AutoBild: ContiPremiumContact 2 Test Winner - Very Good In All Safety Aspects

HANOVER, GERMANY – March 11, 2009: The ContiPremiumContact 2 came away as the test winner and was rated 'exemplary'; another tyre model achieved exactly the same overall marks. However, the all-season tyre tested only gained the rating 'satisfactory but with reservations', because of weaknesses in braking performance on wet and dry roads. The editors advised against the cheap tyres featured in the test, rating them 'not recommended', again because 'their braking distance on wet and dry roads is too long'.

There were differences too in the results achieved for braking in the wet by the Continental tyre and several competitors designed for low rolling resistance. Some of the tyres had to make do with a 'satisfactory' rating, because of their noticeable or heavily pronounced understeering and long braking distances on wet roads. Commenting on the results, Alexander Lührs, Press Officer at Continental, said: "This shows once again that placing too much emphasis on low rolling resistance inevitably leads to longer braking distances on wet roads.

It again confirms quite clearly the conflict of objectives between braking in the wet and rolling resistance." Before the test results had even been published, one tyre manufacturer who had focused his efforts on substantially reducing rolling resistance in a new tyre, had already withdrawn his product from the test, to re-submit a revised version.