Continental ExtremeContact Sport Tire Test

LEARN MORE: Continental ExtremeContact Sport - A Modest Primer On Building UltraHigh Performance Tires

By Thom Cannell
Senior Editor
Michigan Bureau
The Auto Channel

Somewhere North of 100 mile per hour and midst a 180° hairpin we laid into the throttle of the Petty Mustang, releasing its 425 horses. The results were predictable, the rear end slid out.

That’s precisely why we were at the Thermal Club (http://www.thethermalclub.com), a new, hot (quite literally), and evolving private race track in the Coachella Valley, California. Continental Tires invited a mix of tire dealers and media there to test their newest ultra performance tire, a summer-only tire just a step below an R-rated race tire, yet one with a 30,000 mile warranty. It is a tire you cannot buy until early in 2017.

Creating new and better tires is an exercise in iterations, making a compound, testing it on a computer and building test tires that visit tracks and torture chambers. The later chambers are filled with nasty machines that attempt to grind them down or spin them to bits. The test track is much the same with skilled test drivers sussing out small differences between construction and compounds. Continental went one, no five better in its testing—they hired IMSA racers Lawson Aschenbach, Joao Barbosa, Ryan Daizel, Andy Lally, and Ozz Negri to test the tires. And why race drivers instead of the highly competent company test drivers? We think Andy Lally expressed it best, “– Being able to push a tire to its limit, while still leaving enough bandwidth inside your brain to evaluate and give feedback to the tire engineers is exactly why race car drivers are good for tire development.”

Why would anyone test tires at their limit, both dry and wet? Because owners of a variety of interesting automobiles—from an Mazda MX-5 to Subaru WRX, Cadillac CTS-V to Mercedes S-Class, Ford Mustang to Chevrolet Camaro, from the very light and nimble to premium and powerful—all need ultra high performance tires that are safe every day.

Let’s tell you what the ExtremeContact Sport is not. After 3 years, 2,000 iterations, and 20,000 hours of testing it is not a track tire and it’s not on sale until February. Though it competes with other summer-only tires, Michelin Pilot Super Sport, Pirelli P Zero, Bridgestone Pole Position S-004, none are really race tires though you’ll find them at amateur race events on weekends. It is, foremost, a tire that’s designed to be safe on dry pavement and equally safe and forgiving in the wet. Their target; Best In Class road manners which dictates: precise dry handling, security in the wet, and longevity.

To begin our daylong test we did timed runs on a very tight mini-race track, part of the BMW Performance Center West. Driving BMW M235is we could explore our inner demons while hanging the tail out. What we found was that once you’d gone beyond the limits of adhesion the car was still predictable and could be brought under control with ease; none of the fishtailing you see so often. This built confidence in our modest abilities. After all, the tire is ultimately concerned with safety. We were far, far beyond where most drivers would go voluntarily.

Our next event recreated how tires are compared. Driving the outgoing ExtremeContact DW versus the new ExtremeContact Sport we could feel how the newer tire was crisper over race track speed bumps, now it was more precise versus a muted response, and how it delivered firm and responsive steering. The best way we’ve come up with to describe the difference is, the DW is the tire you’d prefer if you were in the market for an almost-ultra high performance tire, though it definitely remains in that ultra high performance group.

Following that, Continental gave us a race track and a Porsche Cayman, 425 horsepower Petty Mustang, Dodge Challenger SRT, BMW M3s and no practical limits on cornering. True, we played follow-the-leader to keep top speeds a bit under 130 and braking was earlier than you’d do in a race. Cornering speeds were at the maximum of adhesion, often beyond, which was the whole point. If a tire feels safe you’ll have a better chance of avoiding an accident. Here’s where we become a bit technical: point in was crisp even though all cars were set up for basic understeer. You could, if you knew how, easily point the car with the throttle, particularly the Mustang and heavier Dodge.

The track was an exercise in fun, and at the same time proving that the ExtremeContact Sport was a good fit for both lighter and heavier cars at and beyond their limits.

Our final challenge was back-to-back wet/dry autocrossing using BMW M235is and Subaru WRXs. First driving the WRX fitted with ExtremeContact Sports we’ll summarize other, more experienced testers, “they made the WRX handle.” Against the excellent Michelin Pilot Sport, ExtremeContact Sport proved better at steering input, controllability, and wet braking. Next came the same track, now with BMW 235i.

The first thing we noticed was how easy it was to loose traction on a track that was well over 120° surface temperature. And how easy it was to regain traction without significant loss of speed. Again we could use throttle steer to move through tight chicanes and low speed sweeping turns. Then we tried competitors.

First a tire we highly respect, Bridgestone Pole Position S-04. It was equal or even better than the Sport, though as we now knew how easy it was to loose traction on tight turns, it was an unfair comparison. Then we tried Hankook’s Ventus V12 Evo which turned us into Formula Drift competitors. While great fun, they were not in the same universe as the others.

With the track so hot we really didn’t get the kind of wet braking trails many of us wanted. We’ll rely on some notes from those IMSA drivers’ experiences. Larsen said, “If a tire is too race car-based somebody is going to crash. Right from the get-go this tire always responded, it would come back to you. It is forgiving”.

Andy Lally told us “What it has you’re only going to notice when you need it, like in a panic stop when it stops 4’-8’-12’, even 30’ shorter”. That’s in the dry and in the rain.

Continental’s ExtremeContact Sport excels at being a tire that offers more ability than you or we will use daily, weekly, monthly—if ever. It’s that “If Ever, the When You Need It” that will offer sports car and performance luxury car owners both ability and confidence. It’s a tire we totally recommend and one we will revisit in 2017 as soon as the snow is off the ground.