Continental Max Contact 6 vs Triangle Sportex TSH11: Choosing the right tires for your vehicle can significantly impact your safety, fuel efficiency, and overall driving experience. With so many brands and types of tires available in the market, it’s important to understand the difference between cheap and high-quality options. In this article, we’ll compare two popular tire brands, Continental and Triangle, to highlight the distinctions between their products
Continental’s popular APAC Ultra High Performance product “MaxContact 6” is one the well established UHP tires out there in the market known for its outstanding wet braking performances. It will represent our high quality section due to its strong performance in multiple press tests. On the other side of the corner we have Triangle which is from China and was recently ranked 24th place in the top leading tire manufacturer charts. We will feature its UHP product “Sportex TSH11” which will represent the cheap tire section being the cheapest tire in the test as it cost 50% less than Continental MaxContact 6. Without further ado, let’s bring both tires head to head to see who comes out on top !
Table of Contents
Continental Max Contact 6 vs Triangle Sportex TSH11: Results
Results below were taken from the Autohome press test results in conjunction with Autobild. 10 tires were tested in the Contidrom proving ground. The graph below shows the comparison between Continental Max Contact 6 vs Triangle Sportex TSH11 based on the relevant performance category. The Max Contact 6 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. Note that for subjective comfort evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if tire A is graded 8 while tire B is graded 7, A is better than B by 5%.
The tire size of interest is a 225/45R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A3 and Hyundai Elantra. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information. The testing vehicle is a standard VW Golf.
Wet
Safety has always been the main theme when it comes to the need for wet performances. As wet is the main requirement for the UHP segment, the tire’s wet performance contributes at a much higher weightage compared to other tests. As expected, Max Contact 6 managed to out brake Sportex TSH11 by 18.2 meters ! from a speed of 100km/h down to 0. This is an outstanding distance considering these tires are used in the sporty segment where the tire users generally drive at a much higher speed. With 18 meters, you could fit close to 4 VW Golf in between this distance which in our eyes is too huge for our liking !
With such a weak wet braking performance, Sportex TSH11 continued to disappoint as it finished with one of the lowest average lap speed of 64 km/h compared to the 76 km/h which Max Contact 6 achieved. The only silver lining for Sportex TSH11 came in the form of aquaplaning performance with both tires cloaking a 69.5 km/h slipping speed.
Overall it is clear that Continental’s Max Contact 6 was far more superior in wet performances compared to Sportex TSH11 with clear advantage in wet braking & handling.
Sportex TSH11 :
- -26% in wet braking
- -12% in wet handling (average lap speed)
- 0% in straight aquaplaning
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. Max Contact 6 was again in the lead in dry braking by out braking Sportex TSH11 by 4.4 meters.
In the dry handling performance criteria, the differences are much more closer as Max Contact 6 was only 1.2 km/h averagely faster than Sportex TSH11 throughout the lap. Nonetheless with very strong dry braking performances, Max Contact 6 is the leading performer in dry as well.
Sportex TSH11 :
- -11% in dry braking
- -1% in dry handling (average lap speed)
Noise & Comfort
Noise & comfort is usually not the top requirements when it comes to the UHP segment but both tires were tested anyhow. Both tires were equally matched when it comes to interior noise as only 0.1 dB differentiated them at a cruising speed of 50 km/h & 80 km/h. The biggest differences came in the comfort section as Max Contact 6 topped the charts with the highest comfort value of 7.5/10 while Sportex TSH11 only managed a 6.5/10 rating.
Sportex TSH11 :
- ~0% in interior noise (-0.1 dB)
- -5% in subjective comfort
Rolling Resistance
As wet braking takes the biggest dominance in the UHP segment, rolling resistance is definitely not at the highest priority as the engineer has to handle other more important target conflicts. However with the sustainability topic being more prevalent, rolling resistance has been widely used as a competitive marketing tool as it could be easily seen in the label values.
Max Contact 6 had a lower rolling resistance coefficient value of 0.83 in comparison with Sportex TSH11 which has a higher 0.9 rolling resistance coefficient.
Sportex TSH11 :
- -7% in rolling resistance
Price
As mentioned earlier, Sportex TSH11 was the cheapest tire in this test while Max Contact 6 was the 4th most expensive tire behind Michelin & Dunlop.
Tire size: 225/45 R17
Sportex TSH11 : RMB 450
MaxContact 6: RMB 820
Difference: -82% more cheaper for Sportex TSH11.
Summary
In conclusion, the high quality Continental Max Contact 6 showed its worth as it excels in wet, dry, comfort & rolling resistance. Even though Sportex TSH11 came with a much lower price point, the drawbacks can be clearly seen from the test results. Based on opinion, the clear winner in this duel is Continental’s Max Contact 6 !
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