Vredestein Ultrac Cento Reviews - Page 2

The Vredestein Cento does what it says; a very good all round tire.
I replaced the Continental Sportcontact 3 which where on the car with these tires.
The Conti Sport 3 is a very good tire for handling and braking in both the dry and wet. However, it has a few drawbacks:-
Expensive
Poor wear rate
Increased fuel consumption; around 2 MPG less.
Tram lining
Tires aged and went soft causing an acceleration lag

The Cento is virtually as go as the Conti Sport 3 for handling in the dry and wet.
Like the Conti, it is one of the few tires which can cope with the Golf's torque in the wet.

Cento plus points:-
An all rounder.
Good handling in dry and wet.
Refined and comfortable, for a directional reinforced high performance tire.
Strong tire so very little acceleration lag.
Sit well on narrower width rims.
Reduced fuel consumption.
Reinforced tire in 225/45 R17 is standard.
Very good value for money.

Cento lesser points:-
Feedback is acceptable, however, room for improvement.
Braking is good, just not excellent like the Conti Sport 3.
Limited availability.

Will I choose the Vredestein or Conti next time?
It would mainly come down to cost.
The Conti is the slightly better performer; just not worth the premium price, and then some more for the reinforced option.

I've replaced the front set of Vredestein Sportrac 3 with these new Ultrac Centos on my SAAB 9-3 Turbo. These new tires offer exceptional refinement and low road noise something which makes them ideal for long distance highway driving. Keeping up with the Vredestein tradition, the Ultrac Cento offers respectable grip in the wet which translates into a reassuring and sure-footed handling in adverse weather conditions.

The downside that comes at the cost of refinement is reduced feedback and average dry grip. Specifically, under hard acceleration in 1st and 2nd gear my car torque-steered excessively, something which was almost completely absent with the Sportrac 3. The same can be said for the roadholding which, although progressive, is nowhere near as good as before.

Overall, the Ultrac Cento seems an ideal choice for someone looking for a refined, quiet and sure-footed tire. Any spirited driving will not be rewarded accordingly with this tire.

I haven't driven many miles with these yet but so far i'm reasonably impressed with them. I've gone from Uniroyal Rainsport 2's (which i still have on another set of alloys) as i wanted a smoother ride over the amazingly sporty Rainsport 2's.
These Centos' are unbelievably quite.
It's a very smooth ride even in a MG ZR 160.
I'm not 100% confident of them in the wet (again, my only comparison are the rainsport 2's): i think there straight line characteristics are very good but i'm not yet so sure about cornering/handling characteristics. BUT, i need to do more miles.
So far i would say these are worth a punt: vredestein have a good reputation and this is a flagship product for them and so far i can see why. It's not, in my opinion, a sports tire, more a saloon executive tire. I could easily see these on Mercs & BMW's with lots of straight line speed, smooth cornering but not out & out sports cornering & aggressive driving. A pleasant compromise between smoothness & quite versus grip & handling (not that i've had a problem with either).
Will post more feedback after a few more thousand miles. Costs ?95 a corner.