Drivers generally describe the Continental Sport Contact 3 as a strong-performing UHP summer tyre with confident handling, strong braking, and notably good wet-road grip with good resistance to aquaplaning. The most consistent complaint is rapid tread wear (especially on front axles/FWD cars), with many also reporting higher road noise/firm ride and premium pricing. A smaller but recurring theme is tramlining/steering pull on certain cars or as the tyre wears, and some note wet/cold performance can deteriorate later in the tyre's life.
What owners mention most counted across 189 reviews
I was highly impressed with these tyres, dry & wet grip was excellent, being able to press on feeling comfortable that the tyres wouldn't let go suddenly. The wear rate was also impressive, even after 10,000 pretty quick miles the fronts had a good 5mm across the width, and the rears were just legal when i sold the car. I shall be replacing the Pirelli P zero's on my XJR with these soon. True they are pricey, but worth it imho.
I'm very impressed with the Conti SC3s which replaced Michelin PS3s. in comparison, there's a noticeable improvement in comfort and composure on poor surfaces, reduction in noise and turn in seems sharper. Sure when pushing hard they perhaps don't have the ultimate wet and dry stickiness that the PS3s had, but 95% of the time you'd be forgiven for not noticing. At ?20 less per tyre than PS3 I'm more than happy so far and they seem to suit my driving style quite well. Can't yet comment on wear, but will watch carefully!
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
I currently have a set of CSC3's on the front and a set of CSC2's on the rear of my car, and they have transformed the handling and grip levels considerably compared with the Falken 452's and Toyo Proxes T1-R's I was using before.
In terms of ride quality, I honestly cannot notice any significant difference between the CSC3's and the CSC2's, other than the CSC2's being a tad noisier when driving on motorways.
So far, both the CSC3's and the CSC2's are wearing well with hardly any wear evident after 1000 miles of driving, unlike the Toyos which had worn down by 0.5mm within 500 miles when on the fromnt of the car.
Dry weather handling is very good and wet weather handling is excellent. Both the CSC3 and CSC2 are very nicely balanced tyres. They're expensive compared to some other performance tyres but are, in my view, worth every penny.
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Just reserved my second set of these tyres after a faultless 10000-ish miles. My driving style is best described as enthusiastic and these tyres haven't let me down. My car isn't all that heavy and with fairly agressive engine tuning, I need tyres I can rely on to grip the road.
Towards the end of their life, the wet grip wasn't all that brilliant but that is the only real complaint I have. They've far outlasted the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3s I had before.
Definitly good tires, but I had Tyfoon succesor 2 before, and CSC3 are miles ahead on handling and road feedback.
My biggest concern is the wear, as these tires are expensive, but at this time I would have to say, I would definitly but these again.
Until now I religiously stuck to Pirellis on my X-type. Firstly the hideously expensive (certainly in S Africa) P-Zero Assymetrico's then, more recently. the P Zero Rosso. As they wore the car's already pronounced understeer got worse, road noise and comfort were diabolical and I experienced severe tramlining. I needed new tyres and the Conti's were on a special. Well, what an improvement. The car is amazingly quiet and far more comfortable. Understeer is still there but far more manageable and the tramlining is now a thing of the past. So far I have done only 2000km so cannot comment on the wear. Also I have not really pushed the car to the "limit" but I feel confident they would be up to scratch.
I've found this to be an outstanding all rounder in all weathers. Wet behaviour is outstanding for a tyre not advertised as a wet performer, it resists aquaplaning brilliantly and I've driven it in some torrential conditions. For a performance tyre, noise is well contained and comfort is fine, firm but comfortable. Where it really scores is rolling resistance, very important on a daily runner; it's much better at stretching the mpg than any other tyre I've tried. It's very grippy in the dry as well, there are better but not with the SCS3's wet abilities. Wear is good providing you drive seasonably sensibly, I got 23,000 out of mine but you will get far less if you drive with exuberance! Expensive, yes, but worth every penny!
