Given
73%
while driving a
Alfa Romeo 1.9 JTD M
(225/45 R17 W) on
a combination of roads
for 10,000
spirited miles
Generally a great tyre, but I expected more for the price I paid(nearly top price for the size 225/45/17, supassed by a pocket money by Michelin). Got a full fresh set ot Conti Premium 6(XL version, Y rated), with DOT 1 month older than the day of purchase...
Dry grip - amazing. Stunning. It gets further than any tire I have tried. And when you reach the limit of the grip, there is no noise, there is no tickling, it just looses grip at once, violently driving you out of the road. Don`t worry, you can get used to it(after you test it on a track and get out of it a few times). I could take turns at 50km/h where another brand of tyres would screech as hell at 35km/h and start loosing grip afterwards.
Wet grip - more than amazing. It just get you stuck on road as if there is glue. Gets through deep water, making huge bursts on the sides, maintaining grip. This gets you overconfident and that`s bad. Water isn`t the only enemy you have. There is almost always leaves, mud or other garbadge on the road. So while you could pass a 5cm deep water on the road, if it`s full of tree crap - you WILL loose grip without any warning. Tree crap is slippery, don`t get overconfident. Yet, on water you`re the most stable thing there could be around. People driving at 70km/h at heavy rains think they`re the thing? Here, take this 160km/h with stability better than yours. Yet, wipers couln`t do it fast enough at 170km/h+ and you'll be driving nearly not seeing anything half of the time. So there is the "wiper limit" noone thought of...
Wearing - well, this is a problem with my driving style. For around 15 000km they`ve lost nearly 1.5mm tread depth. Quality has faded along with tread depth. I can feel that they`re not performing at their best anymore. When they were new I have tested 100 to 0km/h, which resulted in 36.1 meters. Now the test at 15 000km wear showed 39.5 meters. That shows a lot of fading in quality. Also have in mind that my break pads were not changed in this period, so they`re contributing for the worse results measured(at 90% life remaining when test 1st, at 30% when tested 2nd).
Comfort - medium. I have driven worse. But much cheaper. Feel a lot more stiffer, makes more noise, you could feel all the bumps on the road at 2atm pressure(which is supposed to be 2.2 front, 2.1 rear, but is 2.0 on all - in order to be MORE comfortable). If this is supposed to be a comfortable tyre I don`t want to know about the others.
This basicly means I bought superb tyres for a lot of money, which could be used for no more than 15 000km. After this you feel pretty much disapointed by the fading quality and the high price. For the same amount of money I could buy 3 sets of cheaper tyres and drive 3 years with NEW tyres of lower class, getting nearly the same average performance. I was expecting for this price to get 3 years of good driving expirience. Now I have one year of good driving expirience and ahead of me are two more years of medium to bad driving expirience.
Great tyre, but I will not buy it again. It is too expensive for me to get 4 new Conti each summer, 4 new Conti each winter... and driving an 15 000+ km Conti is just like riding a mid-priced any brand tyre... I suspect that driving a 30 000km Conti will be like driving a low-priced any-brand tyre. So this is not a fair deal, avoid it, unless you have money to throw at tyres each 15 000km. Considering I am already throwing away cash every 30 000km for super expensive break pads and every 10 000km for very expensive oils/filters.