Conti TrueContact on Sale, Canada
- Thread starter Rarebit
- Start date
Got a link?
Please report back on how does the TrueContact compare to the Toyo A23s. I imagine the A23s are far superior in handling however I'll be the TrueContact gets much better MPG. Just trying to figure out the handling difference is small or huge. Thanks.
Yes. I have the TrueContacts on my wife's Acura. They are great on the Acura (RDX). However I want to know how they feel on the CX-5. I love the handling of the CX-5. I just don't know how much of it is due to the tire and how much of it due to suspension tuning.
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I have them on my Volvo S80 and love them. Very impressed. But that does not tell me how they would be on my CX-5. Two very different applications/sizes. But, without anything else to go on, I might buy them for the CX-5 anyway.
Take tire tests with a HUGE grain of salt unless the tested tires are in the same size/load range/etc. as the vehicle you are tire shopping for. Ideally, tested on the same vehicle because different vehicles have different driving dynamics and benefit from tires with different characteristics. The differences are often large.
I know this doesn't help you much - tire buying is often a crapshoot.
I will post my impressions after I've used them for a month or so.
I'm sure the tires will make some difference, but the basic suspension tuning of the CX5 is probably more responsible for the its handling than any other factor. Characteristics like body roll, damping, etc. are less dependent of tires, while rolling noise, transmission of surface harshness, tracking stability, wet/dry traction and cold/snow traction are more tire dependent.
I've run a lot of tires on a lot of cars, and have never found changing tires summer/winter or replacing tires completely has changed the handling characteristics of the cars all that much.
The one exception was the Michelin pilot tires I had on my Volvo 850 turbo. It's a car with somewhat numb feeling steering, but with the Michelins I noticed that they tracked very accurately, with small steering changes reflected accurately as small changes in the car's direction. But most of the time, putting snow tires on each winter made my cars feel like the same car, only with snow tires.
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True, and the difference in suspension tuning between vehicles is why some vehicles may prefer one tire while other vehicles may get along with another tire better.
A different tire is not going to turn a CR-V into a CX-5 but their different suspension geometries can benefit from tires with different sidewall constructions. Of course a driver who stays under the speed limit and turns the steering left to go left, right to go right and steps on the slow pedal to stop is probably not going to appreciate the difference much if at all. But most winter tires I've used drastically altered the feel of the driving for the worse vs. summer tires (Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice being a notable exception).
I agree completely. It feels like "driving with snow tires" - squirmy, imprecise steering, and reduced wet and dry traction for acceleration, braking and cornering when compared to a good summer tire or even a high performance all-season - until the temperature drops . . .
MavericksQC
Member
- :
- 2016 Mazda CX-5 GT
The guy at my local Canadian Tire just called me back saying the Continental guy said it's unavailable in Canada...
Is it true?
Does anyone here got the Continental TrueContact 225/55R19 in Canada for the CX-5 GT?
Mounted today. I ordered them 13 days ago.
First impressions: After 11 whole km of driving, the steering feels slightly more precise and responsive, and the car feels a little more nimble. I detect no more road noise than the Toyos, but the tire sound is different. They seem to transmit a little more of the irregularities in the road surface.
If I hadn't checked the tire pressure, I'd have thought the A23s were underinflated. But not so.
Overall, the Contis feel "sportier" than the Toyos. But don't put much stock into 11 km of driving on s dry road.
First impressions: After 11 whole km of driving, the steering feels slightly more precise and responsive, and the car feels a little more nimble. I detect no more road noise than the Toyos, but the tire sound is different. They seem to transmit a little more of the irregularities in the road surface.
If I hadn't checked the tire pressure, I'd have thought the A23s were underinflated. But not so.
Overall, the Contis feel "sportier" than the Toyos. But don't put much stock into 11 km of driving on s dry road.
I've completed a full tank of driving on the new Continental TrueContacts. Here are my updated observations from driving on dry and wet pavement.
The Contis are no noisier than the Toyo A23 OE tires, but the noise is a little difference. I note more road "hiss" from the A23s but more low rumbling from the Contis. Overall neither tire was obtrusive.
For handling, the Contis are the clear winner for feel, though I can't objectively test cornering traction or ultimate stopping power. They make the CX5 feel more lively and light than the A23s, which by comparison feel like they're on novocaine. Steering is lighter with the Contis while also being a little more precise. I feel as though there was more tread squirm with the A23s. Both tires have good wet and dry traction and good resistance to aquaplaning. The Contis communicate more information about the road surface - some might say they are less comfortable, but I prefer this to the novocaine-like isolation I felt with the A23s.
These are subjective evaluations. I'm a "sensitive" driver - I can hear and feel a fault in a vehicle long before friends and relatives can. But my wife is the opposite - she could be driving with one flat tire and probably wouldn't notice. She has complained that the CX5 feels "heavy" compared to our 2010 Mazda 3 GT. But since the Contis were mounted on the CX5, she says it feels more "Zoom-Zoom, like the Mazda 3". I find it much more pleasurable to drive with the Contis, and that is worth the cost of the tires.
I will need to run through several fillups to compare the effect on fuel consumption, and cold weather performance will have to wait for 2 to 3 months.
The Contis are no noisier than the Toyo A23 OE tires, but the noise is a little difference. I note more road "hiss" from the A23s but more low rumbling from the Contis. Overall neither tire was obtrusive.
For handling, the Contis are the clear winner for feel, though I can't objectively test cornering traction or ultimate stopping power. They make the CX5 feel more lively and light than the A23s, which by comparison feel like they're on novocaine. Steering is lighter with the Contis while also being a little more precise. I feel as though there was more tread squirm with the A23s. Both tires have good wet and dry traction and good resistance to aquaplaning. The Contis communicate more information about the road surface - some might say they are less comfortable, but I prefer this to the novocaine-like isolation I felt with the A23s.
These are subjective evaluations. I'm a "sensitive" driver - I can hear and feel a fault in a vehicle long before friends and relatives can. But my wife is the opposite - she could be driving with one flat tire and probably wouldn't notice. She has complained that the CX5 feels "heavy" compared to our 2010 Mazda 3 GT. But since the Contis were mounted on the CX5, she says it feels more "Zoom-Zoom, like the Mazda 3". I find it much more pleasurable to drive with the Contis, and that is worth the cost of the tires.
I will need to run through several fillups to compare the effect on fuel consumption, and cold weather performance will have to wait for 2 to 3 months.
The A23s weren't worn out - they have 75 - 80% of the tread left after 13,000 mi. But they felt "dead" to me, and I figured why put the next 4 years on this wonderful-handling vehicle running on dead-feeling tires when that could be fixed for ~ $500 (after selling the A23s). Sure enough, the Continentals feel a lot livelier.
That makes a lot of sense. A lot of people will spend a lot more than $500 for new wheels that are inferior to the OEM wheels (heavier and slower) just because they like the way they look. So good job and thanks for the tire review!
Drove the CX-5 through a "Pineapple express" (very heavy rainstorm, ~ 130 mm in 24 hours) on the Sea to Sky highway, a twisting road along a fjord leading into the mountains. Plenty of standing water, very windy, around 5C (41 F), speeds between 65 and 50 mph. The TrueContacts behaved flawlessly. They are superb rain tires.
