Balanced feedback from the road, no understeer (as had with Pirellis). Very good on snow, wet and dry, okay on ice. Good contol at speed and stable on mixed surfaces. Comfortable ride, slight noise on some surfaces. Will be replacing them with the same again.
I was really impressed with these tires, surpringly good even on warmer days in the dry, very secure in the wet and seemed very reliable on the few days of snow we had. If anything the car was less tail happy on these than on normal summer tires in the summer
Brilliant tires , much quieter than my summer Pirelli P Zerros . Much better tire overall full stop. I have them on a heavy Mercedes E350 estate and the ride and everything else is sublime . My tire sizes are 265/35/18 rear and 245/40/18 front. Wear seems excellent too, I do 80% motorway driving so it is to be expected .
We bought these winter tires for Astra OPC (VXR) petrol 2.0. It is not the sportiest car but still fast enough to require (even in winter) something tolerating the speed in excess of 200km/h (well, occasionally). Our car was originally equipped with Michelin Super Sports. Compared to them, the ContinentalWinter 850P is very comfortable. The first thing to notice was its noise level almost equal (or even lower) to the summer Super Sports. Well, winter Continentals are not very quick when pushed hard on the dry and not as precise when braking. Still, Conti does the job on the dry and sunny road. I like them on the wet and they are reasonably good on the snow. They cannot cope with too much snow, in which case I have snow chains (had to use them once in the Alps when going uphill to a remote skiing station).
Ice... In fact Conti 850 Ps are not for the ice at all. I was a keen user of studded Nokian Hakkapeliittas on my previous car. The Hakkapeliitaas used to give me real winter confidence. Now, the Conties give me speed on the dry winter road. And comfort. Lots of it.
When I changed back for my Michelin Super Sports this spring I really hated them first. Compared to Conti 850 Ps, super Sports were so rigid and unforgiving on the cobblestone surface so much loved in my city.
Well later, Super Sports proved themselves again on a highway. They are created for speed and stability.
Verdict? Well, Continental Winter Contact 850 P is not what I call a winter tire. But if you drive a kind of sporty car, do not have much choice, then go for them. They are nice, comfortable winter tires which allow you to drive closer to 200km/H at some reckless occasions.
Wear? Yes, they are Conties. They wear fast. After two winter seasons, I am not sure they are likely to last through another one.
Very good winter tire for a sportscar in dry condition. Pretty pricy and it wears very fast. Snow grip is good but I had loads of problems on ice and very cold temperatures. I expected more from this tire expecially considering the price.
Brought a set of alloys wheels + TS850P (225/40 R18)s for winter use. Swapped out ContiSportContact 5Ps (230/35 R19)s which are great but stop working at temperatures lower than 10degC.
These are really confidence inspiring on the ungritted roads that I have to transit every morning and evening. Great grip, steering feel and comfort. Can't comment on snow traction yet.
On previous Jag XF I ran Nokian WR A4 which were good in snow but only okay in other conditions. Can't do a direct comparison as new car is AWD but TS850Ps feel far superior in the wet and cold that is more common in
UK than full on snow.
Would probably have gone for TS860Ss had they been available but these TS850Ps I'm sure are nearly as good. Only downside is that they are a bit pricey so shop around. If you can go for a wheel + tire package for best value and minimizing chance of denting your posh summer wheels. I keep my cars typically for 7+years so I'll get the usage out of them in that time.
