Continental PureContact Tire Review & Rating
Continental Tire’s premium all-season model, the PureContact, was released in September 2012. Designed for drivers of coupes, sedans, minivans and crossovers, the Pure Contact is engineered to provide high-performance year round traction and handling to go with a comfortable ride and increased fuel efficiency.
An all-season tread compound combines with Continental’s Eco Plus technology that utilizes other polymers in the tread to give the tire enhanced treadwear and improved fuel efficiency, which can save you money over time.
Similar to the DWS model, this new PureContact tire uses Tuned Performance Indicators. What this does is it provides D (Dry), W (Wet) and S (Snow) letters on the outer tread of the tire which lets you know how the tread is currently wearing.
For example, once the S (snow) letter has worn off the tread you will know that the tire has lost its maximum snow performance. After the W has worn off, you know that maxium wet surface traction is lost. This helps all drivers get a better idea of how worn their tires are at any time.
Inside the tire you find Continental’s exclusive ComfortRide technology that provides extra cushioning to the tire by adding another layer of rubber that helps absorb pavement bumps and vibrations that we all drive over on a daily basis. Comfort is a strong point on this particular tire.
The tire’s construction includes two steel belts with jointless polyamide to add durability and more stability to the tire. They also further enhance overall ride comfort and quality.
Continental offers sizes from 15-18 inches, and speed ratings of H or V. There is also a 70,000 mile tread guarantee included on this tire.
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Buy Used for 40 – 50% Less than Retail
Pros
- Outstanding dry, wet and snow performance
- Exceptional braking abilities
- Crisp steering response and feel
- Ride comfort is among best in this class
- 70,000 mile warranty
Cons
- Very few shortcomings
Overall Thoughts
The PureContact has quickly grown into one of the more popular touring all-season tire choices among any brand. You can expect outstanding traction on any type of road surface, including light to deep snow. The steering is crisp and it gives you good feel and control throughout the speed range.
Braking is quick and sure, and the ride is comfortable and quiet as well. Tread life has shown to be excellent, and Continental backs it with a 70,000 mile tread guarantee.
Overall, this is definitely a solid all-season tire that Continental has released, and we give it a big thumbs up for being one of the better tires in its class.
What Vehicles Will The Continental PureContact Fit?
(This is not a complete list of ALL vehicles this tire will fit)
- Acura TL, CL
- BMW 135i, 330i
- Chevrolet Cobalt, Malibu, Cruze, Impala, Sonic LTZ
- Dodge Neon, Grand Caravan, Nitro
- Ford Focus, Mustang, Taurus, Fusion
- Honda Civic, CR-V, Insight, Accord
- Kia Optima, Rondo
- Mazda6, 929, Mazda3
- Nissan Altima, Maxima, Versa, Leaf, Cube
- Pontiac Vibe, Grand Am, Grand Prix, G5
- Subaru Legacy, Impreza WRX, Outback
- Suzuki SX4
- Toyota Camry, Prius, RAV4, Avalon, Solara, Sienna
- Volkswagen Jetta, Passat, Touareg
Tire Sizes
15″
195/65R15 91H BW
16″
205/55R16 91V BW
205/55R16 91H BW
205/60R16 92H BW
205/60R16 92V BW
205/65R16 95H BW
215/55R16 97H BW
215/60R16 95V BW
215/60R16 95H BW
17″
205/50R17 93V BW
215/50R17 95V BW
215/55R17 94V BW
225/45R17 91H BW
225/45R17 91V BW
225/50R17 98V BW
225/55R17 97V BW
235/45R17 94H BW
235/50R17 96V BW
235/55R17 99H BW
245/45R17 99V BW
245/50R17 99V BW
18″
225/45R18 91V BW
225/60R18 100H BW
235/45R18 94V BW
235/50R18 97V BW
235/55R18 100V BW
245/40R18 97V BW
245/45R18 100V BW
245/50R18 100V BW
19″
245/40R19 98V BW
255/45R19 100V BW
20″
245/45R20 99V BW
Price Range
Prices on the Pure Contact tire range from approximately $109 and up. You may also find occasional rebates, discounts, coupons and special offers on this tire.
Click Here To Find Lowest Prices On All Continental PureContact Sizes
Warranty
A 6-year or 70,000 mile tread warranty comes with the PureContact. If the rear is sized differently than the front, Continental cuts the mileage guarantee by 50%. The tire’s uniformity is backed for one-year or the first 2/32 inch of wear.
Materials and workmanship are warranted for 6-years and include free replacement during the first year or first 2/32 inch of wear. A prorated amount is given for the remaining time period or down to the final 2/32 inch of tread depth.
Continental also provides a one-year or first 2/32 inch of wear road hazard warranty, as well as their exclusive 60-day customer satisfaction trial.
