Given
87%
while driving a
BMW 320i Msport
(265/30 R19)
on
a combination of roads
for 23,000
average miles
In my 25 years of driving, I've tried every premium brand and various UHP models within each brand. I've also tried a few mid-range brands. Continental still remains my first choice as it's the only brand that has consistently never lost traction be it dry/wet or hot/cold. I've used Sport Contact 2, 3 and 5P in the past. They never let me down. These SC6 were just as good and surprisingly much better on wear. All previous SC's had a high wear rate and would normally wear out around 10k miles. All other premium brands would last longer. But somehow I've managed to get 23k miles out of the SC6 and still have 2.5mm remaining so it seems I'll get a few more thousand miles out of them until they reach the legal limit. This is the most I've ever got out of any tyre which baffles me as I wasn't expecting it.
Now that they are down to 2.5mm and Spring has started (UK), I can't comment on what they'd be like in Winter towards the end of their life but I suspect no summer tyre would be so great. This Winter just finished they still performed excellent at around 3mm.
The SC6 (non OE spec) sit nicely on the wheel (265 tyre on a 9j wheel). I don't like tyres that curve in on the shoulders, I like them to sit flat and flush with the wheel for a more square look and these do that. The wheel protection isn't great but being low profile tyres, it would be impossible not to destroy the wheel anyway.
I believe the SC6 is only available in rim sizes of 19 inch and above so it gives you a good feeling that you've got something that isn't available to everyone.
Going forward, if I was to buy any tyre to replace these right now, I'd buy the newer SC7 to try out. It depends what you're looking for, I'm going by handling and grip performance. But if you're looking for the better value for money then there are other brands with good performance for example the Goodyear Eagle F1 (I've used Asymmetric 1, 2 and 3). Michelin, Bridgestone and Pirelli were also well balanced so from my experience you can't really go wrong with any premium brand if you drive according to the weather conditions. The only one I wouldn't buy again is Dunlop (I tried SportMaxx GT and RT) as they were terrible in the wet and cold.
