Sport Contact 7 experience

Sport Contact 7 experience

Author
Discussion

Chris Hinds

Original Poster:

494 posts

175 months

Monday 29th July 2024
quotequote all
Evening all,

Has anyone got experience with Continental SportContact 7s on their Vantage? Mine is a 4.7 S Roadster. I've recently replaced the (supposedly poor) standard RE050As which were 7 years old and on 18k miles with Sport Contact 7s all round, factory fit dimensions, no changes on the 19" wheels - 285/35R19 rear and 245/40R19 front.

I picked the SC7s on the grounds of them having won all the tyre tests and driven brilliantly by Evo et al. What I'm experiencing is what feels like a comparative lack of grip (like I'm nearer the limits) - I feel like I can't corner as quickly and when accelerating out of bends I'm seeing traction control flickering if I'm not quite careful. I've only done 150-200 miles since I had them... just bedding in or could they be mega sensitive to pressure variation or something?

Chris Hinds

Original Poster:

494 posts

175 months

Monday 29th July 2024
quotequote all
I haven’t actually had a slide, but definitely more “steerable” using the right peddle. I feel like it’s rear more than front in that respect… I feel like it’s less “trustable” as a car, like it could snap if it did break away, whereas it always felt so solid. That kinda makes me think it must be pressures or balance, because everyone else seems to rate them like anything. Thanks for your feedback on them!

Chris Hinds

Original Poster:

494 posts

175 months

Friday 16th August 2024
quotequote all
Long time since I could reply to this, thank you for all the feedback and suggestions. Work and life then conspired to mean I didn’t get to drive the car for a couple of weeks!

I checked the pressures and I am bob on factory (33 front, 36 rear), but having done another hundred miles or so to take to 500, grip does seem to be improving… though not “there” in the same way as before. I still don’t feel confident in the same way. What I’m noticing is that tyre pressures rise very fast vs the old tyres and even a little motorway drive sees me at 38-41psi very quickly. I wonder if I need to drop pressure a couple of PSI and just live with the TPMS being cross at me!