Continental Pure Contact tires unacceptably noisy!

2 years back I bought a set of these tires, and now they have about 20k on them with 8/32" tread left.

There are no visible signs as to why they are making such a racket. They have always been properly aligned, kept in balance with proper tire pressures. They are evenly worn with no 'feather edging' of the tread, they have been rotated every 5k.

Speaking to a Continental rep was a waste of time, his answer was" Those tires shouldn't make any noise" LOL Yeah sure they shouldn't but they DO! Riding in the car makes you feel like you are in a monster truck or a Hummer with huge chunky block tread tires. This is annoying and very tiring is all I can say.

I have plans to put Michelin Defenders on the car to replace what I have.

Only reason for the post was to let others know of my experience with these Conti tires.

Cheers,

"ES"

 

hiya bisco,

Well I honestly can't give a mileage number, the reason being that I feel the noise has come on slowly, and I've become accustomed to it. Similar to having cataracts on your eyes, over time your body adapts to the cloudiness and you don't realize what you aren't seeing until they are removed.

Really it was my wife that brought it to my attention when we took a drive a few weeks back, she said " Gosh those tires are really noisy aren't they?" Yes of course they are and I'm used to hearing it now, but I'm also sick of it! There's no reason that I can see why I must turn up my audio to compensate for that da**ed noise. If I had snow tires on all four corners I'd expect it. But I don't with these tires that don't have an aggressive tread pattern.

Good in the wet and in the snow, and the dry, of course, but noisy as hell. I may try and record it with my cell and if I get a good recording I'll post it here.

Cheers,

"ES"

 

Sorry to hear of your difficulties with the Michelins, doesn't give me a lot of confidence to buy a set! Makes me now think that I'd be better off with a cheap set of Hankooks or Coopers or just put up with it and wear them out to the cords!! If they do actually last to 70k it will be a long miserable 50k more to get there.

The deal I have set up with the dealer is that he will credit me the price of the Continentals against the Michelins and mount and balance, dispose of my tires for about $210 total out the door. Only thing he insists on doing,that I don't want done, is changing the O rings on the TPMS. I'm not having trouble with them so why kick a sleeping dog? Maybe that's common nowadays but it's news to me.

REMEMBER... these are the same folks who scratched my wheels when they mounted the Conti's the first time. So I am reticent to let them do any more than is necessary to get me out of there.

Good luck and thanks for the info it only makes my decision harder!! lol

"ES"

 

Hi padroo,

I have considered a bearing but for the length of time the noise as been there, a dry bearing would have seized up by now imho.
Plus the noise is all throughout the cabin and not confined to one corner or the other. But thanks for the input.

I like the KISS principle too IE" Keep It Simple Stupid" in other words don't make it harder that it needs to be. Look for the easy things first.

Regards,

"ES"

 

Well I don't know how to answer you as far as noise. I do agree they are fine in the wet and even snow but I'm not in a predominately wet climate nor one that has 6' of snow each year.

I'm glad you like them, I wish I could say the same thing.

"ES"

 

Already did the jack thing, good thinking, but found nothing obvious.

I did make a recording of the noise in the cockpit from 0 to 50 mph. I think the recording is very telling and no one should have to listen to this mile after mile imho!

To be able to upload the file I had to change the extension to a text (.txt) file, remove the .txt and play the mp3 file. Other than some low frequencies at the noise floor, the drone, whine, noise is obvious. I was on a short stretch of macadam road where I was lucky to get to 50mph, but for demonstration purposes I think this will suffice.

Thanks to all who replied thus far!

"ES"

 

They were never rotate in the 'X' pattern, always on the same side.

Well the tires are all that's left imho, did you listen to the mp3 file I uploaded?

It's more telling if you have decent speakers for your computer.

Thanks, ES44AC

 

Constant noise that increases with speed,noise is too 'big to be a wheel bearing. Plus it's not confined to one corner of the vehicle .

Did you try and listen to my mp3 file of the noise? I made it yesterday with the cell phone laying on the passenger seat

Thanks for your question!

'ES'