continental premium contact 5

[tom1]

Would anyone who has done around 12,000 miles be able to tell me how much thread they have left on their front tyres?

My car has the Continental Premium Contact 5 tyres and I only have 1.8mm of depth left on them.... I'm not the most economical driver and do use moderate acceleration when joining faster roads but surely 12,000 miles is a very poor life span? On my Polo GTI I also have Continental tyres and they are still going strong at 20,000 miles.

 

[stevep1041]

Hi Tom,
I have a 1.6tdi se with Contis fitted. It's a driving school car so does a lot of manoeuvres, lots of turns and junctions and some motorway work. Mileage is 20600 in 1 year and the fronts are on 3mm and the rears on 5.5mm in my opinion these are comfortable, quiet tyres that can take a bit of kerb ing punishment. I will be buying 2 more soon!

 

[DW58]

12k and only 1.8mm - that's worrying. I have the same tyres on mine, or rather I will have when the winter wheels come off in a few weeks.

I'd be speaking to Continental if I were you.

 

[Gerry]

Enjoy your performance Tom ....it comes at a cost though.

 

[tom1]

I have the 1.6L so its far from a performance car, I have just checked the wheels again and I can confirm 1.8MM is correct. The back wheels are at 4.5MM roughly so even those are a bit on the lower end to what I would expect.

I can only think that the cause is either:

A) Poor weather recently?

B) The type of road surface? The council use that stone chip method here which leaves a rough surface on the road

C) Bad batch of tyres?

Even with very harsh acceleration (read first post) I don't think I could get them down to this level of wear.

 

[PeteAntrim]

I have Dunlops SportMaxx and really need to change the full set, all around they are sitting at ave 1.8mm, ive done 23,000 in 6mnths dif think i need a harder tyre for the sake of economics over performance, im averaging 50.9mpg

 

[hotdog62]

Continental tyres have good grip in the wet and dry this is due to the soft compound and will wear quicker than most other tyres, you must also remember that not checking tyre pressures can increase wear by up to 50%

 

[tom1]

I purchased 2 new Continental tyres today after a rather long chat with a guy at the tyre garage.

It turns out that 3 things were the likely cause of my excessive tyre wear....

The tracking on my car was "way out" and has caused uneven wear across the tyres, which I failed to notice being a novice at car maintenance. Secondly (I might not be the only one here to do this) the tyres should be inflated to the recommended level in the handbook NOT the value printed on the car tyre. This will cause the tyres to again wear out very fast. The final reason as to why they are wearing out so fast is to do with the road surface type in the area, as suspected.

Hopefully this new pair will last me a good 20k miles, I have been told that the continentals are a very good choice and they do get very good wear use.

 

[DW58]

Fingers crossed - you've made some very valid points Tom of which we should all take note.

 

[VW Golf 132]

i have 18" continental sport contact 5 great tyre, good grip in wet and dry
i do a sporty driving and done over 10,000km on them
and front tyres are not even half worn, still didnt reach the rotation mark on the tyre
and about the back ones, there is no wear at all nearly.

 

[SKT441]

Having now covered 350'000 golf miles I have found the continetals do not last long. I suggest the Perilis (P600 are the best) also make sure your pressures are correct

 

[Frosty1]

Hi Tom,
My Golf Comfortline is only 3 months old and is currently running on 3 Continental Premium Contact 5s after getting a puncture 4 days after purchase which couldn't be repaired. I am still waiting to find out when Continental 5s will be arriving in Oz. I find it extraordinary that Mk7 Golfs are selling like hotcakes in Australia at the rate of 3000 per month, but replacement Continental tyres are not yet available.
It takes the edge off owning a new car when its had a temporary steel wheel fitted for 3 months , on loan from the dealer. Just wondering if I should replace both rear tyres with another brand if Continental don't bring the 5s into Australia some time soon?