All-season touring tires are some of the most sought-after tires on the market, thanks to their durability, efficiency, and versatility. Continental’s TrueContact Tour tires are one of the most popular high-performance touring tires around and, with primarily glowing reviews, appear to be one of the best options, too.
Availability in a wide array of sizes to fit a variety of vehicles has helped the Continental TrueContact Tour become a leader among high-performance touring tire options. A successor to the also-popular TrueContact, the TrueContact Tour has been bolstered by advanced features that are praised by customers in reviews.
If you’re in the market for new all-season touring tires, Continental TrueContact Tour i a great and affordable option. Let’s take a look at the features, cons, and cost of the TrueContact Tour in a breakdown of one of the market’s leading high-performance tires.
Features of the Continental TrueContact Tour
The Continental TrueContact Tour boasts a handful of features that help it excel in several categories:
- Advanced Tread Compound: The tread compound may be the most impressive feature of the TrueContact Tour, as the tire has earned ample compliments in life expectancy and fuel efficiency. For the TrueContact Tour, Continental used a tread with +Silane additives to aid with wet traction and braking as well as temperature-activated functional polymers to specifically enhance tread life and fuel efficiency.
- Smart Tread Design: Continental designed the tread on the TrueContact Tour in a symmetrical pattern that allows for even wear throughout tire rotation and with circumferential grooves to improve hydroplaning resistance. In wintry weather like snow and ice, lateral grooves and siped intermediate tread blocks trap snow in the tread to reduce sliding by creating snow-on-snow traction.
- Comfort Ride Technology: As they do with most of their tires, Continental included their Comfort Ride Technology in the TrueContact Tour to ensure it provides a comfortable ride. An underlay beneath the tread helps prevent vibrations and noises from reaching a car’s cabin and producing the ideal ride.
With progressive tread composition, functional design, and Comfort Ride Technology, Continental TrueContact Tours were created to give consumers a long-lasting all-season tire with bolstered handling that makes for a smooth drive.
Maintenance Indicators
Another differentiating feature of the Continental TrueContact Tour is the two systems integrated into the design of the tire to help drivers check the wear of the tread. In addition to traditional Tread Wear Indicators, the TrueContact Tour also has QuickView Indicators that make determining tread wear extremely easy. However, you likely won’t have to check tread wear often with the TrueContact Tour’s reported 95,000-mile tread life.
Traditional Tread Wear Indicators are small rubber bars built into the grooves of a tire. Recessed and only slightly visible in new tires, the bars become fully visible and flush with the tread as a tire’s rubber wears with use. When that occurs, it indicates that a tire’s tread has worn down completely, and the tire needs to be replaced immediately as it no longer has reliable traction on any surface in any condition.
QuickView Indicators consist of the letters S, W, and D imprinted directly onto the tread blocks of the TrueContact Tour. When all letters are visible, it indicates that the tire will get reliable traction in all conditions. As the tire wears, so will the letters. When the S has worn off, the tire no longer has reliable traction in snowy conditions. When the W has worn off, the tire no longer has reliable traction in wet conditions. When the D is worn off, the tire no longer has reliable traction in dry conditions, and it’s time for a replacement.
The benefit of QuickView Indicators is the ability to determine what conditions the tread is safe to drive in more progressively than with traditional Tread Wear Indicators. The traditional indicators only allow for a driver to determine when the tread is completely worn from the tire, and it needs to be replaced immediately, while QuickView Indicators help keep drivers safe by letting them know when traction is unreliable and in what conditions.
Featuring both traditional and QuickView Indicators built into the tire, Continental TrueContact Tour buyers will be sure to know how their tread fares with two ways to monitor their wear.
Cons of the Continental TrueContact Tour
Impressively, the list of cons for the Continental TrueContact Tour is small. The only areas where the tire falls short are commonplace for most all-season touring tires to lack.
Although the TrueContact Tour boasts grooves to specifically improve snow-on-snow traction, its traction is still unreliable in snowy conditions. The tire can handle light snow and has a relatively short braking distance but is no replacement for a traditional winter tire. As an all-season touring tire, Continental TrueContact Tours are also not recommended for off-road excursions and were not designed to tackle large rocks and other non-road surfaces.
Cost
Just like with every tire, cost varies depending on the size needed for the vehicle. But, as one of the most versatile tires out there, the Continental TrueContact Tour is available in a wide range of sizes to fit a majority of cars, crossovers, and even some SUVs.
Available in 15-inch to 19-inch wheel diameters, the Continental TrueContact Tour costs anywhere from $120 to $240 per tire, according to Discount Tire. Compared to other high-performance all-season touring tires, TrueContact Tours are less expensive yet receive reviews on par with — or better than — its high-performance competitors.
Should I Buy Continental TrueContact Tours?
If you’re searching for new high-performance all-season tires, Continental TrueContact Tours are highly recommended. Featuring enhanced tread composition and a well-crafted design, the TrueContact Tour gives drivers a comfortable ride with smooth and reliable handling in most weather conditions. Continental’s premier touring tire is long-lasting and comes at a fraction of the cost of its competitors while still delivering in terms of performance quality.
Plus, with limited or mileage warranties up to 80,000 miles available, Continental has your back should anything go wrong with a TrueContact Tour. Conveniently available in sizes to fit most cars, this tire is sure to please many drivers.
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