Continental Eco Contact 3 or MICHELIN ENERGY SAVER 82T

ABN

My first attempt to buy a “quality” set of tyres, always brought budget ones up to now.

Have reduced the choice to either
Continental Eco Contact 3 or MICHELIN ENERGY SAVER 82T

For me the most important aspects are wear rate and noise. 90% of driving is low speed local suburban roads.

Reading reviews/tests on one site says that the Continental is good but on another they say they wear quick and are noisy.

Similar story with the MICHELIN one site rates them highly yet others say they are not very good.

Leaning towards the MICHELIN atm but since they are £10 more expensive would rather go with the Continental.

Any one have any experience or either tyres that could help me decide which buy button to press.

Thanks

goldspanners

ask the supplier if they can price match the michelins. i would go for the michelins over contis for varying reasons.
they will last longer than the contis.
they are made in the uk. (dundee).
dont know how well this specific model will handle but if they are anything like any other michelins ive ever had they will handle well right up untill the end of thier servicable life.
i have a set of contis at the moment and dont seem to be wearing very well, im only expecting 20k out of them max.

fatbelly

Used both of these on a Fabia. Both good but the Contis definitely wear faster - think I got 15k out of the front ones.

ABN

Thanks for the comments thus far

fatbelly wrote: »

Used both of these on a Fabia. Both good but the Contis definitely wear faster - think I got 15k out of the front ones.

All seems to be pointing to the Continentals having a high wear rate.

Can you remember if there was a noticable difference in tyre noise?

Premier_2

My experience of Conti Eco Contacts is that they are almost lethal in the wet having very little adhesion.

Totally different animal to the Conti Sport Contacts I'd had previously on the car.

They are termed 'Eco' as used as they are supposed to improve fuel economy, which can only occur by reducing rolling resistance i.e. friction.

Unfortunately, mine seemed to last ages too before needing replacing - again in line with the low friction idea; I presume they were a harder compound.

I've not experienced the Michelin Energy Saver tyres, but I've not come across a poor Michelin tyre yet. But then Conti are usually good too, but I wont ever be buying Eco Contacts again.

It really depends what you are after. If you want long life, you'll tend to sacrifice adhesion, especially in the wet.

Road noise is always potentially a problem with any tyre. It's unlikely you'll ever match the original tyres performance as you cannot buy/specify the exact compound that the supplier provides the OEM for use when the vehicle leaves the factory.

fatbelly

ABN wrote: »

Thanks for the comments thus far

All seems to be pointing to the Continentals having a high wear rate.

Can you remember if there was a noticable difference in tyre noise?

Didn't notice any difference in noise but then they were competing with a 1.9 pd diesel engine!

Also...

Premier may have a point. I just checked and my Continentals were Premium contact

daveyjp

"90% of driving is low speed local suburban roads."

Why bother with expensive brands?

The Conti Eco Contacts on our Aygo are officially pants. As this does low mileage round town I'll be getting cheap mud and snow tryes next time.

mikey72

I've got Michelin Energy Savers on all our cars (Costco). Can't comment on the wear, they seem ok so far, but haven't done a great mileage. Noise is ok, and grip is definately good in the wet and dry. I'd say they're as good as the best of any tyre I've had before, and a lot better then the worst of the ones I've had. I'd buy the same next time.

Keith

Costco have 20% off 4 Energy tyres at the moment

harveybobbles

I have Michelin Pilots on the front of my car and Conti Sport Contact 2 on the rear. Probably a bit more noise from the conti to be honest, but they were the same price...

ABN

@Premier. Interesting reply. Seems that people find that the Conti's either have no grip but wear well or have good grip but don't last long.

Wonder whether the conti's either
a) performance varys a lot between batches
b) don't work very well with certain makes/types of car but better with other makes

Anyways just got back from having a pair of Michelin energy savers put on the front. All seems to be fine thus far ~2 miles

The old tyres had worn badly on the outside edge so had the tracking checked at the same time. Was found to be spot on. Will need to keep an eye on how these wear.

Any ideas why, apart from tracking, why the outside edges should have a much higher wear rate than the rest of the trye?