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Stock Continental Tires

2K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  moosejuice 
#1 ·
Does anyone know how much they will cost to replace? I will most likely have to do so next summer, and I'm just looking for a ballpark of what kind of money I'll need. I'm hoping to be able to replace the tires with more of the same, as I enjoy the overall ride I get with them.
 
#3 ·
Are you sure you really want the stock ones? They are not that good. But you can get them at www.tirerack.com for about $126, they deliver by UPS to you or the shop of yoru choice. Occasionally they have a sale,so keep a watch. You need Conti Sport Contact, you can chose from several speed ratings Z or W, either one is ridiculously high. If you use car for daily driver I'd get Conti Extreme Contact for around $30 cheaper, and much better wet and winter driving.
I also noticed that I get much better stability if I overinflate tires a little - 32-35psi. I dont know if this is a good thing to do.
 
#4 ·
Well, I have seperate tires for the Michigan winters, so I'm looking for something that's more for spring/summer/early fall driving. I like the stock tires, they are good for the kind of driving I need them for.

What do the Z and W ratings mean?
 
#6 ·
I have run my tires at 40psi front/rear from the get go, no worries. 16K miles and still a lot of tread left, and its been on the track for some mild lapping and I do try to keep corner speed up on regular drives.

The tires are OK, they wear well for 280 treadwear rated tires. But they don't make them anymore, I heard. They new tires are the ContiSportContact 2's right?

You can get Essenzas on Ebay for $250 a set! They are made by goodyear, and unless you are racing, why is there a need to spend more? Just a thought...
 
#7 ·
Like rayrevolver said, I have heard that they are no longer producing the exact type of tire that the car came with, but now have an improved version. My Ford dealer wanted to charge me $232 per tire for the Conti's, which I knew was ridiculous. As it turns out I decided to upgrade and went with Goodyear Eagle F1's for the front and have the stock Conti's on the back until they wear out. The Goodyears are very nice tires, so far I'm happy with them, but they were about $170 a piece for Z-rated tires.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, I was thinking about Eagle F1's, they are great tires, but like you said very expensive. Thats why I'll probably stick with whatever Continental's replacement for these tires is, cause I don't want to spend an extra $200 on tires. I'm gonna keep my eye out for F1's on sale or something, but probably wont have any luck.

I do occasionally Autocross, mostly when my friend from Chicago is around, so my summer driving tires need to be able to have some higher performance to them.
 
#9 ·
I was looking on Tire Rack the other day and was eyeing up some Yokohamas that rated higher across the board on dry grip, wet grip, hydroplaning, tread wear, road noise etc and were only $100 a piece for Ultra Performance summer tires. I know what I'll be installing when the time comes.
 
#11 ·
SVT4ME said:
My Ford dealer wanted to charge me $232 per tire for the Conti's, which I knew was ridiculous.
yeah, same here. Needless to say I literaly laughed in their face. $232 for Conti's?? LMAO
 
#12 · (Edited)
For those of you who have raced your SVTF on the track, how much tread wear do you get from one day of racing?
Hmmm. 5,000 miles and 6 times at an AutoCross event.
(3 on a short <1mile track, and 3 on a long ~2mile track)
It's about time to rotate the tires.
Nothing major, but I'm noticing the first line inside the outer tread is almost gone on the front tires.
The rears aren't showing any wear at all.
OK, let me explain that a little better.

See the outer tread with the very thin circumferential line adjacent to it?
That line is almost gone on the fronts.
Otherwise, I'm very happy with the tread wear, considering how hard I push it on the track.

EDIT:
That particular "feature" of the tire isn't even 1/8" deep.
I believe they meant for the tire to wear that way.
It gives you better traction (in the dry anyway) as it wears down over the life of the tire.
In essence, the outer tread blocks and the circumferential rib all become one once the groove is worn down.
 
#15 ·
My stock Conti's lasted about 17-18,000 miles with "spirited" driving but no track days, and by the time I replaced them the right front was so worn it was dangerous. It looks like, based on what WD40 posted, that a few track days will noticeably cut into tread life if he's getting wear on the outside at only 5,000 miles. But hey, what the hell right? Why have a fun to drive car if you're worried about tread life?

And CivicHatch+SVT-F, I remember the whole dealer tire thing. I thought your dealer was nuts until I asked mine for a price and they wanted even more than you said your dealer was asking. [rolleyes]
 
#16 ·
I've been at the track quite a bit of times and well, I'm getting close to needing new tires. I've got 22,000 miles on my stock Conti's, rotated every 5,000 miles. (My husband is very firm on a 5,000 mile rotation on tires, just one of his things...lol )

I dont believe when I get new tires I'm going back with the Conti's, although I'm unsure what I'll go with, but when the time comes I'll ask for opinions....[;)]
 
#17 · (Edited)
Tire Wear

Okee Dokee.
Did the first tire rotation at 4,981 miles.
Note the red arrows.
That's where the tread is not as deep, and has changed the tire pattern.
The tire on the right (came from the right-rear) is showing 1/4" tread depth.
The tire on the left (came from the left-front) is showing just shy of 3/16" tread depth.
Hmmmm. I like the way the tread pattern wears.
Might explain why I've been doing a bit better lately on the track.[:D]
Course, now that I rotated em....
 

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#18 ·
At 19K I had to replace all four tires. Steel cords hanging out of all 4 tires. i bought KUMHO ESTA 711's they have a HR speed rating, I am pretty happy with the feel and grip of the tires.
I got them from the Tire Rack on sale for $55 a piece. I didn't think that they were going to be great handling tires at that price but they were cheap for now. Like I said I kind of like them and will probable buy them again.
I used to auto cross and the best tires for the money then were Genral xp 2000. You had to shave them down to half tread to get them to grip right, but at less then half the price of Yokohama and BFG auto cross tires it was worth it.
 
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