Continental Sport contact 7

x-driver

x-driver

Active member
 Slovenia
Last week I fitted brand new tyres on my '03 Z4, replaced the worn GY asymmetric 6's with Conti SC7 and I'm not pleased at all. The car also has recently installed new KW V1's, already driven on the old GY's. Now it just feels chewy in the corners. The tires have a few 100km already.
Anyone else disappointed with Conti SC7? Any suggestion on tyre pressures? They filled the tyres 2,5 bar all around, later I left out some air just on the front tyres, but still unhappy. I just don't trust the car in the corners.
 
Most people find SC7s on E89s are the current best possible choice….so I suggest something is seriously amiss…start at 32/34 psi (bar equivalent)…move up and down a little from there..

Obviously you’ve modified it..so steering geometry, other gross errors to check
 
The best tyres I've had by a long way. As Peter says, very possibly something else amiss or tyre pressure needs adjusted
 
  • Like
Reactions: B21
I am having trouble finding these tires in the US for my size. Most vendors are pushing me towards the Extreme Contact Sport 2 as the only Continental option.
I've tried a few retailers and the size I need just aren't for sale in the US it seems. I haven't exhausted all vendors, just the larger ones I tend to buy from.

225/35 19 Front
255/30 19 Rear
 
Palmetto Fellow said:
I am having trouble finding these tires in the US for my size. Most vendors are pushing me towards the Extreme Contact Sport 2 as the only Continental option.
I've tried a few retailers and the size I need just aren't for sale in the US it seems. I haven't exhausted all vendors, just the larger ones I tend to buy from.

225/35 19 Front
255/30 19 Rear
Click to expand...
I think SC7 is a European tyre..never quite understood why there are differently branded / marketed tyres for NA..maybe no bends ?
 
It's an e85 👍
The thing is, the car was driving excellent on worn GY tyres.
I had the alignment done 2 days ago, it wasn't too much out, but still no improvement.
After mounting the KWs I tried doing some rapid manouvering while driving. The car felt like being on a railroad.
Tried that again with SC7s, the car feels like it's moving around a little. I can also hear the tyres more when cornering.
 
Might be the new tyres need more time to bed in. Most brand-new tyres feel odd straight out of the box, like the tread blocks are moving around too much. Need a few heat cycles to settle.
 
Tyres ‘should’ be settled by now but some manufacturers say up to 800km-seems crazy but it might still improve. Pressures will generally only make a subtle difference on the road unless they’re way out, worth checking with a decent gauge or two.

Some silly things to check. Are they mounted the right way round? They might be asymmetric but there is an inside and an outside, visible on the sidewall.

Are they ‘XL’ rated? If not and the Goodyears were, that might go some way to explaining the situation.

How worn were your Goodyears? If you got used to a very worn Tyre and you put a new one on with full tread depth, then that could contribute to what you’re feeling.

No leaks or anything disconnected from the suspension or arb/droplinks?

If everything is in order then it might just be the nature of the SC7 and your cars setup. I’d be inclined to give it a bit more time though, as they’re supposed to be the top dog at the moment.
 
I have Continental 7`s on my E86 2008 and they are better than the Goodyears I had on before . I am running 32 psi rear and 30 psi front . They were better from the start so don`t think it is a settling in issue . What size tyres are you running ? Maybe get someone else to drive the car and see what they think ?
 
I've driven the Goodyears for whole 2 years and a bit more, I can say I was very satisfied with their behaviour. I decided to try Conti as it was supposed to be even better.
However now with over a 1000km on the Contis, they are feeling better already, but still less firm than GYs before.

About the Goodyears. For the last couple of months their grip faded a little bit and they started to squeak when slipping. That totally didn't happen before. As I've said already, they were worn past the indicators. However I had a very good feeling with them when pushing the car on the limit, especially with KWs.

I will have the undercarriage checked for any new worn parts anyway. New tyres might have shown some play somewhere that wasn't as exposed before.

But still, the feeling and sound from the Contis just aren't great. You can almost hear the rubber wearing off, much louder than GYs.

@1536Z4
Aren't your pressures a little low? How are you driving the car with these pressures? Any spiritual driving?
 
x-driver said:
I've driven the Goodyears for whole 2 years and a bit more, I can say I was very satisfied with their behaviour. I decided to try Conti as it was supposed to be even better.
However now with over a 1000km on the Contis, they are feeling better already, but still less firm than GYs before.

About the Goodyears. For the last couple of months their grip faded a little bit and they started to squeak when slipping. That totally didn't happen before. As I've said already, they were worn past the indicators. However I had a very good feeling with them when pushing the car on the limit, especially with KWs.

I will have the undercarriage checked for any new worn parts anyway. New tyres might have shown some play somewhere that wasn't as exposed before.

But still, the feeling and sound from the Contis just aren't great. You can almost hear the rubber wearing off, much louder than GYs.

@1536Z4
Aren't your pressures a little low? How are you driving the car with these pressures? Any spiritual driving?
Click to expand...
The relationship between the chassis and the tyres especially if heavily modded is complex…maybe..just maybe it’s just not a good marriage…

Strange given how many positive reports have come in sc7 especially with more powerful , heavy rear wheel drive cars…😳
 
I find this YouTube channel and the associated website very helpful:

youtube.com

Tyre Reviews

Professional Test Driver and Tire Nerd. Leading source of independent tire information in the world, covering North America and the EU. https://www.tyrereviews.com/ Business inquiries: [email protected]
youtube.com youtube.com
 
x-driver said:
Aren't your pressures a little low? How are you driving the car with these pressures? Any spiritual driving?
Click to expand...

They are lower than I would use if I was going on a fast road trip or motorway journey but the roads where I live are full of potholes .
 
Some update.

After some 3000km and setting the tyre pressures to 2,4 bar front and 2,6 rear, the car finally drives fine.
As I've said in the first post, I started with 2,5 bar all around, then left some air out of the fronts without measuring.
When I was setting the pressure again, I discovered the fronts being at 2,2 - 2,3 bar and the rears at 2,4 - 2,5 bar. Converting this to psi shows that for most of you guys it would be a proper pressure to go with, but it just didn't work for me.
It is however surprising what a huge difference 0,1 bar can make.

Now I can finally run the car in the corners and feel good about it 🤘:cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom