The Continental WinterContact TS 860 is a premium touring winter tyre that repeatedly stands out for wet-weather safety and confidence, backed by extensive independent test success and strong real-world owner satisfaction. It delivers reassuring grip and braking in the rain, strong resistance to aquaplaning, and dependable snow performance for typical European winters. Comfort is another highlight, with low noise and an easy, predictable driving feel.
Across professional testing, the TS 860 proves to be one of the most consistently high-performing winter tyres in its class, regularly finishing near the top and frequently winning group tests thanks to its wet grip, balanced snow handling and strong all-round drivability. Drivers echo this with praise for secure wet braking, stable behaviour in standing water, and a generally well-rounded balance in everyday use, including decent wear through the first seasons.
The main compromises are relatively minor but worth noting: outright ice performance is not at the level of dedicated Nordic-focused winter tyres, and some tests find its dry braking/handling merely average compared with the very best. From user feedback, a recurring theme is that performance can drop off after several winters (often 2-4), particularly on wet and packed snow/ice, and some owners report a softer sidewall feel that slightly dulls steering response. Overall, it remains an excellent choice for wet, mild-to-typical winter climates where predictable safety margins matter most.
The quick answer
Owners say85%from 50 owner reviews86% would buy againRead the reviews
Strengths & weaknessesWet, SnowValue, IceRelative to its rivals across every test we hold
Built from every independent test result and vetted owner review we hold for this tyre - the evidence is all further down the page. Data updated October 2026.
In 225/45 R17, the Continental WinterContact TS 860 is projected to cost €14.83 per 1,000 km to buy and run - about €593 over 40,000 km - based on the price, wear and rolling resistance measured in the 2019 Auto Bild Winter 17 inch Tyre Test.
Tyre purchase + fittingExtra fuel vs the most efficient tyrecost per 1,000 km
Assumes a typical car using 8 l/100km (with rolling resistance causing 20% of fuel use), fuel at €1.65 per litre and €70 fitting per set of four. Purchase prices are from the time of the 2019 test; financing costs are excluded.
How good is the Continental WinterContact TS 860 in the wet?
Across the 10 wet-braking tests it has featured in, the Continental WinterContact TS 860 stops 2% shorter than premium rivals, 7.7% shorter than mid-range rivals and 8.3% shorter than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews wet score of 98/100, and owners rate it 9.2/10 in the wet from 50 reviews.
How good is the Continental WinterContact TS 860 in the dry?
Across the 9 dry-braking tests it has featured in, the Continental WinterContact TS 860 stops 1.1% longer than premium rivals, 1.2% shorter than mid-range rivals and 0.4% shorter than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews dry score of 78/100, and owners rate it 8.9/10 in the dry from 50 reviews.
How good is the Continental WinterContact TS 860 in the snow?
Across the 10 snow-braking tests it has featured in, the Continental WinterContact TS 860 stops 5.1% shorter than premium rivals, 2.7% shorter than mid-range rivals and 12.3% shorter than budget rivals. Across the 3 snow-traction tests, it is 1.6% better than premium rivals, 2.4% worse than mid-range rivals and 1.9% worse than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews snow score of 79/100, and owners rate it 8/10 in the snow from 50 reviews.
How good is the Continental WinterContact TS 860 on ice?
Across the 2 ice-braking tests it has featured in, the Continental WinterContact TS 860 stops 1.9% shorter than premium rivals, 2.7% shorter than mid-range rivals and 19.2% longer than budget rivals. Across the 2 ice-traction tests, it is 0.1% better than premium rivals, 4.1% worse than mid-range rivals and 27% worse than budget rivals. It has a Tyre Reviews ice score of 26/100, and owners rate it 7.2/10 on ice from 50 reviews.
How fuel efficient is the Continental WinterContact TS 860?
Across the 9 tests measuring rolling resistance, the Continental WinterContact TS 860's rolling resistance is 3.6% lower than premium rivals, 5.1% lower than mid-range rivals and 1.5% lower than budget rivals.
More questions about the Continental WinterContact TS 860(13)
How many miles does the Continental WinterContact TS 860 last?
Based on test and owner data, the Continental WinterContact TS 860 is expected to last around 25,024 miles (40,272 km).
What do owners say about the Continental WinterContact TS 860?
Across 50 owner ratings the Continental WinterContact TS 860 averages 85%. Owners rate Wet Grip highest at 9.2 out of 10 and Ice Grip lowest at 7.2. 16 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles. 92% of owners score it 70% or better.
How much does the Continental WinterContact TS 860 cost to run?
