In this article we will be looking at independent tyre test data, and real world driver reviews of the Continental SportContact 7 and the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 to find out which tyre is best for your own driving.
The good news is that both the Continental SportContact 7 and Michelin Pilot Sport 5 are Max Performance Summer tyres designed to be fitted to Passenger Cars, which means comparing the two tyres is relatively simple.
Both tyres are hugely popular in the market place with drivers, and both have been featured in independent tyre tests.
Independent comparison tyre tests are the best source of data to get tyre information from, and the good news is there have been two tests which compare both tyres directly!
Out of these two tests:
While it might look like the Continental SportContact 7 is better than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 purely based on the higher number of test wins, tyres are very complicated objects which means where one tyre is better than the other can be more important in real world use.
Let's look at how the two tyres compare across multiple tyre test categories.
Looking at data from two tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during two dry braking tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 stopped the vehicle in 3.42% less distance than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Dry Braking: Continental SportContact 7
See how the Dry Braking winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:33.3M | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 34.7M |
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:31.6M | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 32.5M |
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during one dry handling [s] tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 was 1.6% faster around a lap than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Dry Handling [s]: Continental SportContact 7
See how the Dry Handling winner was calculated >>
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:98.5s | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 100.1s |
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during one dry handling [km/h] tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 was 0.52% faster around a lap than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Dry Handling [Km/H]: Continental SportContact 7
See how the Dry Handling winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:115.2Km/H | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 114.6Km/H |
Looking at data from two tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during two wet braking tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 stopped the vehicle in 2.66% less distance than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Wet Braking: Continental SportContact 7
See how the Wet Braking winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:38.8M | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 39.1M |
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:38.1M | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 39.9M |
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 was better during one wet handling [s] tests. On average the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 was 1.88% faster around a wet lap than the Continental SportContact 7.
Best In Wet Handling [s]: Michelin Pilot Sport 5
See how the Wet Handling winner was calculated >>
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
Continental SportContact 7:69.2s | ✓ Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 67.9s |
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during zero wet handling [km/h] tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 was 0.12% faster around a wet lap than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Wet Handling [Km/H]: Michelin Pilot Sport 5
See how the Wet Handling winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
Continental SportContact 7:84.7Km/H | ✓ Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 84.8Km/H |
Looking at data from two tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during two wet circle tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 was 0.49% faster around a wet circle than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Wet Circle: Continental SportContact 7
See how the Wet Circle winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:11.09s | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 11.13s |
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:13.45s | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 13.52s |
Looking at data from two tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 and Michelin Pilot Sport 5 performed equally well in straight aqua tests.
Best In Straight Aqua: Both tyres performed equally well
See how the Straight Aqua winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
Continental SportContact 7:75.6Km/H | ✓ Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 77.9Km/H |
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:79.4Km/H | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 77.1Km/H |
Looking at data from one tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during zero curved aquaplaning tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 slipped out at a 20.61% higher speed than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Curved Aquaplaning: Michelin Pilot Sport 5
See how the Curved Aquaplaning winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
Continental SportContact 7:2.35m/sec2 | ✓ Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 2.96m/sec2 |
Looking at data from two tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during two noise tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 measured 2.71% quieter than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Noise: Continental SportContact 7
See how the Noise winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:67.5dB | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 68.3dB |
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:69dB | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 72dB |
Looking at data from two tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during two price tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 cost 9.06% less than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Price: Continental SportContact 7
See how the Price winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:455 | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 500 |
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:750 | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 825 |
Looking at data from two tyre tests, the Continental SportContact 7 was better during two rolling resistance tests. On average the Continental SportContact 7 had a 2.12% lower rolling resistance than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
Best In Rolling Resistance: Continental SportContact 7
See how the Rolling Resistance winner was calculated >>
2023 AutoBild Sports Car Summer Tyre Test 225/40 R18 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:8.38kg / t | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 8.62kg / t |
2023 AZ UHP Summer Tyre Test 235/35 R19 |
✓ Continental SportContact 7:8.26kg / t | Michelin Pilot Sport 5: 8.37kg / t |
Tyre Reviews also collects real world driver reviews for the Continental SportContact 7 and Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
In total the Continental SportContact 7 has been reviewed 60 times and drivers have given the tyre 86% overall.
The Michelin Pilot Sport 5 has been reviewed 67 times and drivers have given the tyre 85% overall.
This means in real world driving, people prefer the Michelin Pilot Sport 5.
In conclusion the Continental SportContact 7 performed better in dry braking, dry handling [s], dry handling [km/h], wet braking, wet circle, noise, price and rolling resistance, while the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 performed better in wet handling [s], wet handling [km/h] and curved aquaplaning.
Interestingly, both tyres performed equally well in straight aqua, showing that they are closely matched in these areas.
Which tyre is best for you depends a lot on your driving style and situation, plus what you want from the tyre. Comparing all the data in the tyre reviews database, on balance Continental SportContact 7 seems to be the best tyre overall.
However, it's important to note that both tyres have their strengths.
Remember, the best tyre for you might depend on which of these factors are most important for your specific driving needs and conditions.
Overall Winner: Continental SportContact 7
This page has been developed using tyre industry testing best practices. This means we are only comparing tests which have had both tyres in the same test.
Why is this important? Tyre testing is heavily affected by things like surface grip levels and surface temperature, which means you can only compare values from the same day. During a tyre test external condition changes are calculated into the overall results, but it is not possible to calculate this between tyre tests performed on different days or at different locations.
As a result you will see other tests on Tyre Reviews which feature both the %s and %s, but as they weren't conducted on the same day, the results are not comparable.
Lots of other websites do this sort of tyre comparison, Tyre Reviews doesn't.