joelkamp

Have 45K miles on my Conti crosscontact lx sport tires (R22/285/40) and it's time to replace. Looks like the two options for all seasons from audi dealer are the Conti crosscontact lx sport or Michelin pilot sport a/s 4. The Contis are cheapest option and I have liked them, but the Michelin are close on price and seem to have good ratings. Curious if anyone has gone from the Conti's to the Michelin's and can share experience. While not from the dealer there is also a Pirelli scorpion zero all season available, but they are quite a bit more expensive. Not a lot of all season options in the R22/285/40 size. Is there any reason a OEM original tire such as the conti would be better that the Michelin or Pirelli? Thanks for your thoughts and experience.

ThomasWShea

if you are set on all season my exp is that the Michelin will feel softer. some people like that. both have their following. if you are open to summer tires go with the new conti sportcontact 7! Tyre Reviews on youtube raves about the new sportcontact 7. it has limited sizes in the US right now but 285/40 22 happens to be one that is made.

joelkamp

Thanks @ThomasWShea definitely pretty set on the all seasons despite the great summer options available. Not enough winter weather (only 4-5 days with any real snow or ice) in the Midwest USA where I am located and I don't drive at the limit enough in the summer to justify the two sets of tires. Based on this my guess is I will notice very little difference between the options and should go with the best priced high quality tire option. I am leaning toward the Contis at this point since they have served well so far. Just seems like the Conti technology on the crosscontact lx sport is a bit dated.

ThomasWShea

i do summer & winters because: 1) summers are way quieter. 2) it is temperature based for winter not precipitation based. anything below 47, and you lose the bulk of your traction with summer and all season tires. of course you don’t notice until you have to really slam on the brakes or something. i never knew it was temp based until about 3 years ago. then from talking to people on here i learned the U.S. is pretty much the only big all season market. everyone else in the world runs summers and winters. I didn’t know. i thought all seasons were the norm. they are only the norm in the U.S. anyway, just interesting tie bits that i never knew, so sharing. my dad runs all seasons. he doesn’t care - it is cheaper and easier. he is retired.

dolmstead

I live in South Florida so my opinion is probably different but the Sportcontact 6's were the best tires i have had on my Q8. Next best were the scorpion zero all seasons, i had the michelins on for a few days as i initially bought those first and they were so bad I swapped them out for the scorpion zero's. The ride was just terribad on them. Never had the cross contact's thought. But after the pirelli's wore out I just recently went back to the sportcontact 6's and couldn't be happier.

ThomasWShea

yeah, over the decades, i've had a few pair of pirelli and a few pair of michelin tires on cars. i did really like michelin tires on my 5 series, they were very smooth. I didn't like Michelin tires on any sports cars I've had, the sidewalls are softer. some people prefer that though, and I have never had the Michelins people rave about currently - the 4 S etc. Pirelli - I've never had the very best pirelli tires but the ones I had, I didn't like. Today, the ones that look good are disproportionately more expensive than the Michelin and Continental equivalents. I had some Pirelli P7000 tires on an RX-7 turbo II years ago, i could not stand them on that car.

It makes sense the SportContact 6 is your favorite, that is a tire they designed for.