In 225/45 R17, the Continental WinterContact TS 860 is projected to cost €14.83 per 1,000 km to buy and run - about €593 over 40,000 km - based on the price, wear and rolling resistance measured in the 2019 Auto Bild Winter 17 inch Tyre Test. Of the tyres compared in that test, that makes it the cheapest to run.
What is the Continental WinterContact TS 860's EU tyre label rating?
Across its range, the Continental WinterContact TS 860 most commonly carries EU label ratings of C for fuel efficiency, B for wet grip and 72 dB for noise.
How comfortable and quiet are the Continental WinterContact TS 860?
Owners rate the Continental WinterContact TS 860 8.6 out of 10 for comfort and noise across 42 reviews.
How well do the Continental WinterContact TS 860 wear, according to owners?
Owners rate the Continental WinterContact TS 860 8.4 out of 10 for wear across 42 reviews. 16 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles, and the typical review covers 7,000 miles.
Would owners buy the Continental WinterContact TS 860 again?
86% of owners say they would buy the Continental WinterContact TS 860 again, based on the 44 owner reviews that answered the question. 66% of them gave it the highest possible answer.
What do owners say about the Continental WinterContact TS 860's snow traction?
Of the 42 owner reviews analysed for the Continental WinterContact TS 860, 28 mention snow traction: 25 praise it (strong snow traction) and 3 criticise it (weak snow traction). One owner wrote: "Pristine snow - wow, excellent - hill starts, downhill and general grip is fantastic". Read those reviews
What do owners say about the Continental WinterContact TS 860's wet grip?
Of the 42 owner reviews analysed for the Continental WinterContact TS 860, 26 mention wet grip: 25 praise it (confident wet grip) and 1 criticise it (weak wet grip). One owner wrote: "I am not only able to go without any wheelspin on wet road". Read those reviews
What do owners say about the Continental WinterContact TS 860's dry grip?
Of the 42 owner reviews analysed for the Continental WinterContact TS 860, 18 mention dry grip: 18 praise it (strong dry grip) and 0 criticise it (limited dry grip). One owner wrote: "For a winter tyre, the dry grip is amazing". Read those reviews
What does the Continental WinterContact TS 860 replace?
Questions and Answers for the Continental WinterContact TS 860
Hello, I have watched your videos regarding Winter tyres recommendation and also the latest one talking about All Season tyres. Show moreHello,
I have watched your videos regarding Winter tyres recommendation and also the latest one talking about All Season tyres. I own a Mercedes E 350 CDI fitting 245/45/17 in winter. I was looking forward to try the Conti TS860 or TS860S but they don’t make them on this size. My other alternatives are the Dunlop WinterSport 5 or the Goodyear Ultragrip Performance Gen 1. As I only use them from October to March, am I chosing a good tyre ? I wanted to try the Contis but they are not available. Where I live it rains a lot during the winter and we eventually have snow. Thanks in advance! Show less
September 15, 2018
Both the Goodyear and Dunlop are good alternatives, as is new Michelin winter tyre. Expect a full winter tyre video in the near future!
Show all questions(3)
How noisy are the tyres?
October 10, 2017
The Continental WinterContact TS 860 was recently tested by Auto Bild and found to have mid-pack noise characteristics, but still quieter than the summer tyre on test.
is this an RFT (Run Flat Tire) ?
October 30, 2016
There are currently no runflat sizes of the TS860, however there are 5 planned runflat sizes due for introduction in winter 2017.
Continental WinterContact TS 860 earns strong praise for wet grip, aquaplaning resistance, snow performance (especially when new), comfort/low noise, and overall safety, with many high-scoring reviews highlighting balanced handling and good wear for several seasons. A recurring minority concern is notable performance degradation after 2-4 winters, particularly on wet and packed snow/ice, and occasionally softer sidewalls affecting steering response. Overall sentiment is positive, with most drivers recommending the TS 860 for milder to typical European winters and wet conditions.
What owners mention most counted across 42 reviews
Tap one to read only the reviews that mention it.
Owner ratings averaged from 50 ratings
Owner score85%
Wet Grip92%
Dry Grip89%
Handling86%
Comfort86%
Wear84%
Road Feedback84%
Snow Grip80%
Ice Grip72%
Featured reviews
Most helpful 96%
“Over 17,000 miles in 3 seasons. I drove on the highway (130 - 160 km/h), expressways, city driving. Excellent handling in the wet, primarily aquaplaning and braking in the wet. On snow, the quality of the Continental...”
