Continental CrossContact UHP - your experience? (Grippy? Quiet?)

[Sequentialist]

Hi guys,

Following up from a previous post, I’m updating the wheels on my 2021 Tiguan Life from the standard 18s to 19s.

The tyre shop selling the 19s has a particularly good price on a set of Continental CrossContact UHPs.

These seem like a good tyre from what I can read online. They are designed for “high performance SUVs” (probably stretching it to call my Tiguan one of those!!), and they focus on highway grip. It’s hard to find reviews of these, but a few German reviews indicate that dry and wet stopping is close to class-leading. They also suggest handling grip is good, but aquaplaning performance was more middle of the road.
It’s not easy to find any comments on how quiet these tyres are.

Keen to hear from anyone who has used these on their Tiguan (or other SUV, for that matter). In particular, how did you find the ride, and were they quiet or noisy? And did your experience of braking support what I’ve read in the reviews I was able to find?

I do know that the PremiumContact 6 is a very, very well regarded tyre, and seems to edge out tyres like the standard Pirelli Scorpion Verdes that come on the Tiguan, and other competitors like Michelin and Bridgestone, in the tests I’ve read.
I am wondering if the CrossContact UHP might perform similarly to the PremiumContact 6.

The other option I have, cost-wise, is to go with the Hankook Ventus S1 e2s that come standard on Tiguans supplied with 19” wheels. These tyres seem to get average reviews, not great one, so I’m assuming that’s not a course of action I should pursue.

Thanks again guys, grateful for any feedback you can offer on the CrossContacts.

Cheers!
Mike


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[mr gee]

Continental ContiCrossContact(R) UHP Reviews | Tyre Review Australia

[Lucas_R]

Pretty much anything Continental make will be good. As for your other option, the Hankook S1 Evo 2 is old and has been replaced with the Evo 3 a few years ago. The Evo 3 is a much better tyre and gets pretty good ratings.

The Evo 3 comes in both normal car form and also a specific SUV form (with SUV written on the sidewall and in SUV sizes).

Another very good tyre is the Falken Azenzis FK510 SUV.

Another thing to keep i mind, if the tyre shop is offering you a too good to be true deal on tyres - make sure they are not old stock. Ask for details on the manufacture date (which is on the sidewall of the tyres on WWYY format, eg 1021 for 10th week of 2021). Ideally you dont want anything that is more than 12-18 months old.

[Sequentialist]

Pretty much anything Continental make will be good. As for your other option, the Hankook S1 Evo 2 is old and has been replaced with the Evo 3 a few years ago. The Evo 3 is a much better tyre and gets pretty good ratings.

The Evo 3 comes in both normal car form and also a specific SUV form (with SUV written on the sidewall and in SUV sizes).

Another very good tyre is the Falken Azenzis FK510 SUV.

Another thing to keep i mind, if the tyre shop is offering you a too good to be true deal on tyres - make sure they are not old stock. Ask for details on the manufacture date (which is on the sidewall of the tyres on WWYY format, eg 1021 for 10th week of 2021). Ideally you dont want anything that is more than 12-18 months old.

Hey Lucas

Great advice - and really timely too.

The wheels looked good, but the tyres were manufactured in week 10 of 2016. So over 5 years ago. I suspect too that they had come in with the wheels as a trade in - they looked good, but they had some grime in the tread that didn’t look like it had come from the tyre shop floor.

They offered me some Goodyears instead - Efficientgrips, but they were made mid-2018, so three years ago.
Do you reckon that’s too old, too?

Cheers
Mike

[Lucas_R]

Both offerings are too old for my liking, but im very fussy. Personally I would much rather pay a few hundred $ more and get new tyres.

If money is tight, then the Goodyear would be my pick simply because they are 2.5 years newer. But bear in mind that the Efficient grip range is an eco tyre - so low noise and low rolling resistance but sacrifices overall handling and grip.

If you want a tyre thats going to make your car feel more positive and engaging on the road, the Goodyear's are not the right tyre.

Jax Tyres have a deal on until the end of November where you can buy 4x tyres but only pay the price of 3. The Hankook S1 Evo 3's are part of this deal.

[Sequentialist]

Both offerings are too old for my liking, but im very fussy. Personally I would much rather pay a few hundred $ more and get new tyres.

