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Quick recommendation for Conti Pure Contact

5K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  42Ate 
#1 · (Edited)
Just switched tires from the stock Pirelli Cintawhatever run flats to Continental Pure Contact non-run flat tires.

There are lots of recommendations for the BF Goodrich Comp 2 A/S. I have no doubt those are good tires but are more sport oriented and I have just some anecdotal advice from a couple owners they are horrible in snow. I was always fine with the Pirelli snow traction, but the Pure Contacts are better.


The Continental Pure Contact are for those who both were happy with the stock tires for the most part and are more in the snow belt. If you don't ever see much snow, you would probably like something like the Comp 2 A/S better.

The Continentals are supposed to deliver lots of mile life (70,000 warranty) good gas mileage and good performance in dry, wet and snow.

I have had a chance now to experience some snow, ice and rain in these tires and I would give them good marks. Given that they are not run flats (I have never had a blown tire in my life) you have to deal with issues of no spare but they ride much smoother with less BANG! over road gaps and potholes as you would expect. You will notice this right off the bat pulling away from the tire store how the hard, runflat ride is gone. They grip on turn in much better than the Pirellis, they also stop better in all conditions, and are better in snow. I used to like to put the car into Sport+ and slide around the tail when safe to do so on deserted streets, but my fun is kind of ruined because the rear traction is so much better than the stock Pirellis and harder to break loose when you want to do some parking lot fishtailing.

If you need to replace the run flats with a non-runflat tire that is priced well, but delivers a notch better at everything than the tires it came with, I would say give the Conti Pure Contacts a look, especially if you want an all season with a little better snow traction. Snow tires will always be better, but if you just want one set of tires, these are a definite improvement over the stock Cintaratos or whatever they are called.

You can find them for about $150 a tire and I bought them with a $100 prepaid VISA rebate. Total cost of $600 after rebate.
 
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#2 ·
Thank you for your review of the Continental PureContact, jwalz1! Consumer Reports agrees with your assessment and ranks PureContact among the best in its class.

And thank you as well for confirming that a good set of non run-flat tires like PureContact are simply better all around on an F30 car than any BMW OE run-flats (among all-season tires). I experienced a similar improvement in handling, ride quality, noise suppression, and braking performance when I ditched the OE run-flat Bridgestone Potenza S001 for non run-flat Michelin Pilot Super Sport.

For any F30 owners thinking of replacing the OE run-flat tires with non run-flats: just do it! :thumbup:
 
#4 · (Edited)
You got it southcoastguy! I remember that my M School instructor at the BMW Performance Center location in upstate South Carolina mentioned that tidbit. :) Of course, the Continental tires used on BMW Performance Center vehicles are all of the non run-flat variety for optimum performance.

I do find it interesting that BMW Performance Center chose Continental as its tire sponsor when Michelin's US headquarters are only a few miles away in Greenville. Admittedly, Continental Tire's US HQ is also located in South Carolina, but further away in Fort Mill (Charlotte metro area).
 
#6 ·
You know I just remembered reading a couple threads a while back where people had stated switching to non-run flats fixed the dead feeling steering. I guess I would add that at least on these Continentals, I do not notice much difference in that regard. The steering has gone from "totally numb", to "almost completely numb." Meaning unless it is my pure imagination ,I think I can feel the tiniest amount of feedback now, but nothing to write home about.

The ride comfort improvement is more than enough to sell the tire though over the run flats.
 
#7 ·
When I did PCD in July I made a point to ask Matt Mullen, the Chief Driving Instructor for his recommendation on non-RFT's for my 440i. Michelin PS4S. Granted it's a different car than your setup but what he recommended. They are 1db louder (yes, measure with a db meter) than the OEM Bridgestone S001 RFTs but that was measured when new.
 
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