New Sizes Increase Conti’s Summer PCR Range

Newly announced sizes have broadened Continental’s summer passenger car tyre range for 2008. The company’s top ContiSportContact 3 model is now available in a total of 138 sizes and 111 size options are included in the ContiPremiumContact 2 range for medium and larger sized vehicles.

The ContiSportContact 3 was developed with the manufacturers and drivers of sporty cars in mind, and Conti thus emphasised braking distances, handling and wet road performance as the tyre’s key strengths. The range features an additional tread pattern variant for powerful rear-wheel-drive sports cars and yet another tread version for tuning requirements. The Conti sports tyre has received original equipment releases from numerous leading carmakers: Volkswagen has recently started equipping its Passat CC with the self-sealing variant based on ContiSeal technology. Other vehicle manufacturers offer SSR-run-flat variants as standard tyres on wide sections of their model lines.

The tread design of the ContiPremiumContact 2, with its unique 3D groove with flat and steep flanks, is given credit for the tyre’s wet and dry braking performance. This feature is designed to give the tread blocks the extra stability required when the vehicle has to suddenly avoid an obstacle or otherwise avert an unexpected situation. The tyre is, comments Continental, also one of the industry’s premium products in terms of aquaplaning response, steering precision, driving stability and rolling noise.

Conti’s summer line-up is completed with the ContiEcoContact 3 and the ContiSportContact Vmax. The ContiEcoContact 3 offers short braking distances on dry and wet roads, low rolling resistance and good mileage. In this regard the tyre sets standards for safety and economy, reports Continental, who confidently guarantee that the ContiEcoContact 3 is a fuel-efficient retrofitting option for virtually all compacts. The vehicle industry has already issued numerous OE releases.

Approved for speeds of up to 360km/h, the ContiSportContact Vmax arguably the world’s fastest mass-produced tyre. Thanks to multiple tread grooves, which have a cooling effect even at elevated speeds, and a handling-enhancing tread depth of 6.3 to 7 millimetres, the ContiSportContact Vmax ensures reliably safe driving properties at speeds most of us can only imagine. The high percentage of sea in the tread, moreover, guarantees good water dispersion in the wet. The asymmetric ContiSportContact Vmax is the only road tyre worldwide to be approved for speeds up to 360 km/h, Conti adds. In controlled record trials, the tyre has already travelled a blistering 393 km/h.