“Premium tires for one season, I put on 185/65r15 tires in December 2021, removed them in March 2022. Traveled 10,000 km, during this time excellent grip on snow and wet. When I put them back on in December 2022 I felt a...”
“Amazing tyre, did 5.5k km this winter, drove in all kind of conditions, dry-wet-snow and the results were excellent, especially on snow I have no words, roads full of snow and the control, handling of the car were on an...”
Wear: These had excellent wear
Wet Grip: Very good in wet weather especially sleet.
Only had Snow here in Tun Wells for a few days back in 2023 but boy did the tyres help out! I had them fitted on the car for most of the year and I would say they were almost an All Seasons Tyre as they performed very well in Summer 2022 and did not seem to wear.
Sadly, my lovely Polo 1.9TDI got written off and was taken away.
Would fit new ones again to my Yaris if we have a bad winter.
Initial Impressions94% 2,000 miles
I had these fitted in November 2021 but never had a chance to test in real Wintry conditions.
They were refitted in Nov to my Polo and this week Sun 11 Dec 2022 we had our first snow in SE UK. I went out in the car the following day and here are my thoughts:
Slushy roads - good grip and will get you out of problems but be careful - no hard breaking or accelerating as they will slip but still give traction
Ice - good grip but again be careful with breaking / accelerating
Pristine snow - wow, excellent - hill starts, downhill and general grip is fantastic.
Overall feel very safe with these tyres on.
Over 17,000 miles in 3 seasons. I drove on the highway (130 - 160 km/h), expressways, city driving. Excellent handling in the wet, primarily aquaplaning and braking in the wet. On snow, the quality of the Continental comes to the fore. Absolutely flawless! Very good dry performance. Fuel consumption with these tires is good. Given that after 3 seasons there is still 4.3 mm of tread left, I consider tire wear to be just one of the excellent indicators, among others. Honestly, after 2-3 seasons the tires should definitely be changed regardless of how much tread is left and whatever brand it is. I will buy these tires again, of course the next generation, TS 870!
Which tyres do you drive?
Researching the Continental WinterContact TS 860? Rate the tyres you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
These were on my car when i bought it used, so the tyres that i had experience with were about 30-40% worn. I mostly do city driving but here and there are some longer distances on the highway. They don't wear down quickly. Never had any grip problems during the winter. Even took the car to icetrack and these performed exceptionally well, i was impressed. When buying my next set of tyres, they will be also not studded from continental. I have to point out that there were some places where the rear of the car's tires spinned a bit, but that's normal because of winter.
Fited this tyres in 10/2017 and for first 4 winters they were awesome in dry and wet. Very good grip and safe breaking in both conditions. Road feedback was average but this is touring tyre, not UHP one so didn't expect it to be any better. Road noise also on average, not very silent but also not very noisy.
On 5th winter (2021/2022) tyre started losing drip on wet roads, noticed slight lost of grip on places/situations where I never lost it before. As car is daily driver and used for going to work it was easy to notice such grip loss on places I never experienced it previous 4 winters. Also, ABS/TC did kick a bit more than previously.
I fited them this winter also (2022/2023) as their 6th winter and they are now horrible and dangerous to drive. Even slightly agressive throttle pressure will result with TC kick in and complete loss of grip. Cornering on wet/moisture surface and lowish temeparatuers have to be done with maximum care as car do tend to slide. ABS is working overtime.
I ordered new set of Michelin Alpin 6 because car was almost undriveable and often my wife drive my kid to school so no way I would keep them and risk my family safety.
Keep in mind that tyres still have lot of thread left and than when they are not on car (summeer season) they were stored in dry and dark place, on wheel holder (I have separate winter/summer wheel sets) so no pressure put on them and before being stored entire wheel were completely washed and dried.
I didn't experience much snow during my time with this tyres so can not comment on that.
CONCLUSION: very good tyres for 4 seasons but after that their performance start dropping significantly.
33%
Member
Renault
185/65 R15
10,000 miles
A Combination of Roads
Easy Going
Premium tires for one season, I put on 185/65r15 tires in December 2021, removed them in March 2022. Traveled 10,000 km, during this time excellent grip on snow and wet. When I put them back on in December 2022 I felt a huge difference in their performance, minimal traction on packed snow, zero on ice. Driving even on a level stretch was excruciating, I was forced to keep a huge distance from the car in front of me due to the risk of a collision, the slightest touch of the brake pedal would activate the ABS. Before buying new winter tires, he installed the summer BRIDGESTONE, which were on another set of rims and had significantly better grip than the winter ones. I strongly DO NOT recommend the TS860.
