i personally don't like them. very boring tread design. i have the 17'' black painted wheels. these Conti tires seem like cheap touring tires. not really made for handling. i was looking at getting this combo.
Got my SEL last september and the Conti's an I never really got along. Before 100 miles I got a sidewall bump in the front-right tire. I got it replaced fairly quickly and thats when I found out the dealer had over-zealously inflated each tire to 39-44 psi each. Everything went fairly smoothly for the next 5000 miles, disregarding noticeable hydroplaning every time it rains here(which is a lot.)
Finally about 3 weeks ago while getting my tires back up to pressure for a little road trip I noticed another tire developed a sidewall bump. Alas I was fed up with the mediocre and expensive tire and ended up swapping all 4 out for some Hankook summer tires(Ventus V-12.) I must quickly explain, I'm from Puerto Rico and if some roads Stateside are considered bad the ones here are a horrorshow. I chose my tire mostly based on a harder sidewall, it just so happened that the Hankook's had a hell of a lot better performance for a cheaper price.
Slapped 'em on and holy crap what a difference. The car attacks a corner more eagerly and it barely hydroplanes now. I had the 'falling in love with the car' phase all over again. Anyway I couldn't be happier with the switch, the Conti's were holding the car back a lot.
(And on the plus side the tire has a pretty nifty tread design )
Also, first post! Long one but glad to be part of the community. Greetings from Puerto Rico!
Posted via FF Mobilewelcome to the site! Glad your tires are working for ya. Never had an issue with the conti's, and it seems they grip quite well. Personal preference in my opinion, based on driving style. I have learned that defensive driving pays off more than tires, unless your at the track...but, I'm old. Being 30 is an eye opener (or perhaps its the kids, the mortgage, etc!). See, you like your hankooks, and on my wife's old altima they hyrdroplaned like a cigarette boat. But, the bubbles in their sidewalls never burst, fortunately.
I have to agree that the stock (16" on mine) Contis suck in the snow. We don't get much snow where I live so i've never felt the need to put snow tires on my cars. I previously had a Dodge Magnum (RWD) and did fine through the winters on the all season OEM Goodyears. The LX's came with either Goodyears or Contis and I heard a lot of complaints from LX owners with the Contis over on LXforums over the years I was a member. I believe one of thier biggest complaints was fast wear.
We got a slushy wet snow here the week I bought my Focus. The stock Continentals were great and have been through several rains. Mine has the 17" wheels so maybe they are a different model than others here. I think the tires have great traction in snow/wet/dry but are a bit noisy at 70-80 mph.
Hi,
Sorry for beating a dead ... thread(?[chair]) .... but my Focus was built in July, and came with the ContiProContact tires that this thread was started over, and I dislike them to the point that I plan on replacing them within the week!
I have three complaints about the tires:
1. They are quiet on smooth roads, but on older pavement they roar loudly (especially at hwy speeds), and they BOOM when going over bumps.
2. Big bumps and broken pavement feel VERY rough, and the noise from the tires doesn't help. I have read reviews from other owners that share this opinion about the roughness with these tires.
3. The ride quality feels numb on smooth roads. When driving newer cars, I normally feel a glass-smooth quality to the ride, as if you can tell that the new wheel bearings are perfectly lubricated and have zero play. I'm sure that's the case with my Focus' bearings, but it feels like the tires are adding some 'squishy' quality to the road feel - sort of like if there was 1/2 inch of foam everywhere on the road. I have tried different tire pressures - both above and below the recommended 35 psi - but it hasn't helped.
I know others have complained about the noise and the roughness with the ContiProContact, but I was wondering if anyone else has felt this 'numb' quality on their Foci with these tires?
Hi,
Sorry for beating a dead ... thread(?[chair]) .... but my Focus was built in July, and came with the ContiProContact tires that this thread was started over, and I dislike them to the point that I plan on replacing them within the week!
I have three complaints about the tires:
1. They are quiet on smooth roads, but on older pavement they roar loudly (especially at hwy speeds), and they BOOM when going over bumps.
2. Big bumps and broken pavement feel VERY rough, and the noise from the tires doesn't help. I have read reviews from other owners that share this opinion about the roughness with these tires.
3. The ride quality feels numb on smooth roads. When driving newer cars, I normally feel a glass-smooth quality to the ride, as if you can tell that the new wheel bearings are perfectly lubricated and have zero play. I'm sure that's the case with my Focus' bearings, but it feels like the tires are adding some 'squishy' quality to the road feel - sort of like if there was 1/2 inch of foam everywhere on the road. I have tried different tire pressures - both above and below the recommended 35 psi - but it hasn't helped.
