[saltsman]

With a little over 80K on the odometer and less then 3/32's of tread depth left, it was time for a third set of tires for our 2014 Gen 1. The first change I went with the Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus and liked them a lot (previous review). I've read a lot of good comments here about the Continental True Contact w/Eco Plus. The Labor Day sales on the Continentals at Discount Tire were good, so I thought I'd give them a try for the second swap. This also gave me the ability to directly compare these two highly ranked tires. Here's what I've learned.

Noise: Both the Pirelli and Continental are light years quieter than the OEM Goodyears. To my wife and I, the new Continentals sound slightly louder than the old Pirellis on worn surfaces and our infamous Texas chipseal highways. Let's hope the Continentals don't get too much louder as the wear down. On smooth pavement they are both as silent as can be. There appears to be a slight whooshing sound from the Continentals when at high speeds (75 to 80 MPH) on smooth asphalt. Booming from expansion joints and road imperfections are muted with both tires. Advantage Pirelli, but not by much.

Tracking. The Pirellis tracked like a champ. Brand new, the Continentals tend to wander a bit on the highway. This might be due to tread squirm, so it may settle down a bit as they age. For now, clear advantage to the Pirellis.

Handling: The Pirellis did very well on dry surfaces, but I felt some slight slip from time-to-time on smooth wet surfaces. Wet handling was the one areas where the Pirelli's needed some improvement IMO. After 48+ inches of rain from Harvey in South East Texas earlier this month, I've thankfully not yet had a chance to take them out in the rain. Advantage: unknown for now.

Construction: The Pirellis served us well. No blowouts, flats, or sidewall issues. Continental is a great manufacture, so I don't expect any issues. I can say that the right, front, Continental took 18 weights to balance it... so that's not good. The Continental's are rated at 800 A B where the Pirellis are 700 A A, so take that for what it's worth. Advantage: unknown for now.

Range: I ran the Pirellis at 42 to 44 PSI and once broken in, my range was almost identical to the OEM Goodyears. We're too early to tell where the Continentals will go, but others have reported good range. I've settled in to about 40 PSI for now. The Continentals max at 44 PSI, so there's not a lot of headroom to go higher (Pirellis maxed at 51 PSI, if I remember). Advantage: unknown for now.

Price: The Continentals were $19 less per tire and came with a $70 rebate. That made them $146 less than the Pirellis on the day I purchased. An extra $200 off from Discount Tire made the overall deal even better. Advantage Continental.

Overall: We're still too early to say. Right now, I'd give the overall advantage to the Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus. Are they worth the extra $146 (which was ironically the cost on one Pirelli Cinturato P7 tire), I'm not sure yet. Both are very good and the Continentals are 25% less. If the range comes comes back and the tracking gets better, then I'll be very happy.

Hope this helps.

 

[wizard_of-ahs]

Thanks for the info. Keep us updated

 

[Loboc]

Thanks loads!

I need some new shoes for the ELR. Thinking Michelins at this point with Continental second. I'm going for least noise not performance. The Potenzas are seriously getting more noisy.

 

[llninja]

It's a shame that we have to wait 20-50k miles between tire changes to test out new tires, and after you've bought them, you're kind of stuck until the next tire change. Too bad there isn't a place with a test track and lots of tires already mounted on wheels where you could try before you buy. I'd pay extra for that. Just need to spend a day there, try multiple sets, then when you've selected the tire you want, they put new ones on your car. Add a dry track, wet track with big sprinklers, and an ice rink and snow machines to test out all season performance.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Hummm.... I've got the Pure Contacts for a week now. I bought them from TireRack and had them mounted and balanced at Costco. Total paid was $624. I'm waiting for the $70 discount from Continental. When I get that, my cost will have dropped to $554.

I agree with you about the "booming". I have my tires inflated to 45 psi cold which might be contributing to the booming. BTW, the psi max embossed on my tires say 51 psi, not 44 max.

I hope that the people who commented on the TireRack site that after ten thousand miles the tires were very noisy are wrong. Also there is also talk of the tires continually needing re-balancing. I hope that we haven't made a bad choice with these tires.

 

[llninja]

I'm a huge fan of Yokohama Avid Ascends as I had them on my Deville, have them on my CTS and on my Volt. My volt has oddball sized tires because I went with 18 inch custom rims. They easily last 60-80K miles, have really deep grooves for great traction and longevity. Sadly they don't sell a tire size for the gen1 volt with OEM rim, not sure about gen 2. But iyou are ithe market for new rims, I highly recommend this tire. Interestingly enough my CTS and Volt wheels are interchangeable.

 

[saltsman]

Hummm.... I've got the Pure Contacts for a week now. I bought them from TireRack and had them mounted and balanced at Costco. Total paid was $624. I'm waiting for the $70 discount from Continental. When I get that, my cost will have dropped to $554.

I agree with you about the "booming". I have my tires inflated to 45 psi cold which might be contributing to the booming. BTW, the psi max embossed on my tires say 51 psi, not 44 max.

I hope that the people who commented on the TireRack site that after ten thousand miles the tires were very noisy are wrong. Also there is also talk of the tires continually needing re-balancing. I hope that we haven't made a bad choice with these tires.

Pure Contacts and True Contacts are different tires (bad naming, I know). As marketed, the Pure Contacts are supposed to be better than the True Contacts, are priced higher, and have a higher speed rating. In reviews, the True Contacts are rated as quieter, for whatever that is worth. I have no real idea what the difference is, beyond the country of manufacture.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Pure Contacts and True Contacts are different tires (bad naming, I know). As marketed, the Pure Contacts are supposed to be better than the True Contacts, are priced higher, and have a higher speed rating. In reviews, the True Contacts are rated as quieter, for whatever that is worth. I have no real idea what the difference is, beyond the country of manufacture.

Doh! I sure missed that!

 

[Barry]

Saltsman, how many miles did the Pirelli's last?

 

[saltsman]

Saltsman, how many miles did the Pirelli's last?

They went 58K miles and were in the 3/32 of tread depth range. I kept them inflated at 42 PSI and rotated regularly.

The Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus are rated at 70K. They might have made it to the full 70K if I took them all the way down to 2/32, but I doubt it. Given how abusive chipseal pavement is to tires, I feel pretty good with the 58K.