Continental WinterContact TS 850

Another good winter with these tyres. They continue to offer good wear, and very progressive handling. As the early spring has been warm here, you can feel them become a little less accurate, but still handle and grip well, even in relatively warm weather.

Terrible in the second winter, no traction

I had these tires fitted last October, and testing them out in the Canadian winter, I've got to say there's no fear driving with these on snow. I can't comment on the wear of these tires as I just got them, but they seem to be doing fine. My impression is that these tires are definitely worth the extra dollar. I say this coming off a set of Hankook I'cept Evos, which were absolutely terrible with road noise. These tires are dead silent compared to that. Dry grip is good, there is a little bit of vibration, but that could easily be my rims. Wet grip is excellent, never had any problems in the rain with hydroplaning. My car does have four wheel drive, which could be a contributing factor, so keep that in mind. Excellent tire, excellent drive, worth the extra money.

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did some 30k km with them, still 7mm left. After summer tires gives some floating feeling, but it's hard to expect anything else from a softer winter tire. It's a good all rounder on dry, wet and snow. On ice, don't expect much from even the best non studded tire. With these I didn't dare more than 30km/h on bumpy or flat ice covered roads. Had some bumps to the curbs with side walls, no bulges, unlike with my summer Dunlop sport bluresponse - one bump, one small bulge. If I need another winter tires set, I'd be keen to buy the successor TS870.

Jonathan kindly replied to an Email enquiry. From his reply, I went ahead and placed 21 inch run-flat Continental WinterContacts on to my 2017 X5, that has different tyre sizes, from front to back. The wife loved the difference to her feeling of safety they made, between the Scottish Highlands Cold Winter and the wet/cold Autumn/Spring of Herefordshire England, 'so much so', she disliked the stock tyres being replaced back on the wheels for the summer and instantly felt less safe. This was due to a perception feeling of no longer being stuck to the tarmac with the stock summer tyres, as compared to the Continentals. They have served us for 2 Autumns, Winters and Spring seasons very well and still in good condition. From Jonathan's most recent youtube videos, Im inclining towards Michelin UHP all season 4 tyres, as the twice yearly tyre change with the reality of UK Weather, be it Scotland of England my wife and I find ourselves, Jonathan's informative video's lead all, or certainly myself, towards all season tyres from now onwards, especially with the advances in tyre technology we are seeing with the Michelin and Continental brands. Changing vehicles this Sept from X5 40d 2017 model to X3 M40i 2021 model with 21 inch run-flat wheels. My biggest issue with tyre change, is BMW dealerships don't or will not put new winter tyres on 21 inch wheels, so you have to go to an independent tyre business, that more often than not, has to order in the tyres required for 21 inch runflat type wheels. Another reasons for my decision with a new vehicle, a new tyre solution to all season tyres (Note: at 21 inch run-flats, there are not many tyre manufactures to choose between, though improving slightly each year) These Continental WinterContact tyres have been amazing and made us watch motorist abandon, struggle, or slip off roads in snow conditions, as we quickly drove between destinations with full safety and trust in the tyres. Even in wet and dry, as a normal driver (No Track) these tyres kept us glued to the road in wet and dry conditions, until real warm weather made us change back to stock summer tyres. But, the UK weather of recent, is so inter-changeble, both in Scotland and England, that the 7 degree point to change winter/summer is blurred often right through Autumn, Winter and Spring. Today 2021, early May in Scotland I'm driving with snow on the road. Thankfully we have kept the winter tyres on even later this year!

Season 8 (the last one) / above 50000 km / above 31000 mi, still 4 mm pattern. Driven on VW Up! White Up! 75PS/95NM MY2013. Very confident tyres on all road conditions. Dry: a bit slippery (normal for a winter tyre), confident on cold, quite slippery on warm above 15*C. Wet: very confident on water. Snow and ice: extremely reliable on slushy weather conditions. After 8 years still a good grip on the snowy mountain roads. Fuel economy and wear: great (consider the economical and light car). Because these are tyres with really high sidewalls they have quite a shallow handling in contrast to the 16 inch summer tyres. I really love the Contis as a winter tyre - next season I will get the upcoming TS 870 (if available)...

