Stock 16" Continentals

mcbeighcon · Oct 29, 2015

Back on topic, my 17" Contis are okay for an OEM tire but they're very loud and their wet grip is.... squirrelly to say the best. Does anyone have a recommendation for when they're worn out?

aaron.b · Oct 29, 2015

mcbeighcon said:
Back on topic, my 17" Contis are okay for an OEM tire but they're very loud and their wet grip is.... squirrelly to say the best. Does anyone have a recommendation for when they're worn out?

Right now I'm running Bridgestone serenity plus's. Have 60,000 miles, traction has not been an issue though I run dedicated winter tires. And 4/32 tread remains.

a car nut · Oct 30, 2015

The Continental tires, from the past to today as OEM tires haven't been the best. In working with them as OEM tires on European imports over 30+years, I can say that they have gotten better; it used to be that they would go out of round and suffer ply separation and develop a bubble under the tread and rarely, if ever, wore out before that happened. These days the stock "H" rated Contis wear much better and don't suffer from ply separation as they used to, however, they are noisy when having less than 75% tread remaining and aren't so great in the wet.

Based upon my own experience, either the Michelin MXM4 in either H or V ratings are good tires and I personally replaced my ContiPro OEM tires (still had 6-7/32" tread remaining) with the Michelin MXM4 with the V ratings and its like night and day. The grip when wet is amazing and much less road noise. I do notice that the ContiPro has sharper turn in reflex action than the Michelin MXM4, but, given the noise reduction and wet grip, its a small cross to bare. Oh, yeah, I picked up 1 mpg both city and highway.

999cc_Focus · Oct 30, 2015

a car nut said:
The Continental tires, from the past to today as OEM tires haven't been the best. In working with them as OEM tires on European imports over 30+years, I can say that they have gotten better; it used to be that they would go out of round and suffer ply separation and develop a bubble under the tread and rarely, if ever, wore out before that happened. These days the stock "H" rated Contis wear much better and don't suffer from ply separation as they used to, however, they are noisy when having less than 75% tread remaining and aren't so great in the wet.

Based upon my own experience, either the Michelin MXM4 in either H or V ratings are good tires and I personally replaced my ContiPro OEM tires (still had 6-7/32" tread remaining) with the Michelin MXM4 with the V ratings and its like night and day. The grip when wet is amazing and much less road noise. I do notice that the ContiPro has sharper turn in reflex action than the Michelin MXM4, but, given the noise reduction and wet grip, its a small cross to bare. Oh, yeah, I picked up 1 mpg both city and highway.

I've run a variety of Michelin tires over the years, and they've all been stellar tires - every single one of them. Even the Defender is a damn good tire in its own right. When I replace the tires on my Focus (probably next week) it's pretty much "What Michelin tire do I want?" not "What tire do I want?".

PrDawg · Oct 30, 2015

999cc_Focus said:
I've run a variety of Michelin tires over the years, and they've all been stellar tires - every single one of them. Even the Defender is a damn good tire in its own right. When I replace the tires on my Focus (probably next week) it's pretty much "What Michelin tire do I want?" not "What tire do I want?".

Looking at the A/S 3 in 245/40/18.

Juicedz · Oct 30, 2015

I've got 45,000 miles on the 16" conti's. Looks about 50% tread left. Idk how you guys are blasting through them in 30k miles. I do my tire rotations with my oil changes at 6k-7k miles.

999cc_Focus · Oct 30, 2015

PrDawg said:
Looking at the A/S 3 in 245/40/18.

I've never run them but I've heard from a few friends that have that they are excellent. I have a set of Super Sports on my BMW that are pretty sweet, but that's probably overkill.

Juicedz said:
I've got 45,000 miles on the 16" conti's. Looks about 50% tread left. Idk how you guys are blasting through them in 30k miles. I do my tire rotations with my oil changes at 6k-7k miles.

I wonder if there are some inconsistencies in the makeup of the tires. Also, I wish I could get 30k miles out of these things. The fronts are already so ****** that they're going to get replaced well before 10,000 miles. I don't drive like a *****, but I also don't beat on it nearly as hard as I have other cars of mine - whose tires lasted a perfectly acceptable number of miles.

mcbeighcon · Oct 30, 2015

Tire Rack recommends the BFGoodrich g-Force Sport Comp 2.... Anyone have any experience with them?

kickstand · Oct 30, 2015

DougC said:
I got 42,000 miles out of my factory Continentals. They were far and away longest lasting OEM tires I've ever had. I was quite pleased with them.

We got right around 40-45k out of our stock 16" continentals as well.

They weren't the greatest tires in the world, but they did the trick trouble free for 45,000 miles.

morrjr · Oct 30, 2015

mcbeighcon said:
Back on topic, my 17" Contis are okay for an OEM tire but they're very loud and their wet grip is.... squirrelly to say the best. Does anyone have a recommendation for when they're worn out?

I've got the Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval AS tires in the stock size (215/50/17) on my 2013 hatch. They are ultra high performance all season tires (W rated). Wet and dry traction is great, they are quiet, they have a comfortable ride, and they corner beautifully. I have 25,000 miles on mine, and they still look new.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Firestone&tireModel=Firehawk+Wide+Oval+AS+%28W-Speed+Rated%29&partnum=15WR7FHWASXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

mcbeighcon · Oct 30, 2015

morrjr said:
I've got the Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval AS tires in the stock size (215/50/17) on my 2013 hatch. They are ultra high performance all season tires (W rated). Wet and dry traction is great, they are quiet, they have a comfortable ride, and they corner beautifully. I have 25,000 miles on mine, and they still look new.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?AFFCODE=AD5&tireMake=Firestone&tireModel=Firehawk+Wide+Oval+AS+%28W-Speed+Rated%29&partnum=15WR7FHWASXL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

Sweet, thank you. I'll look into it.

mk3WA · Oct 31, 2015

999cc_Focus said:
There must be some variation, because grip in the rain when the tires had 3000 miles on them was garbage, and I find the road noise generated by the tires to be minimal.

I don't necessarily drive sedately, but I've not beaten on this car much (far less than my previous cars), but the tires were worn out faster than any other car I've owned aside from Kuhmo Ecsta MX on a turbo Volvo that I [whip]ed like a stepchild with red hair.

Oh well, it's an excuse to get new tires. I doubt the dealership/Ford/Continental are going to do anything for me other than tell me they don't see a problem.

Funny, for the first time the dealer said the tires just hit the yellow zone, 6/32" I think.

Snow tires will go on in a few weeks, and at the end of that season I'll invest in some new tires.

And I agree on the variation, lots of different opinions and experience. Weird. I likely will get something else next time around though.

Stock 16" Continentals

mcbeighcon

aaron.b

a car nut

999cc_Focus

PrDawg

Juicedz

999cc_Focus

mcbeighcon

kickstand

morrjr

mcbeighcon

mk3WA

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