Continental Sport Contact or Dunlop Sport Maxx

[Kell]

Both front tyres are nearing the legal limit and need replacing.

Currently, I have three continental Sport Contacts and one Dunlop Sport Maxx

The car came with all Contis but a puncture and an emergency replacement (at 5 to 4 on a sunday afternoon) means the only decent tyre I could replace with was a Dunlop Sport Maxx at £325.

I know I was shafted on the price, but I had no option as someone in the car's past replaced the spare with a wheel that look like the Le Mans alloys, but is an 18 inch wheel and doesn't fit.

As I seem to be making a short story long, do I replace the two fronts with Dunlops as that's the newest tyre on the back? Or do I stick with Contis and replace the Dunlop with another Conti when the time comes?

For reference, both tyres are currently £183 on Black circles (fitted), but the Dunlop is that price with £60 off - does that mean it's a better tyre?

Edited by Kell on Tuesday 7th October 17:26

[The Stiglet]

Usually, best practice is to have tyres matched on the same axle. As to what you do now, that's up to you

[Gio G]

I have found that conti's do create more road noise than most tyres. I suspect the Dunlop is a good tyre for the price.

G

[Cockernee]

I tried the Sport maxx and then went back to Michelin as Dunlops lasted approximately half the mileage. Grip is excellent, but the wear rate is massive in comparison to others I have tried. I have conti's now and they last well and the grip is predictable.

[va1o]

I'd say go with the Contis. I've had a poor experience with the Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres wearing quickly and making excessive road noise.

[Adrian E]

Depends on the car, but our C5 A6 went through Conti SC5s very quickly - especially wearing the shoulders heavily. They struggled to last 10k whereas previous Michelins lasted 16k.

[anonymous-user]

Neither. Goodyear Eagle F1 Asym 2s. And then two more on the rear axles when needed.

[Kell]

va1o said:

I'd say go with the Contis. I've had a poor experience with the Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres wearing quickly and making excessive road noise.

I actually got it the wrong way around. There are 3 Dunlops and 1 Conti.

The front two Dunlops have been on since I bought the car two years and 35,000 miles ago. They weren't new then, and I do run winter tyres for 4 months, but I don't think 20,000+ miles is excessively low for a heavy car like an A6.

Road noise, I can't comment on as I have nothing to compare with.

I know the Eagles do get good reviews, but I can see the most recent Dunlop lasting another couple of years and I want to try and get a matched set on the car. I think three different types of tyres on one car is a bit much.

That said, the F1s are now currently less in the size I need (255/35/19).

[liner33]

I have found Dunlops consistently awful. Contis are decents but the F1 is the best all round tyre there is imo , it excels in the wet

[LocoBlade]

The Eagle F1 Assymetric 2 is good in the wet when new, but I found them awful for aquaplaning when more than half worn as all the lateral tread cuts in the centre segments of the tyre are only about half the depth of the main tread so once they're gone the tyre struggles to dissipate water. They became dangerous on the front of my 130i, aquaplaning at relatively slow speeds in conditions where other cars were driving much faster without issue. The Conti SC5's they've been replaced with feel as good in the dry and much more confidence inspiring when its very wet.

[Slagathore]

Just put some Pirelli P Zeros on mine, they could be worth a look. Seem to be manufacture spec on plenty of new cars.

Had a couple sets and always been impressed with them, and only £145 each even in a silly 19" size.

Get around 15k miles a set, albeit in a lighter car, but sure a different driving style might get some more miles out of a set.

[Kell]

I think my mind's made up.

I'm going to go with with the Dunlops.

The only decision now is Sport Maxx GT or RT? Leaning towards RT at the moment.

I've found them at £141 on mytyres (albeit, that's not a fitted price) and a few places near me have refused to fit tyres that I've not bought from them. So as soon as I can get a price for fitting, I'll decide whether or not to go fitted or tyres only.

I'm going to measure them all this weekend as I might replace all three if the Conti is badly worn too.

Thanks for the pointers.

Now I just need to check all my winter tyres.

[Adrian E]

If your tyres are legal and you intend to swap to winters, I'd wait and buy new summer tyres in March.

Would recommend buying a set of 4 - keep the 'good' one as an emergency full size spare, or sell as a part worn on the bay of fleas. You really want your tread depths to be reasonably even and if you fit 3 swanky new tyres, having 1 that's a different make is going to feel odd

[Kell]

Adrian E said:

If your tyres are legal and you intend to swap to winters, I'd wait and buy new summer tyres in March.

I'd definitely thought of that. The MOT said they were near the legal limit. I'm not sure that's true as I was under the car the other day and they looked pretty good to me. That's why I want to measure them this weekend and get a feel for how near they are. I don't tend to leave them that long, so I'd be surprised if they were near the legal limit and maybe nearer the recommended limit.

Adrian E said:

Would recommend buying a set of 4 - keep the 'good' one as an emergency full size spare, or sell as a part worn on the bay of fleas. You really want your tread depths to be reasonably even and if you fit 3 swanky new tyres, having 1 that's a different make is going to feel odd

The problem with keeping one as a spare is space. As mentioned above, some scrote swapped out the supplied 19" spare wheel and tyre in the boot with an 18" replica. So I'd need to buy a new alloy to make that plan work.

[Adrian E]

I end up with a spare tyre or 2 in the roof of the garage - they're not worth that much used, relatively speaking, but with one of ours having a space saver and the other a full size alloy I like to keep options open if we get a puncture to re-use an older tyre, even if only on a temporary basis. Luckily I have storage above the garage so it doesn't cause me any issues.

One of these works well for accurate tread measurement:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/electronic-digital-calli...

The depth gauge end will tell you how even the wear is across the tyre. Also look for the moulded in tread wear indicators which are set at 2mm so if they're not down to that level you're unlikely to reach the 1.6mm legal limit before winters will be suitable for the weather. Obviously the risk is that below 3mm tread stopping distance and resistance to aquaplaning are much reduced.....

[Hayek]

Kell said:

I think my mind's made up.

I'm going to go with with the Dunlops.

The only decision now is Sport Maxx GT or RT? Leaning towards RT at the moment.

I've found them at £141 on mytyres (albeit, that's not a fitted price) and a few places near me have refused to fit tyres that I've not bought from them. So as soon as I can get a price for fitting, I'll decide whether or not to go fitted or tyres only.

I'm going to measure them all this weekend as I might replace all three if the Conti is badly worn too.

Thanks for the pointers.

Now I just need to check all my winter tyres.

Old thread I know, but what's the difference between a Sport Maxx GT and a Sport Maxx RT 2?

[Pistom]

Hayek said:

Old thread I know, but what's the difference between a Sport Maxx GT and a Sport Maxx RT 2?

Looking at the specs, both seem good for road noise.