I know others have complained about the noise and the roughness with the ContiProContact, but I was wondering if anyone else has felt this 'numb' quality on their Foci with these tires?
Yes, I see what you're saying. They have lots of grip in the corners, but turn-in feels numb and there is an over all softness to them. They are wearing pretty well, though. Can't wait to replace them with something more aggressive.
My complaint against the Contis is that they are a bit noisy. Much quieter than the P6s on my 2006 ZX3, but still noisy. Not enough to replace them early, but enough to be noticeable.
When the pavement is smooth they seem fairly quiet, but there is very little in the way of smooth pavement around here, especially on the interstate/freeway system, and at 55-60 the tires are dreadfully loud, some how they almost seem happier at 70+.
I can't wait to get back to South Carolina, all you are UHP summer tires all year long! Here in Germany you have to run snow rated all-seasons or dedicated snow tires through the winter.
My Focus has 20,000 klm on it now and I have been plagued with vibration problems coming through the steering also the cabin.
I thought I had the problem solved when one tire company said that one of the Conti contact tires was out of round. I had that replaced and the car was better but I could still fill this slight vibration through the car.
I finally took the car to another tire company and they took the tires off the rim and then refitted them and rebalanced them. The car at last is smooth and only a slight vibration, the guy that balanced the tires said that all my tires had high and low spots on them every where.
At least I know what the problem is now and soon as the tires wear out a bit I will be eagerly replacing them with tires that are not out of round and better quality
I ran the stock Contis for about 1000 miles (sold 'em for $300) and they weren't too bad and while dry grip breakaway was predictable there simply wasn't enough of it but that was fixed with the DWS I upgraded too.
I had 3 sets of DWS's on my previous car (MKV GTI) and I loved them so much that I just kept buying them. I can't wait for my OE Conti's to wear out so I can replace them.
I belong to the USW. Here's a good reason not to keep those crappy conti Tires one minute longer than necessary. Hate 'em, they hydroplane in 1/2 inch of water.
on most cars the stock tires usually suck. Even when I bought my truck it had some crappy BFG's (Rugged Trails) and they wore out crazy fast and were NEVER very good. And those tires were damn expensive about 1200- $1400 for a replacement set.
Put some REAL BFG's (Mud Terrain) on it and they have been there ever since, about 60k miles of them and they still have lots of tread.
I expect crappy stock tires on the focus but so far they seem to do alright for my daily commute.
on most cars the stock tires usually suck. Even when I bought my truck it had some crappy BFG's (Rugged Trails) and they wore out crazy fast and were NEVER very good. And those tires were damn expensive about 1200- $1400 for a replacement set.
Dang,where you buying these Rugged Trails? I can get them in a 32" size for about $750 out the door but yes,they are quite crappy.
You can get the Mud Terrains for a little under $1200 at Discount Tire but I'm partial to my GY Duratracs which went up from $170/tire to a whopping $220 which just jumped me well over $1000 when I get a new set.
I hate mine and dont get the dws. My buddy has em and aligns his car like once every 3 months.
Still has funny wear.. ive hated continental in general but omg these tires drive me nuts.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Stock tires are awful. While taking my car in today, someone pulled in front of me and then had to make an quick stop. I thought I was going to die, plus it felt like only two of the tires (on oposite ends) where getting traction ,so I sort of got this like weaving-pulling feeling in the car when I was slowing down rapidly. And this was all on a nice warm, 70 degree clear day... These tires scare me in the rain and are pretty much worthless (from my experience) in snow.
Those tires are getting replaced this winter with some performance all-season tires. I would say the conti's are OK for dry weather, but after my near-death experience today in dry weather, I can't even give them that.
Ford only uses them because they provide a low rolling resistance, which obviously means they don't grip the road very well in any condition, and thus the tires aren't that great. A visit to TireRack will probably confirm this.
Ford only uses them because they provide a low rolling resistance, which obviously means they don't grip the road very well in any condition, and thus the tires aren't that great. A visit to TireRack will probably confirm this.
The ContiProContact tires aren't low rolling resistance tires. They're grand touring all-seasons. They're about as mediocre as any stock tire can get (built for a balance of comfort, noise, wet/dry grip, etc.). It's a jack of all trades and master of none type of tire.
Personally I never had any major issues with mine. I actually liked the fact that its grip was very predictable. For being a set of grand touring tires I thought it cornered really well when pushed to its limits. It did however trigger the ABS on my Rabbit a lot on ice/snow (at the slightest pressure of the brake pedal). As long as you drive conservatively in the winter you should be fine though.