I have used them for one winter season now and I can say that they grip well on dry,wet and snowy surfaces. It doesn't excel in any particular area but does the job well enough in all of them. They are more silent and equally comfortable compared to my summer tyres (Goodyear Asym. 5). Ice grip is adequate even though they are not for Nordic Winter conditions.
Only thing I'm not satisfied about them is the braking feel in wet conditions, especially braking hard in heavy rain. They just don't give me enough confidence in such conditions, almost aquaplaning in the entire braking distance. I'm sure this aspect is improved for the new TS870 model. For my next winter tyre set I'm thinking of getting the TS870.
I've driven around 50-60k km on these tyres. I didn't get to experience much snow because I live in Croatia but I was very satisfied with these tyres. The only complaint is that the comfort was not great and road feedback was suboptimal.
I would recommend buying these tyres.
First joy, then sorrow. I read a lot about tire tests and according to what I read, Continental brand products are always among the best winter tires. That’s why I chose the TS860 in 2017. Safety comes first. I am willing to buy an expensive tire, but my expectations are also high. The tires were manufactured in September 2017 and fitted to my car in November. I live in Austria, where there is usually a lot of snow in the mountains. My first experiences were extremely good. The tires had outstanding aquaplaning resistance. Very, very good handling in snow. It was safe to drive at 80 km/h in snowfall with 15 centimeters of snow on the road. The tires had very good cornering properties on wet and dry roads. A good grip made you feel really safe. Although there was no traction on pure ice, but on ice other tires don’t have traction either. The tires were very quiet and comfortable. I was really extremely happy with the TS860... for the first 2 winters. During the 3rd winter, my experience began to change. It wasn’t a problem on dry roads, but it was in snow. Although the tread depth of the tires was still 6 millimeters, snowy grip, cornering, traction, and most of all braking deteriorated a lot. There was a situation where I thought the car would never stop. At the end of the winter, the tires were 2.5 years old and were marked "cracked" on the roadworthiness test. It was like they were old tires. The legal requirement is a minimum pattern depth of 4 mm. Because it was still 5mm, I also fitted them to my car last November. The grip in snow had gotten even worse, but what’s worse was that the braking distance had grown extremely long on wet roads. On a wet road, you would barely press the brake, the ABS would already be working yet the car would barely slow down. Now it is dangerous to drive with this 4-year-old tire in rain and snow. I think any new budget winter tire is better than this 4 years old premium tire. It’s true that Continental makes great winter tires when we look at new tires. But people don’t buy new tires every 1-2 years. I have never had a tire that has aged so quickly. I drove about 40,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) with these. I recommend these tires only to those who buys a new ones every 2 years.
For me the best winter tyre to date. I recommend it to anyone asking me which winter tyre to buy and so far no one had a single complaint.
Dry and wet grip is very good for a winter tyre, but what's even more important for me, this tyre has thick, strong sidewals and therefore awesome road feedback and stability at higher speed cornering. Comfort is good.
I had a set of these tyres on an Incident Response vehicle for 2 winter seasons, November-May 2019//2020 (was delayed putting summers back on because of the first lockdown in the UK) and November-January 2020/2021 before selling the car. There's not enough good things I can say about these tyres. Where I live we don't really get that much snow, maybe 5 days a year but we get lots of ice. I needed tyres that would take me safely up rural hills in the ice and occasional snow locally, and from time to time get around rural Mid Wales, usually heading in the direction of the worst of the weather. I was most impressed by their ice performance, the tyre would constantly surprise me in the best way possible because I wouldn't expect it to drive certain roads I would make the car go on, expecting to need studded tyres in lots of occasions. Working around floods with lots of standing water I was also very impressed by their wet handling. I even ran the tyres in temperatures up to 25C which wasn't ideal and I could always tell I was on winter tyres in terms of the dry handling in the heat, but it really proved they would work if needed. After about 12,000 miles of pretty aggressive driving the tyres still had loads of tread, I would expect at least another 10,000 out of them at least.
One of the best when it comes to driving in the wet, or breaking in the wet conditions, aquaplaning resistance is impressive, but as soon as the snow comes in this tyre just disappears, my 2.4l petrol engine(not a lot of torque at the bottom) can spin those tyres all day long without even having to give much gas... Grip.. there is just none, i believe it's a great central european winter tyre, but if there's a chance that you will see snow on the upcoming winter just go for the nokian wr d4, the difference on the wet is miserable and when it comes to driving on the snow wr d4 is on another level
