Continental Premium Contact 2 or Uniroyal Rainexpert?

Janesy B

Janesy B

Janesy B

Caporegime
Joined
19 Apr 2008
Posts
26,395
Location
Essex
The front tyres on my Focus (195/60R15 88V) are down to 3mm and I want to change them shortly. The car currently has a lovely pair of Kleber Dynaxer HP2s on the front courtesy of the previous owner and apart from being noisy they've been okay but I want to use this opportunity to get a decent set of tyres on the car.

I've narrowed my choices down to either Continental Premium Contact 2 or Uniroyal Rainexpert - Premium Contact 5 has just been released but they are stupidly expensive for a 15" tyre (£164 fitted for a pair) and early reviews suggest poor wear rates.

Most of my miles are sat on the motorway so I don't want anything overly soft that will wear quickly nor do I want a noisy tyre droning away. I could also save a little bit by dropping the speed rating from V to H, will I die if I do this? Bearing in mind V is rated to 149 MPH and H is rated to 130 MPH.

Any other suggestions would be welcomed.
 
I opted for CPC2 for my MK2 Zetec - no complaints so far. No drama in the wet and they are great in the dry.

The chap in the garage did speak highly of the Uniroyals and said he had them on his car. However there was difference of less than ten pound so I thought may as well just go for the Continentals.

However from reading reviews the unanimous opinion appears to be the wear rate isn't very good for the CPC2's. (I've had them for just over a month so can't really comment).
 
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Janesy B said:
I could also save a little bit by dropping the speed rating from V to H, will I die if I do this? Bearing in mind V is rated to 149 MPH and H is rated to 130 MPH.

Any other suggestions would be welcomed.
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It might be an insurance issue if you use a tyre rated lower than is recommended for the car, should you happen to have an accident and insurers decide to get start looking at tyres. I realise you prob won't be driving at 130mph, but you never know with those insurers.
 
DB_SamX said:
It might be an insurance issue if you use a tyre rated lower than is recommended for the car, should you happen to have an accident and insurers decide to get start looking at tyres. I realise you prob won't be driving at 130mph, but you never know with those insurers.
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I'm not bothered about that, the car has a top speed of 115 MPH and I'd like to see an insurer try to avoid paying out because my tyres were rated to 130 MPH instead of 149 MPH. The car has non-Ford discs/pads and I changed my headunit without telling my insurance company. I am a rebel.
 
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Indeed, they offer superb grip in all conditions for sure. As for wear... the rear ones lasted no time but I had done several track days on them, as well as lots of spinning up. On a fwd focus which presumably not hot judging by the 195, I would imagine they would last quite well.
 
If your only getting 3k miles out of premium contact 2s, then I would say you are not driving very well. A friend who rotates his tyres once a year gets over 20k miles out of them. The wife gets over 12k miles out of them on the front of her clip. They are excellent in both wet and dry conditions.
 
I don't think your Missus does track days in them, I suspect that's where most of the wear on those has taken place in shoes' case.
 
Dandle said:
Why would you fit Premium Contact 2s if you do track days?
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This really. Also it's not really a good indication to anyone about how long they last at all, don't get contis, they only last 3k miles!!!!!!!

Anyway. They won a lot of tests when they were new out, Pitty the 5s are so expensive though. They are supposed to be much better again.


:)
 
Bridgestone T001's are harder wearing.
The wifes cmax had contis on and she's a careful driver but it munched em in no time.
Great grip but toooooo soft if you want long life.
 
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Clarkey said:
I'd say pc2 but wear is questionable, think they lasted 3k on shoes 328 driven hard. Excellent grip though in all conditions.
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3k is insane, and why would you buy PC2's to drive hard, surely CS3s or 5s would be better for that? the PC2's probably overheated and fell apart?
 
[TW]Fox;22070962 said:
I am yet to hear anything about his driving that doesn't make me glad to be hundreds of miles away :p

3k, lol.
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Considering it's a toy and the only times it gets driven is when I drive it hard......

Are there any better tyres available in 205/60/15 which aren't mega bucks?
 
Overlag said:
3k is insane, and why would you buy PC2's to drive hard, surely CS3s or 5s would be better for that? the PC2's probably overheated and fell apart?
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No, they performed very well indeed. The rims the car came with didn't lend themselves to getting better tyres - I'm (incredibly slowly) refurbing a set of RC041s, I'm hoping to have them done by the time my PC2s are worn and then I can switch to come 225's on 17 inch rims, thus opening up the door to a much wider range of tyres.

I originally bought the car to drift anyway, and for front tyres they're more than adequate. Obviously I don't drift on them at the rear, I use throwaway tyres on a different set of rims. The PC2s on the rear were to get to and from the track - turns out they're damned good tyres and the car works very very well as a track car/b road blaster, even on those tyres.

That's not to say it's loads better when on the Sport Contact 3s from the other car, which I tried out at blyton recently with very pleasing results.
 
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