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The Continental PureContact has an undertread band and Comfort Ride technology that lessens vibrations in a bumpy ride, which results in low road noise levels. Similarly, Michelin’s Premier A/S has Comfort Control Technology that makes it quiet on the highway. when comparing with Michelin Premier, which is better?
Yep, mine are very noisy too. (Lexus ES350) Previously had Michelin Primacy mxv4 which were very quiet. Can’t understand why these are ranked as one of the quietest. I will probably end up throwing away brand new tires.
Replaced 4 Orig Equip Bridgestone run flats with Continental Pure Contact on 2014 CTS.
Lost 3 MPG gas mileage with new tires.
Ride, noise & handling all good.
I bought a set of Pure contacts for may daughter in law’s car because they were 90,000 mile rated and looked like a well designed tread pattern for the big city flat highway speed driving she did 99% of the time.
Her little car handled like it was on rails and could stop on a dime even in a driving rain.
And the first winter she had plenty of light ice and snow traction for the flat and well maintained roads she drove on.
By year 2 they it still handled well in summer conditions but winter performance dropped off quite a bit.
My brother and I own a 2015 Honda Civic Ex. My brother has the Michelin Standard Touring All-Season
Defender T+H for 3 years. So far the tread wear is half at 40k with another 20k or more to go. Quiet & Comfortable Ride. Control response is decent. I was impressed with his Michelin tires. However, my car has the Continental True Contact (Standard Touring All-Season tire). I was impressed with the Continental as well. Quiet and comfortable ride. Control response was fair but not as good as the Michelin. So after reviewing results from qualified test drivers and customer’s input between Goodyear Assurance Comfortred Touring: with an Overall Road Rating: 7.46, Cost: $127.99 and CONTINENTAL PureContact LS: (Grand Touring All-Season Tires) with an Overall Road Rating: 7.91, Cost: $116.99. I thought I will go with the Continental upgrade tires since these tires haven’t disappointed me yet.
Put these on our 15 Subaru Crosstrek they’ve been great tires in the rain and what little snow we have received the last 2 years. We are at 56,000 miles and am down to 4/32 left I rotate and balance every 6000 miles. I would definitely buy these again.
Good to hear that thanks
Will have to be proven that these tires are worth the money. Most come from China a communist country, and they don’t care about production quality. Let’s bring back acorn ohio and show these so called computers who is the leader. Our country has become fat, dumb and lazy, just like Ben Franklin said years ago. Wake up and let’s bring the core businesses back here or we will lose the country.
TIRES NOT POLITICS!!
Really!
Bought these tires Nov 22nd, 2017 at Discount Tires. Have them installed on a 2015 Avalon (Limited). Have driven them less than 30K and the pair in front is bald. The rear set probably have a few more months of tread wear left on them. Spoke to the rep at Discount Tire and was told that since I do not have any proof that they were rotated, they are not able to provide any credit towards a new set. These tires were sold with a Treadwear warranty of 70K. Flummoxed!
Hey I’m so sorry you had such a bad experience. These tires have received some really good reviews in
term of tread wear. Can you share more information?
Bought these 4 yrs ago for Toyota Camry that’s driven gently and garage-kept. After < 37k miles (approx half of the warranted 70k), they are now almost bald. Will never buy again. SO disappointed!
Hey, I’m really sorry that you had such a bad experience. Can you provide me with some more details?
Put these ties on my Subaru Crosstrek…. very noisey….won’t buy them again.
That’s very interesting! For the most part, the Continental PureContact have proven to be very quiet and smooth on the road. Are you looking to switch? Tell me more about your experience.
I am not sure why you list Continental Pure Contact 235 45-18 when this size isn’t available.
Hey Werner! Of course they are available. Did you try looking online?
Just got 4 new ones and trying to return them. They arebreally noisey and the snow handling is not different than my old ones. Waste of money.
Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry that you’ve had a bad experience with the PureContact. Our research shows that a wide majority of customers have enjoyed a comfortable ride through snowy conditions. Tell me more about your experience with these tires in terms of noise.
Put them on my 2012 Audi, riding in town, not going over 35 mph seemed ok but the first time driving to work on a highway, going 55 or over was very loud, I noticed the noise first thing. I had sumitoma tires, wanted to upgrade for pleasant, safe ride home for a visit in Canada. I drove them to work, they slipped going around a slight corner at about 5 mph. These are worse than my old tires, noisey, no traction in packed snow. Didn’t feel safe driving 12 hours home so needless to say my trip had to be canceled and I am going to buy new tires. If you have changing weather conditions and want a quiet ride I would never buy these, for the price you would think they’d be good.