If money is tight, then the Goodyear would be my pick simply because they are 2.5 years newer. But bear in mind that the Efficient grip range is an eco tyre - so low noise and low rolling resistance but sacrifices overall handling and grip.

If you want a tyre thats going to make your car feel more positive and engaging on the road, the Goodyear's are not the right tyre.

Thanks Lucas.
It all feels a bit fishy here at the tyre centre. The guy is cagey about tyre age - when I asked how old the Continentals were, he said “oh, not too old, a couple of years”.
I think he knew very well they were actually over five years old.
I am tempted to leave the Pirelli Scorpion Verdes on and stick with my 18” wheels. I think they are a good tyre (from what I’ve read) and they seem to have Airstop run-flat tech which allows them to drive at 80km/h for about 50kms if they get a puncture, according to the Tiguan brochure specs.
Reviews on the Scorpion Verde seem pretty solid.

[Lucas_R]

Is this place trying to sell these tyres as brand new, or are they selling them openly as 2nd hand/old stock tyres? If second hand, then fair enough, but if they are trying to sell 3-5 year old tyres as brand new tyres then it sounds like a typical dodgy Sydney tyre shop.

There is a reason why their tyres are cheap, and its because they are either generally old stock or superseded tyres - or both if you are lucky.

Stick with a well known tyre retailer (Jax Tyres, Bob Jane, Beaurepairs etc) to ensure you are getting genuine tyres and current stock.

Here is the buy 4 and and only pay for 3 deal I mentioned earlier for Hankook. Its valid until the end of November: Hankook 4th tyre FREE on selected sets

[Sequentialist]

Hey Lucas

Basically, they were advertising the 19” Tiguan wheels as “used”, but this place gets a lot of guys coming in with brand new cars and putting bigger wheels on them… so when I asked, they said the wheels themselves had come off a new car.

They were then being offered with new tyres - the Continental CrossContact UHPs as I mentioned… so I was under the impression, having been told as much, that the tyres themselves were fresh off the shelf.

The fact that they were manufactured in early 2016 either means they came with the wheels as part of the same trade-in (could be possible - they still had the coloured lines on the tread, but they didn’t look super pristine and new), or that they are indeed brand new tyres but have just been in the shop storeroom for… years!!!

Anyway - I ended up telling the guy that I wasn’t happy with them tyres because of the year of manufacture.

He’s now offered to charge me $200 more, and order in - brand new from the supplier - either a set of Goodyear F1s, or Continental UltraContact 6s.

Both seem like excellent tyres. I get the feeling the F1s’ amazing grip comes at the expense of long life… reviews seem to say they wear quickly. The UC6s seem like very solid all-rounders.
I’m not sure how either of them compares with the Pirelli Scorpion Verdes currently on the car (in 18” form).

So I now have a day or two to decide whether I press ahead with the project… and if so, which tyres do I opt for, or do I leave the car as is, with the (very nice looking) standard black and silver 18” wheels and tyres, and save my money for other projects (I’m not in my 20s or 30s anymore, so can’t keep upping the budget for this sort of thing!).

The Goodyears do seem to get rave reviews, and could potentially mean better wet grip and handling safety, which would be nice when the kids are in the car. They do review a little better than my Pirellis.

However… the experience with this tyre shop did leave a bad taste in my mouth… and perhaps the 19” wheels themselves are not off a new car at all, but are old and have just been cleaned up.

If I pass, I might be missing out on a crazy bargain for an upsize and superb tyres (F1s or UC6s), or perhaps this morning’s experience at the tyre shop was a sign to just leave well alone.

If you have time, keen for your thoughts - you seem to have well thought out views and knowledge on tyres.

Cheers mate!
Mike


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[Lucas_R]

If the price difference between old tyres and brand new ones is $200 then its a no brainer in my opinion.

The Continental is designed to be a bit quieter and smoother ride, whereas the Goodyear F1 Asymmetric 5 is a performance tyre, so will sacrifice some comfort and noise for better grip and response.

Both good tyres in their own rights, but meant for slightly different purposes.

Surely the shop you are dealing with with have some reviews somewhere (Google reviews or Facebook etc). See what other people are saying about them. But if you dont feel right about them, then trust your gut and walk away.