Continental Viking Contact 7 vs Continental WinterContact TS 860: As you might notice from previous post we have covered, there are 2 types of cold weather tires. The so called “winter” tires are normally referred to the middle European winter tires which has predominantly mild winters with temperature > -5°C. The other type of tires are called “nordic” tires which is mainly use in Scandinavia, Canada and north China. These places frequently experienced very cold temperatures up to -25°C. Obviously the requirements are also different and it would be fairly interesting to compare 2 different products in one test plan.
We will use the best of the best line up comparing the king of Nordic aka “Continental Viking Contact 7” vs the king of winter aka “Continental WinterContact TS 860”. These 2 tires have a combined win rate of 16 out of 30 press test they have participated. Hence rest assured we are comparing 2 top products from their respective market. We will use the test magazine results of Vi Bilägare 2019 winter studless tire test as our basis for comparison.
The graph above shows the comparison between Viking Contact 7 vs WinterContact TS 860. Viking Contact 7 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for handling evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if the tire A is graded 4 while tire B is graded 3, A is better than B by 5%. The natural scaling does not really make sense in evaluation whereby the max number is 5. The tire size chosen for the test is the highly popular 225/50 R17 which is commonly used by Audi A4 and the BMW 3 series.
Table of Contents
Ice
As this test was intended for Nordic tires, we will start off with ice as it is the main focus performance for Nordic tires. As expected the Viking Contact 7 totally destroyed the WinterContact TS 860 in ice in all categories. Outstanding to see that the WinterContact TS 860 lacks the Viking Contact 7 32% in ice traction. This demonstrates the clear focus of the Nordic tire with ice being their forte.
WinterContact TS 860 :
- -32% in ice traction
- -25% in ice braking
- -12% in ice handling
Snow
As the middle European winter is relatively mild compare to the Nordic regions, snow performance is of high importance as snow usually forms around 0 to 2°C. The Viking Contact 7 once again showed how strong they in winter performances by blazing past the WinterContact TS 860 with a significant margin.
WinterContact TS 860 :
- -11% in snow traction
- -11% in snow braking
- -6% in snow handling
Wet
Apart from snow, winter tires next big requirement is wet as it does rain quite often in middle Europe. WinterContact TS 860 dominance in wet can be clearly seen especially on aquaplaning where it was 31% better than Viking Contact 7.
WinterContact TS 860 :
- +3% in wet braking
- +12% in wet handling
- +31% in aquaplaning
Dry
Similar to wet, the same story repeats itself in dry. WinterContact TS 860 has a much better grip in dry surfaces as it is designed to be used in tarmac road conditions. Viking contact 7 trail WinterContact TS 860 significantly in dry braking & dry handling.
WinterContact TS 860 :
- +17% in dry braking
- +12% in dry handling
Rolling Resistance
This is the only performance that both tires were relative close in terms of objective data. The WinterContact TS 860 is only 4% ahead of Viking Contact 7 in rolling resistance.
WinterContact TS 860 :
- +4% in rolling resistance
Subjective noise & comfort
When it comes to noise & comfort, the superior soft compound of Viking Contact 7 proved to be too strong for WinterContact TS 860. Viking Contact 7 managed the best possible score of 5/5 while WinterContact TS 860 only managed 2/5
WinterContact TS 860 :
- -15% in subjective noise & comfort.
Summary
As both tires are champions in their respective markets, it can be clearly seen what key performances it is focused on. Viking Contact 7 being a Nordic tire, excels strongly in ice & snow while the WinterContact TS 860 being a winter tire excels strongly in wet & dry performances. There is no clear winner here for this match up as it really depends which part of the world you are using your tires. 🙂