ContiSport Contact 3's - i am disappoint?

Gaygle

Gaygle

Gaygle

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Joined
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East of England
Hi guys,

I was just wondering if anyone knew how long it takes for new tyres to scrub in?

I’ve recently switched over from Bridgestone Potenza’s to CS3’s and i’ve got to say – i’ve not been too impressed with the grip levels from them. I’ve driven them in the exact same way to how i always have driven and noticed the traction control light coming on when i put the power down in 2nd, the ABS kicking in far quicker than it ever used to and today i experienced a lot of understeer on several corners that i’ve never felt before.

That said, ride quality is loads better, but it certainly lacks the “crisp” turn in of the Bridgestones. All the tyre pressures are fine and i’ve been using them for about 500miles (of A roads).

One other thing is that the manufacture week stamped on the sidewall of the rear tyres says “0211”. Which is obviously the second week in 2011, however i only got these tyres fitted on the 20th January 2011 – can they really go from being manufactured to being fitted within a matter of a week?! The fronts say “4710” which means they’ve been around for about 3 months, which is about what i was expecting?

Any advice welcome!
 
i have cs3s (well, cs5 on the rear atm as i needed them quick and thats all they had :o) on my car and have found them pretty damn good, also had pirelli p-zero nero, eagle f1 assymetrics and vredestein ultrac sessantas, and these are definitely going for the top spot. Vredesteins were more gradual when they let go, but thats because it started to do so a tad earlier.

Can't see myself using another tyre in the near future, they are spot on
 
How many miles have you done on them? I'd have thought it would take at least 2-300 to scrub in properly.
 
Full KDS alignment was done about 3 months ago.

Anyone have any thoughts on the manufacture date thing? I'm a bit paranoid that i've picked up counterfeit tyres or something!
 
lots of places dont want to hold a lot of stock atm due to the costs you might find that your supplier only orders them in dribs and drabs hence getting them a week after manufacture
 
If that is the manufactured week then that's impressive logistics to get them from the factory (presumably not UK made) to the fitters that quick!

Do the tyres look or feel greasy?

Have you experimented with lowering or raising tyre pressures?

Have you used tyre dressing recently which might have spread to the face of the tyres?

The turn-in will never be as good as bridgestones plus of course you're now running with taller tread, which flexes. That said by 500 miles I'd have expected them to have scrubbed up nicely. Maybe you haven't really worked them hard enough in the 500 miles?
 
As Merlin said the CS3 won't ever feel as sharp as the Bridgestone, simply as Bridgestones have stiffer sidewalls.

But the CS3 should be giving more grip, especially in the wet.

Have you check tyre pressures? It could be the garage as put the wrong pressures in!
 
merlin said:
If that is the manufactured week then that's impressive logistics to get them from the factory (presumably not UK made) to the fitters that quick!
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That's what i was thinking? I would have thought a few weeks would have been about right. Afterall, they’ve got to manufacture them, QC them, ship them to the UK wholesaler, who has to send them to the garage. All of this in 12-13 days?

merlin said:
Do the tyres look or feel greasy?
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No not really, bit dirty mind. I think the road was a bit greasy this morning though – it was sort of “mildy moist”.

merlin said:
Have you experimented with lowering or raising tyre pressures?
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Not yet, they are 36 Front and 41 rear. Would you suggest that i need to let some air out?

merlin said:
Have you used tyre dressing recently which might have spread to the face of the tyres?
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Nope, no tyre dressing.

merlin said:
The turn-in will never be as good as bridgestones plus of course you're now running with taller tread, which flexes. That said by 500 miles I'd have expected them to have scrubbed up nicely. Maybe you haven't really worked them hard enough in the 500 miles?
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Tis a bit of a shame, however i’d be happy to make this sacrifice for the brilliant ride quality the CS3’s give. My confidence has been a bit shaken in them over the past couple of days though. Today they understeered and yesterday when trying to do an overtake in 2nd gear, i got the traction control light flashing at me and the day before when i had to do an emergency stop, the ABS cut in loads, but there wasn’t a much feeling of stopping power. With the Bridgestones, the ABS used to cut in a bit and the brakes used to rip my face off.
Gibbo said:
But the CS3 should be giving more grip, especially in the wet.
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I agree, and from the rave reviews, i was expecting them to wee all over the aging Bridgestones, but the fact is, they aren’t at the moment, by any stretch of the imagination.

Perhaps the last few days have been a bit greasy out? I’ve had the tyres fitted for about 2 weeks now, and only in the last 5 days or so have i noticed the lack of grip. When i initially got them fitted, i was very impressed. I think i may just keep an eye on the road conditions to see if it's this which is causing the issues.
 
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I can't remember what pressure I ran in the CSL, BMW's run rather high pressures in comparison to some cars.

