Continental True Contact Review
- Thread starter Seminole
- Start date
A decision to mount Z-rated tires on a car that doesn't need them won't limit all future tire purchase to Z-rated tires. Why would mounting V-rated tires require you to replace them with like? Any tire dealer who tells you otherwise should not get your business. H-rated is find for a Mazda CX-5 . . . that is, until the "CX-5 Speed" version comes out. ;-)
Thanks Rarebit. Yeah, I guess the difference between 130 and 149 mph on my CX-5 is immaterial at my high speed of 75. 
Love your list of cars - recently made one for myself - interestingly had 8 Jaguars of various models and vintages over the years. Now at age 76, wish I kept them all.
Love your list of cars - recently made one for myself - interestingly had 8 Jaguars of various models and vintages over the years. Now at age 76, wish I kept them all.
I just bought the Cont True Contacts and am happy so far. I HATED the Toyos. Thought they rode WAY too hard, and they absolutely sucked in the snow, especially when turning. I narrowed my choice down to the Cont True Contacts and Pirelli P7s, because they were the highest rated on Tirerack. The reviews seemed to give the edge in snow to the Conts, as well as they're warranty being a bit longer, so I went with them. I worked with a local dealer here outside of Philly, and got the out the door price at $889- for everything (4 tires, mounting, balancing, recycle fees,road hazard and tax). Dealer advised me that they were only H rated, but had no problem installing them on the car.
Seminole, those tires are #1 rated by CR in the V speed rating. I put these on my 2012 Mazda 5 and I agree with your review. They do ride a little softer. The one thing CR said negative about them is they didn't fare well in their tread life test suggesting these tires could wear out in as little as 35,000 miles. Of course the Michelin tires did the best in wear testing.
I was just looking at Conti's website and they state these don't fit CX-5 19". I'm sure it's just they don't recommend them for the car. I sure hope they come out with the pure contacts by the time I need tires. I love Conti's. Have them on my 545i and my old Scion Tc and love the wear and quiet ride they give. I think most Conti's you give up a small bit of handling, but well worth it for traction and wear.
Please report back as time goes on how they are holding up.
Please report back as time goes on how they are holding up.
i would think Conti's website would know more then Tirerack. It is there tire. Just because a tire fits doesn't mean it's correct. You have to take into load weight, etc... They probably just don't recommend it. If you punch in 2016 cx-5 GT they don't have any tires that fit.
Last edited:
This is correct
I see one reason why Conti's website may not list the TrueContact as an appropriate tire for the CX-5. The OE Toyos are V-rated tires, while the 225-55H-19s are H rated. This despite the maximum load rating being the same for both tires, and the top speed of the CX-5 being less than 130 mph, the highest allowed for an H-rated tire. There are a couple of other minor differences. The TrueContact weighs 3 lb less per tire, and has a slightly wider section (9.2" vs 9.0") and a slightly narrower tread width (7.1" vs. 8"). None of that should disqualify it for the CX-5. And I see that Tire Rack now lists it as acceptable for the CX-5, whereas I don't recall it listing it as acceptable as recently as May 2015.
Tire ratings by owners are based on both their experience and their expectations, as well as being strongly influenced by unconscious biases. Nevertheless, the very high scores given to the TrueContact by Tire Rack customers is a good sign since averages drawn from large enough samples of non-experts tend to be a lot more true to reality than individual owners' ratings. And I doubt that TrueContact buyers have been unconsciously biased in favour of Continental - I've certainly never considered it the equal of Pirelli or Michelin, or for that matter, Goodyear or Dunlop. It just doesn't figure for me as a top-of-category tire brand.
The lack of ratings and tests for the Toyo A23 is a little strange. Its ridiculously high price almost makes me think Toyo produced it only as an OE tire, meaning it may be tweaked for the CX-5. I've never seen it associated with another vehicle. Did Toyo produce it only for Mazda, and is it tweaked for our vehicle? One wonders . . .
Last edited:
A23 seems really well suited to the cx5 as if it was developed with it in mind as mentioned above.. Tried 2 different sets Pirellis now- first the Scorpion as plus in 235/55 and they were a horrible choice just beat the hell out the vehicle while slowing it down and killing mileage with no tangible gain in handling...total disaster. Next was the P7 in stock size thanks to the 30 day trial and while a better fit for the car it rides AND handles inferior to the Toyo, mileage slightly worse too which all together just made me sad.... Until a spanking new gorgeous soul red gt appeared at the office and it was wearing 245/50 dws 06s..I was getting excited. Got some Intel, asked if he still had the oems, that was yesterday, today they're in the trunk. Wife thinks Im a nutjob but the nearly new P7s will go back on when I'm getting ready to trade in- for what?..another one, same exact thing maybe in red, just a great car for dd. Won't even waste my time, forget money elsewhere.
Last edited:
- :
- 2015 Soul Red 6 Sport Auto 2016 Accord EX Auto
As a heads up this month's Consumer Reports just placed the V rated Pure Contact #1 ahead of the Michelin Premier, PirelliP7, and General RT43. When I got tires for the MZ5 a while ago Tire Rack raved about this tire as well. My boss has these on his work beater Infiniti and they seem to ride nice although there are some tire harmonics on concrete (more than his Michelin Pilots on same car).
My guess is the price may be high for two reasons. 1 being the OE tire they can command a higher price and 2 they are playing the supply demand game. No doubt toyo is prioritizing production direct to Mazda than consumers and in order to meet Mazdas demands they need to curb aftermarket demand. Just my thoughts.
I had to look back and see when I put the Contis on, and it looks like around 33k miles. I have 56k on the car now. My original observations still apply. I think the tires are great. Handle really well in the wet, grip well, and if I drive easy I can get 33-34 on the highway at 65.
I think the CX-5 in general is loud as hell on the road, especially compared to my wife's Lincoln MKC, so I can't really give a good indication of tire noise compared to the stock Toyo tires.
I would buy them again. I could check the tread depth later to see how much they've worn over the last 20k miles.