Yes that mileage is not a typo - I just checked my service history and I fitted them in September 2015 at approx 31500 miles.
Since then I've just clocked 75000 miles, save a few weeks on track tyres this summer.
Bought as a full set of 4 to replace a frankly shocking mixed bag of budget rubber they were immediately quieter by a big margin.
The Colt is only 1050 kgs or so and despite a fast road style they STILL had just under 4mm of tread depth remaining but had obviously given their best as in dry conditions they seemed to get sharper - probably due to less rubber flexing as they wore down - but in damp to wet conditions it was obviously starting to loose bite, as well as the ride getting a little brittle.
As expected in cold to full on wintry conditions they excelled to a laughable degree. When the UK ground to a halt last year it was almost cartoonishly funny to drive past everything stuck, sliding and abandoned - from the outside it must have looked reckless but I assure you the safe margin was huge without nudging their limits.
I wish I had a dashcam then to post how on hitting a blizzard on the M65 towards Blackburn how much traction and grip they had. On the way back over the Moors towards Manchester I counted 3 cars written off and in ditches but the little Colt was just planted. Braking and cornering were safe as long as you didn't take daft risks.

Overall they were fantastic - even fuel economy was improved.

The only downside really was lack of steering sharpness and dry braking 'feel' but they weren't the P (sport) versions.

Just replaced them with a pair of TS860 and Michelin Alpin 6 as I couldn't get a full set of TS860 in this size.

Hello.
Initial tread: 8,5mm
After 90.000 km, 4,5mm tread (22.500km per mm); I like to care my tyres.

Only run for a short time. They grip well, but we're horrible to drive on a car with otherwise excellent sporty handling. The sidewalls are too soft which causes a lack of feedback on turn in (no feedback at all until the tyre leans over and grips). Worse still, the lack of turn in is immediately followed by a loose feeling at the rear of the car as the rears lean over and bite.

I blew out two of the four tyres in a deep pothole a week after purchase, so I've taken the opportunity to replace the whole set with the cheaper Bridgestone Blizzak lm32 tyres I usuallly buy. Wish I'd stuck to them instead of listening to the reviews on these continentals.

The continentals do have good grip and I think would be ok on a family saloon, but not on a sporty car.

I've used winter tyres of various premium brands for 20 years, but these TS 850 Conti's are the best by miles. Grip and handling in snowy conditions, be it new soft snow or icy compacted snow, is extraordinary. The car hardly budges, it's like driving on wet tarmac. On a compacted snowy upland road in Derbyshire with the temperature around zero I stopped the car, put it in first gear, then floored it. OK, it's a 4wd Octavia Scout, but the tyres didn't even spin. Incredible. Tried again, same result. Braking was just as good, you could brake hard and still it didn't let go. A month later, skiing in Austria, with 15 cms of new snow and snowing so hard that the ploughs couldn't keep up, we had to drive up a series of steep hairpins.....car didn't budge, I couldn't have gone any faster even it was just tarmac.

As another review said, the first year was good but second year the tyres were heavily worn on the edges. Across most of the tyre the tread was still legal. Even so the tyre in the wet at this stage was appalling. Many times unexpected ABS or wheel spin. In the dry they are predictable but squeel all the time being pushed round corners. The worst thing about this tyre is it hardly works on those wet days that are after a period of dry, so the road is a bit leafy/oily. They are like driving on ice! I'll never touch these tyres again. I have Michellin CrossClimate on my other car (Zafira), and Goodyear 4Seasons before these on this car and both were suprioer in UK driving conditions (and cheaper). I have ordered Goodyear 4seasons again to replace these, even though they are still legal. Too dangerous for the coming winter season.

Excellent tyres. I have driven them on RWD car and honestly I have never got stuck since I had them.
Here in Bulgaria we have very bad winter conditions. The temperatures sometimes drop to -25 - -30. The snow coves the whole roads and it deeps up-to 12 inches. My BMW was manual and only RWD. This tyres made it stand against all statements that BMWs are summer cars. It could pass where many FWD cars failed and got stucked and it is only due to this brilliant tyres.
Definitely recommend them. The worst is that neither TS850, nor TS860 have sizes bigger than 225. That's a pitty.

Excellent tires, very good grip on wet and snow. Comfortable ride even in high speed (200km/h). Would definately buy them again.

Bought a set for my VW Polo 2016 for winter monts, and they are excellent tires. Grip si great in all kind of conditions from icy and snowy to sloshy to wet and dry. Consistant. They are confortable, and silent in dry. In wet there is little bit of winding noise above 50 mph, but nothing to extreme. This tires give me confidence and sense of security, so I am very pleased with them.

The grip and the price is very good, so I can recommend to everything.