Continental TrueContact Tour vs Michelin Defender T+H: All season tires have always been the go to tires for the American market and this segment has been well established across the years. There are 2 types of all season tires, one with 3 peak mountain & one with only M+S. We have covered these 2 types of tire head to head with Michelin’s Defender T+H (M+S) vs Cross Climate 2 (3 peak mountain) and the M+S all season tires usually are worst in winter performances but excel much better in mileage. This time around we picked up another M+S all season challenger in the form of Continental’s TrueContact Tour. This tireline is relatively new as it was launched in 2018 and covers a large range of passenger cars and crossovers. Defender T+H on the other hand is a relatively old gun as it was launched a year earlier in 2017. Let’s put 2 of the finest M+S all season tires head to head and see who comes out on top !
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the Tire Rack’s “Testing Standard Touring All-Season 2021” test. A total of 4 tires were tested this time around in Tire Rack’s own proving ground. The graph below shows the comparison between Continental TrueContact Tour vs Michelin Defender T+H based on the relevant performance category. The TrueContact Tour was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for subjective evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if tire A is graded 7 while tire B is graded 6, A is better than B by 5%.
As both tires are categorized as all season tires, Tire Rack has included snow & ice in its testing portfolio. A detailed testing on snow including acceleration, braking & handling were evaluated. The tire size of interest is a 225/50 R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A4 & Honda Accord. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle is a rear wheel drive 2020 BMW F36 430i Gran Coupe with a 17×7.5 rim.
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria. The biggest margin came in the form of wet braking as TrueContact Tour totally out-brake Defender T+H with an earlier distance of 18.1 feet (5.5m) !
With such large deficit in wet braking, TrueContact Tour continued its dominance in wet handling with a 1.92 seconds advantage in lap time against Defender T+H. For the subjective wet handling rating, TrueContact Tour faired better with a subjective score of 6.31/10 compare to 5.56/10 of Defender T+H. Overall, TrueContact Tour dominated Defender T+H in all wet performances.
Defender T+H:
- -14.3% in wet braking
- -3.8% in wet handling (subj)
- -5.2% in wet handling (lap time)
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. While things overwhelmingly favored TrueContact Tour in wet, Defender T+H was slightly better in dry. Defender T+H managed to brake 1.2 feet (0.37m) earlier compared to TrueContact Tour from a speed of 50mph (80km/h) down to 0.
In dry handling, both tires perform marginally the same with Defender T+H having a small advantage with a subjective rating of 6.38/10 over TrueContact Tour’s 6.19/10. In regards to the lap times, TrueContact Tour was 0.11 seconds faster per lap relative to TrueContact Tour. Overall, both tires showed similar performances in dry with Defender T+H having a tiny advantage.
Defender T+H:
- +1.4% in dry braking
- +1% in dry handling (subj)
- -0.3% in dry handling (lap time)
Noise/Comfort/Ride Quality
Ride comfort, noise & comfort was tested and as in dry & wet performances, the scores are really close. TrueContact Tour came out slightly ahead at 7.25/10 rating compared to the 7.21/10 rating of Defender T+H with noise & ride quality being the main differences.
Defender T+H:
- -0.2% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.
Snow
As both tires have been rated as an all season tire, we were thrilled when Tire Rack included snow on its testing list. As discussed earlier in the introduction, TrueContact Tour & Defender T+H do not have the elusive 3 peak mountain logo. Hence there is no need to pass a certain threshold of snow traction level as determined by the legislation.
With dry performances being extremely close, we saw a big difference in winter performances with TrueContact Tour dominating across all snow tests. It stopped 6 feet (1.8m) earlier than Defender T+H from a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) to 0. It was also extremely good when it came to snow acceleration as it took 4.7 feet (1.4m) less distance to accelerate from 0 to 12 mph (20 km/h). While it was also quicker in lap time (4 seconds !) and also subjectively better in snow handling (+0.62 points). Overall, TrueContact Tour is clearly the better snow tire.
Defender T+H:
- -9.9% in snow braking
- -14% in snow acceleration
- -3.1% in snow handling (subj)
- -5.5% in snow handling (lap time)
Ice
With such dominating performances in snow, we would expect this to continue in ice. However Defender T+H showed there are still some winter performances left inside by out braking TrueContact Tour by 0.6 feet (0.18m) from a braking speed of 12 mph (20 km/h) to 0.
Defender T+H:
- +1.6% in ice braking
UTQG rating
We have previously shown that UTQG tread wear rating can be a good indication of your expected mileage. Below are the UTQG values of both of the tirelines.
| Brand | Tireline | Size | Tread Wear | Traction | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continental | TrueContact Tour | H & V speed rated | 800 | A | A |
| Continental | TrueContact Tour | T speed rated | 800 | A | B |
| Michelin | Defender T+H | All | 820 | A | B |
The mileage warranty for both tires were the same at 80,000 miles. This could be more or less guessed from their UTQG tread wear rating of 800 for TrueContact Tour compared to 820 of Defender T+H. Overall we can expect a similar mileage for both tires.
For more in depth information about UTQG, please check out this article here. We even have a free download on the latest UTQG values from the leading tire manufacturers.
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market. This was in alignment as Defender T+H was 20 dollars more expensive than TrueContact Tour.
Tire size: 235/60R18
Defender T+H: : $231
TrueContact Tour : $211
Difference: +8.7% more expensive for Defender T+H.
Summary
Overall, TrueContact Tour showed clear dominance in wet & snow while Defender T+H just had a tiny edge in dry & ice. With price & mileage taken into consideration the clear winner is TrueContact Tour with its excellent wet braking & snow performance !