Continental extreme contact d/w

[five 0 ninja]

I had these installed on my car little while ago. I probably have 6 or 700 miles on them. Car is 2002 Saleen extreme convertible. Ordered the factory size that came on the factory 18 by 9 front 18 by 10 rear rims. 265/35 front 295/35 rear.

Straight line traction in dry conditions is great, traction in wet conditions is really good also. Problem is they feel very unstable on the highway. Speeds of say 30 to 40 mph up you notice it. The higher the speed the more unstable it feels. I can beat describe it as a "sway" type of feel. Like when you run slicks with low air pressure at the track and you would move the steering wheel left to right.

To remedy issue i used different pressure in the tires from 25 pounds up to 45 or 50 just to see. It is worse with lower pressure but still very noticeable at higher pressure. And car never performed this way with the old dry rotted, bald 12 year old Pirelli p zero's that were on the car before.

I did a lot of research before I bought tires and was very confident I made a great choice and was going to be happy with these, but i don't even like driving the car now!

Any thoughts? Could there be some sort of defect in the tires?? Thank you in advance for any help or info you can provide me with.

Mike

 

[Matt@DTD]

My apologies for the delay, Mike. I'm sorry to hear your tires are not performing to your expectations.

PM coming your way.

 

[five 0 ninja]

Thanks for reply. Pm coming back shortly.

 

[92StangMan]

Did you get the problem solved with the tires, Mike? I'm replacing mine after Christmas and was going to buy the same set.

 

[MastaAce03]

What 92 stang said...

 

[Weslsew]

Any update on this? I was about to order a set of these but not so sure now. This is the second time I've heard this (unless that was also your other post I saw)

 

[Matt@DTD]

I'm not sure what the resolution was to this. The OP purchased the tires through another retailer.

My suggestion to him was to continue playing with air pressure and if that didn't help, suggested he reach out to Continental directly for their thoughts.

On a side note, the tire manufacturer builds the O.E. tires to the specifications set by the vehicle manufacturer. Unfortunately this information is proprietary but the OP's issues could simply be that these particular tires just do not work with the vehicle. We do see this every now and then, more so with Mercedes applications.

 

[Weslsew]

Do you guys or does continental offer any kind of satisfaction guarantee whereby I could return them if I didn't like them? They aren't cheap tires by any means so I would hate to spend $500 for a pair and then not be happy with them.

 

[MastaAce03]

Get yourself a set of the new Nitto nt555 G2 and be happy.

 

[Weslsew]

Get yourself a set of the new Nitto nt555 G2 and be happy.

I would like to but they aren't made in 295/35 18. Only comes in a 275/35 or 285/40

 

[MastaAce03]

True story. But the difference between the 285 and 295 is minimal. I just picked up a pair of 285x40 and am extremely happy so far. Granted, I'm coming from stock goodyears lol.

 

[noldevin]

Could it be an alignment issue?

 

[Matt@DTD]

Do you guys or does continental offer any kind of satisfaction guarantee whereby I could return them if I didn't like them? They aren't cheap tires by any means so I would hate to spend $500 for a pair and then not be happy with them.

We offer a 30 day ride satisfaction guarantee on any tires you purchase from us. If your not completely satisified let us or you local Discount Tire/America's Tire store know and they will change them out for you.

Continental also offers their Total Confidence Plan on most of their tires; see below for details.

CONTINENTAL TOTAL CONFIDENCE PLAN | Discount Tire Direct

 

[five 0 ninja]

Sorry guys didn't see your comments until now. I really don't have a good answer. Haven't driven the car in couple months due to the winter here in the northeast. Someone told me I had a year to decide if I wanted to send them back as long as there was less then 2/32nds worn off of tires. But someone did call me back a while ago and said they would only refund 70% of my money. Tires still only have a few hundred miles on them and full 10/32nds tread. It's a shame because they seem to be great tires as far as overall traction, looks, and ride. Just the highway speed thing which is puzzling. Alignment and all is good. No worn suspension parts. It's a Saleen so little different suspension set up then cobra but wouldn't think that should make that much of a difference. Idk. And if i send back or sell not sure what I would get to replace them.

 

[Skrapmetal]

Well, I'm mounting 285/35/19's to my new RTR Tech 7's on Tuesday. I'll check in and let you guys know if I get the same floating sensation I suppose.

The deal DTD had on ebay made them really hard to pass up, got all four for just a hair over $800.

 

[five 0 ninja]

Well, I'm mounting 285/35/19's to my new RTR Tech 7's on Tuesday. I'll check in and let you guys know if I get the same floating sensation I suppose.

The deal DTD had on ebay made them really hard to pass up, got all four for just a hair over $800.

No doubt great deal! Let us no for sure. What car are they going on?

 

[Vincent518]

Well, I'm mounting 285/35/19's to my new RTR Tech 7's on Tuesday. I'll check in and let you guys know if I get the same floating sensation I suppose.

The deal DTD had on ebay made them really hard to pass up, got all four for just a hair over $800.

Picked up the same deal. Same size to. To good to pass up. My cars down so let us know how they are.

 

[Skrapmetal]

No doubt great deal! Let us no for sure. What car are they going on?

'13 Boss 302, 285/35 all four corners

 

[Skrapmetal]

To be honest about my assessment, though, I don't have a great baseline to judge. The previous owner of the Boss swapped out the original wheels and tires and put narrower Track Pack wheels on it with 255/40 Kumho Ecsta, which are all season tires. I've only had the car for a couple of weeks.

So between the extra inch and a half of width all around and the fact that I'm going from all season to summer-only tires... I don't see any way I wont be thrilled with the improvement.

 

[Skrapmetal]

I'm definitely not feeling instability at highway speeds. I do feel a slight difference in steering response, it feels a little more muted. Not sure if that even makes sense as it's hard to put into words, and it could just as easily be attributed to the wider tires all around.

The trip home from the tire shop was all freeway speeds, and I made a couple of laps on the freeway because of a small steering wheel shimmy I was getting in one stretch thinking it was a balance issue but it was just that pavement. I didn't get any swaying sensation.