You could as an experiment try 32psi front and 36psi rear, to see how the car feels. But be warned lower pressures will make the car feel less crisp in the corners but at the same time lower pressures can give more grip.

Also higher pressures in a tyre give more progressive slip at the limit, something else to remember.

In comparison the EVO runs 31 front and 29 rear on the Summer tyres. On the winter tyres I run 34 front and 32 rear to try to stop the sloppyness from the softer sidewalls.

Sidewalls is a big reason why I won't use some very good tyres such as the F1 Assymetric and CS3, because wheras they are grippy they'd make my car feel like it was moving around too much on its tyres.
 
I run 44 in the rears of mine and I think 40 in the fronts. I had to make three visits to the local BP garage to get them just right - felt sloppy on low pressures then felt floaty at super high, I settled on 44 and 40. This is with different tyres though - Michelin PS2's.

My thoughts here are that it's a combination of greasy road surfaces, and taller tread profile and maybe the tyres not fully biting the road as the geo won't have scrubbed them in just yet.

There will be a sweet spot in terms of pressure for the profile of the tyre you have and the weight and weight distribution of the car - experiment. Nothing worse than having no confidence in what a RWD car is going to do next corner - it's a horrible feeling and destroys your enjoyment of the car.
 
Gibbo said:
they'd make my car feel like it was moving around too much on its tyres.
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Urgh - god I absolutely hate that spongy steering feel and the way a car "lunges" on soft sidewall tyres.

It's giving me the shudders just thinking about it.
 
merlin said:
I run 44 in the rears of mine and I think 40 in the fronts. I had to make three visits to the local BP garage to get them just right - felt sloppy on low pressures then felt floaty at super high, I settled on 44 and 40. This is with different tyres though - Michelin PS2's.
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Was this on your 330i?

merlin said:
My thoughts here are that it's a combination of greasy road surfaces, and taller tread profile and maybe the tyres not fully biting the road as the geo won't have scrubbed them in just yet.
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I hope so, i've driven them in wet conditions and they seemed fine, i've driven them in dry and they seemed fine, so i'm hoping that it's just the fact that it's greasy that's throwing them off a bit.

There will be a sweet spot in terms of pressure for the profile of the tyre you have and the weight and weight distribution of the car - experiment. Nothing worse than having no confidence in what a RWD car is going to do next corner - it's a horrible feeling and destroys your enjoyment of the car.[/quote]

merlin said:
Urgh - god I absolutely hate that spongy steering feel and the way a car "lunges" on soft sidewall tyres.

It's giving me the shudders just thinking about it.
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mmmm, i had no confidence in the car this morning after it understeered on a couple of corners.

rG-tom said:
i have cs3s (well, cs5 on the rear atm as i needed them quick and thats all they had :o) on my car and have found them pretty damn good, also had pirelli p-zero nero, eagle f1 assymetrics and vredestein ultrac sessantas, and these are definitely going for the top spot. Vredesteins were more gradual when they let go, but thats because it started to do so a tad earlier.

Can't see myself using another tyre in the near future, they are spot on
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Do you remember what they were like when you first got them fitted? What tyre pressures are you running?
 
Two weesk does seem a little quick. Mine came from back order at the factory and took about 4 weeks from manufacturer date.
 
Gibbo said:
You could as an experiment try 32psi front and 36psi rear, to see how the car feels. But be warned lower pressures will make the car feel less crisp in the corners but at the same time lower pressures can give more grip.
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The turn-in doesn't feel crisp at 36f-41r - i dare not lower it down to 32f-36r! But i will experiment.

Gibbo said:
Sidewalls is a big reason why I won't use some very good tyres such as the F1 Assymetric and CS3, because wheras they are grippy they'd make my car feel like it was moving around too much on its tyres.
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Before i had experienced the CS3's i never really appreciated how sidewall stiffness can affect the handling, but i can fully see how it does now. The only issue i had with the really stiff Potenza's is that they made the ride horrible, caused tramlining and a small amount of bump steer.
 
Dandle said:
Two weesk does seem a little quick. Mine came from back order at the factory and took about 4 weeks from manufacturer date.
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It might not even have been two weeks. If they were made on the 8th Jan (first day of the week 0211) and i had them fitted on the 21st January, that's a maximum time of 14 days. However, if they were produced on the last day of the week 0211 (14th January) that means there is only been 7 days from them being manufactured to being fitted.
 
Might be worth contacting them and asking. I know Tyrefort has a whole department testing and checking both faulty tyres and mainly counterfeit tyres bought from various sources including ebay.
 
I've got nothing but praise for my Conti SC3s really, great in the wet or dry, I don't know if they were the standard OEM fit for the ST220 or not but they work very well with it, understeer is minimal unless you're being ham fisted etc.

Wait until they're worn in a bit more and hopefully they won't seem so disappointing, and maybe experiment with the pressures, starting off with what BMW recommend
 
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