Recently I upgraded to a set of Continental ExtremeContact DWS. They're a little more expensive, but they're also hands down the best all-season tires I've ever driven on. According to TireRack it's classified as an "ultra high performance all-season", which I guess is as good as all-seasons can ever get. And quite honestly the ratings seem to reflect that.
The biggest highlight to me is that the DWS handles wet weather exceptionally well. It seriously feels like I'm driving on dry roads ALL THE TIME. I can't comment on winter performance too much since it hasn't snowed a ton here in PA for a while. But overall I have to say these are the grippiest all-seasons I've ever had the pleasure of using all year round.
The worst set of tires I've ever had easily goes to Cooper with their awful Grand Touring CS4's. It felt like this thing wasn't built with any sidewall reinforcement whatsoever (I later found out some Cooper tires don't even include a nylon cap!). Hard cornering felt extremely mushy with boatloads of understeer, and wet grip was absolutely horrendous. The only thing it had going for it is ride comfort/noise... but I guess that's why it's classified as a grand touring tire.
Bottom line, avoid grand touring tires whenever you can. Their higher price might lead you to believe that they perform better, but truthfully they don't. Stick with regular or "performance" all-seasons instead if you're looking for exceptional handling characteristics. You're going to sacrifice some ride comfort and increase road noise, but in the end it's going to be worth it in terms of both safety and handling. Or better yet, get dedicated summer and winter tires (if you can afford it).
As stock tires go, these are decent. Reasonably quiet; dry and wet traction are both pretty good.
Can't speak about snow traction from experience but I can tell you that most people who complain about snow traction on just about any brand new tread are lousy drivers to start with, and most likely you need to slow the F down. Some people think you should be able to pop a set of $600 tires on and the car should drive like a tank, but it just doesn't work that way.
The only drastic downside is they will wear fairly quickly (I expect belts to start popping out of them by 60K).
If you truly hate them you can always get new and sell these.
I have driven OEM tires (honda, mazda) that were criminally called all-seasons. They had snow capabilities that were laughable and dangerous.
If I still lived in a place where I had to drive in the snow, I'd invest in snow tires. There doesn't exist an all-season tire that holds up to the cheapest shittiest snow tire.
My stock ContiProContacts have about 18,000 miles on them and have been decent tires for me up until yesterday. I drove home from out of state in some fairly rainy weather ... but not super rainy. I have never had more trouble and sketchy moments hydroplaning. I am very concerned about this, do NOT want my wife to have to face the same challenge and will be having new tires installed soon. My next set will be General G-Max AS-03.
I can confirm this. I had/have these same tires on both my prior Mercedes, and now this car came with them. I haven't driven the Focus in the rain with them yet, but expect similar results.
Outright scary to drive in any inclimate weather. Pretty crappy on dry pavement too. A set of cheap, Chinese, no-name tires was by far an upgrade on the Mercedes.
Based on many comments I have read about the OE ContiProContact tires (and based on my own 2,000 miles of experience with them), I believe they work much better with lower sidewall profiles - i.e. with 17" wheels I believe they get better comments than with 16" which have a taller sidewall (for the same overall tire height).
My car came with the 16" wheels, and I am changing to winter tires next week (Nokian Hakkapeliitta R), and then upsizing to 17" wheels in the spring with 'real' tires on new alloys ; )
Since some people like them and others hate them, does anyone else think the 16" vs 17" makes a big difference in how the OE Conti tires perform? ...
I was wondering why people are so polarized on their opinions of these tires. Perhaps you're correct and the sidewall height is a factor. I have 10,000 miles on my 17"s and still like them as stock tires. I've had no hydroplaning or noise issues.
On bumpy surfaces, I find the (16") ContiProContact to be very rough - while on smooth surfaces they feel soft and a bit squishy. It's as if the extra sidewall and greater air volume in the tire (215-55-16 size) make it super bouncy (i.e. a perfect storm of sorts combined with the steel-wheel weight), so that that the suspension damping cannot absorb the kinetic energy that the bumps impart into the tire, because the tires pass it all to the vehicle (instead of the tire rubber absorbing much of it).
The most likely answer is that our cars have progressive springs, therefore they are soft at low compression (smooth highways) and firm at greater compression (bumps). Pretty typical in European sedans.
I can't say I've noticed the tires being horrible, personally. That said, my previous car wasn't much of a handler, so it's a bit hard to judge that side. However, there's not been a moment where I noticed something blatantly wrong with the tires. Now, I don't doubt that a run with better tires would convince me to get different tires!
You are correct, there is nothing wrong with the OEM supplied 16" Continentals that came on these cars. Ford could have put the best tires on the planet on these cars and there would be a host of complaints on this forum about those too.
It's the same thing over on the F-150 forum
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