Just drove a short trip, the road noise was terrible and hit a snow storm too, no better than any other tire half the cost. I really wanted something safer and quieter for a trip. Yesterday and today drove about 200 mile and it was not a good experience. Can’t wait to get a refund and new tires tomorrow.
Troy says: sounds like some of the people posting might have other issues, like allignment,ball joints or other suspension parts?
I have to agree with Joel, I purchased 4 of these and they have proven to be the quietest tire I have ever owned. They are still on the same car 45k miles later and they are still quiet. I do drive agressive in my Pontiac GTP and when I accelerate, they do not slip and when I brake, even in the rain, it STOPS the car. I am not a wealthy person, but I will gladly spend an extra $100 to get the best, and Michelin no longer is the best. Continental has won my safety and performance choice.
Bought these tires for my wife’s Taurus X because she is sensitive to noise. We have a second Taurus X with different brand of tire and the Continental Pure Contact are very quiet, smooth ride, and she gets better mileage than I do on the second Taurus X (identical cars) different tires. Mileage is currently at 20,000 and based on wear bar I would say she’ll get 30,000. Not good but it seems that based on reports on the internet and my own experience with other brands none of the tires get what they claim. We will buy these again.
Bought a set of Continental Pure Contact for my car under recommendation from dealer. On the way home from the dealer,we heard a popping sound, which my husband who is,a seasoned farmer said sounded like it was a tire. We examined them when we got hone. Didn’t see anything so put it out of our minds. SIX DAYS later, driving to a 4th of July part, the low tire indicator comes on. We pull over and look at our tires to see a HUGE bulge in the sidewall. Drove 1/4 block to gas station and it was totally flat. Had it replaced next day. We never hit anything!!!
Fast forward 1 month and 2 days. Getting out of our car we noticed ANOTHER bulge in the sidewall of the tire they had replaced. Again, we never hit ANYTHING!! Had IT replaced the next morning. By this time, I’m letting the dealer know that, in no uncertain terms, if this happens again I want 4 new tires of a different brand. They say that’s,a manager decision. Fine, we’ll see. By thus time I’m regularly checking our tires for bulges. Low and behold 3 DAYS later I notice another bulge in the sidewall on a different tire. Still waiting to hear from the manager, as it was Saturday when I called. I’m NOT keeping these tires. I drive very conservatively, have not hit any curbs or road hazards, and I will not keep these horrible tires. I wouldn’t give you 2 cents for them!!! They are the worst tire I’ve ever owned!!! They have been a big pain!
Sounds like Shiela needs to stop doing the driving.
i have 30,000 miles on mine and now 1 of my tires is out of round and none have been quiet from day one this wont ever happen again i wonder how much the payoff was to consumer reports
Purchased My 2012 Audi TT with 71K miles on them. Changed all four at 77K miles. Best tires I’ve ever had!
Makes you wonder how one person can say they are junk while another comments they are the best tire they ever had and loves them?? Joel drives a Lexus so we know how he drives, but I wonder how many races Alan has won before he wore his tires out…..
I think 1 of the worst tires I have ever had, will not buy again, 70,000 mile warranty is BS, I have less than 20,000 miles on these tires and already down to 5/32, Dealer says that you should not expect more than 35,000 anyway, AND the cost, outrageous, I’ll search for another tire, BEWARE these are JUNK.
What vehicle did you have these on?
Curious to how many miles you have on them and what type of driving and maintenance you do for your vehicle
I must say your comment on these tires kind of sound like a paid review..no offence
What kind/year of car did you put them on?
I was just at Discount Tire yesterday for a nail repair in my tire (second one in less than two months). When the technician came back to the waiting room told me my tires were at 5/32 to 4/32’nds. I said you got to be kidding me as I had bought new 2015 Honda Accord and at 9k miles I put on these Continental pure contacts per that of technician at Discount telling me better than Michelin. I only have 30k on the car and have hardly driven the car, except for trip to South Dakota and up to Montana (live in Utah). Told to run these down to 2/32nds and then get prorated discount. I will not buy continental again, going back to Michelin though it seems that any tire now days does not run to the mileage that is advertised.
Bought these to replace my Michelin energy on my 2008 lexus 350 rx and these are simply the best tires ive ever driven on in 35 years of driving. Thank you to Consumer Reports for recommending them over all other tires They are comfortable. Smooth as silk. Excellent traction in snow. Rain and dry. Have had Michelins. Dunlops. Good years. Nokia. Ect, and nothing comes close to these tires. I never thought tires could make my driving experience so much more pleasurable. Love em
Nothing make sense with tire now days , but what people don’t understand is the tire you buy for a light car like Camry 3200 lbs will not perform the same on a heavy car sedan with a V-8 engine 4500lbs , that what people don’t seem to realize ,and car tire dealer are out to sell tire ,so best to do your research because nobody cares about your tires but you that has to pay for them .