Continental Unveils Conti.eContact Concept Tire in Frankfurt
A ten-day automotive exhibition in Frankfurt opens its doors this week, September 15-25, to show off the newest tires of the coming season as well as explore non-standard ideas. For instance, the Continental unveils a concept tire for electric cars.
Continental launches a lot of tires this year, all of them differing in the sphere of application yet they are united by low rolling resistance and eco-friendly character. The Cont.eContact tire shows reduced rolling resistance as well thanks to its innovative design and narrower tread.
The company also promises long mileage with this tire. The Cont.eContact is also optimized towards driving over non-asphalted surfaces, which makes it possible to use electric cars equipped with this tire outside city streets.
At the same time Continental ContiEcoContact 5 will be exhibited in Frankfurt. This is a successful eco-friendly tire delivering effective braking on water film. It was first unveiled in 2011 and suits mounting on compact and medium-sized cars.
Another important tire at the Continental stand in Frankfurt is their ContiSportContact 5 tire known for exceptionally good handling and reliable braking coupled with low rolling resistance to reduce fuel consumption of powerful sporty vehicles.
Continental Becomes Tire Brand of the Year
Every year the “Firmenauto,” a German automotive journal, selects the best tire and the best car. This is the opinion the majority of corporative auto park managers take into account when choosing vehicles for their organizations. This year the journal named Continental the best tire brand of the year 2011.
Continental company has been already awarded. The ceremony took place in the end of July with Firmenauto and DEKRA representatives giving the award to the tire-makers. DEKRA is not an accidental guest here for the company deals as well with tire testing.
What things were taken into account when choosing the best tire-maker? The award was given to the company with the highest level of customer service, customer-oriented management style and so on and so forth. Interesting that Continental has been holding this top position for 5 year already.
Katja Hinze, who is charge of manager work with corporative auto parks on German secondary market, says that they are very glad to prove the title of the best tire brand of the year for the fourth time. This is a powerful stimulus for the company to do their best to achieve the same status next year.
The best tire brand is chosen by the experts from the companies who have their own auto park. Here is the top Five of 2011:
1. Continental
2. Michelin
3. Goodyear
4. Dunlop
5. Bridgestone
World Tour in an Electric Car Fitted with Continental Tires
As the first world tour on an electric vehicle is going towards its successful ending the travelers, Nina Rasmussen and Hjalte Tin, decided to visit Continental headquarters for it is Continental tires that were mounted on the wheel of the car that was used in the journey.
Nissan Qashqai electric vehicle with the ContiPremiumContact 2 tire, for low rolling resistance is vital for such cars. The tire was designed in a scientific research center in Hannover. It is not only low rolling resistant but is also durable and can easily stand to any harmful influence from the outside. That’s why the tire coped with the world-wide tour perfectly well.
Nina Rasmussen and Hjalte Tin have been on the road for ten month already. They started their journey in Denmark and went further through Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Mongolia, China, the USA, Spain, France, the Switzerland, Germany and Holland to reach Copenhagen in the end.
As the vehicle has rather a limited mileage, only 200 km, the main difficulty of the trip was to avoid battery discharging far from electricity supply. The Ttravellers had to draw their plan carefully and charge their vehicle in garages, campings, hotels and even in private houses.
The main purpose of the tour was to promote hybrid vehicles and to show the community that “green” cars can be an excellent alternative means transport that helps people save the environment and avoid climate changes.
Auto Bild Tests 225/40 R 18 Summer Tires
On the threshold of the new season the Auto Bild magazine conducted their regular summer tire performance tests. This time they compared 225/40 R 18 tires, the size being standard for numerous sports cars and tuned vehicles. The tires were mounted on Mazda MPS.
The Auto Bild tested as many as 10 tires during these tests, namely Hankook Ventus S1 evo K107, Pirelli PZero, Continental ContiSportContact 3, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric, Uniroyal Rainsport 2, Bridgestone Potenza S001, Dunlop SP Sport Maxx T, Michelin Pilot Sport 3, Falken Ziex ZE 912 and LingLong L688.
The best wet performance is shown by Hankook Ventus S1 evo and Goodyear F1 Asymmetric as their steering response is perfectly precise while their braking distance is exceptionally short. At the same time, the cheap Chinese LingLong tire disappointed the testers by its poor handling and rather a long braking distance. The affordable Falken tires also proved the fact that it’s better to decide in favor of a higher price tag than to compromise on safety.
The best dry handling is to be found with Pirelli PZero and Continental ContiSportContact 3. Uniroyal Rainsport 2 is not very good in this respect, but it is made designed specially for wet roads. Pirelli and Bridgestone deliver the shortest braking distance in the dry.
Uniroyal and Bridgestone provide for the best hydroplaning resistance in this group while LingLong shows the poorest wet performance despite its V-shaped tread pattern. Pirelli and Hankook deliver the shortest braking distance in the wet. Hankook and Goodyear show the safest maneuvering in the wet while Michelin and Falken would be slower in this respect.
You shouldn’t wait extra smooth ride from you sport utility vehicle, yet Bridgestone and Uniroyal tires absorb road irregularities comparatively well. The stiffest tires are LingLong and Falken. As to noise build-up, all the tires don’t differ much unless you have a sensitive ear.
To colclude with, it should be said that it is Hankook S1 evo and Pirelli PZero that were called the best tires as a result of the Auto Bild summer tire tests.
