Continental  ContiSportContact 5 SSR

I really have nothing negative to say about these tires, which I've only had for about 2,000 miles so far. Handling is excellent, in wet or dry conditions. Traction on wet pavement seems especially good. I haven't noticed any problems with noise. The one draw back is that they don't get as good mileage as low rolling resistance tires, so you have to be careful to keep them up to correct pressure for optimal fuel economy. Overall, I'm highly satisfied with these tires and would purchase again.

These tires came with my BMW 335 RWD M Sport sedan (F30 style), when I ordered the "Performance Tire and Raised Speed Limiter" option. The setup is 19" staggered. I ordered the Dynamic Handling Package for the car, which includes adaptive electronic shock absorbers that have settings for Comfort, Sport, and Sport+, but also adjust continuously to road conditions for best comfort and handling.

Coming from a 5-series that I had fitted with Michelin Pilot Super Sports, I expected to be disappointed with the run flat Contis. Surprise. I am not disappointed. Run flat tires have come a long way since the early, dark days of hard-riding, quick-wearing "hockey puck" tires. The 5 SSRs are compliant, sticky, and offer sharp turn in and very good grip through hard cornering. Combined with the Dynamic Handling Package, the car handles extremely well with these tires.

Although I've pushed hard, I haven't heard so much as a squeal from these tires. The car feels neutral with a touch of understeer, as expected from a BMW 3-series. Running over potholes and bumps, there's enough sidewall stiffness to feel controlled, but not so much as to knock your teeth together, for which run flats from 5 years ago were notorious.

I'm glad to see run flat technology come along well. I like the concept, but until recently, they just weren't appropriate for performance cars like the BMW 3-series. These Contis are the first I've driven that seem up to the task.

As with all run flat tires and all larger diameter low profile tires, run flat or not, pay attention to tire pressures. I set my pressures to the recommendation in the manual for 100+ mph driving, and then add 2 psi all around. This gives the tires enough pressure to deal with impacts from potholes.

These tires are a major upgrade over the stock Continental ProContact SSR. I asked various Tire Rack sales staff if going from an all season tire to a summer time would increase or decrease road noise to which all of them clearly informed me that road noise would increase with a summer tire. Well to date that is not correct my overall road noise has decreased with these tires. Maybe when they start getting old this happens but they are less noisier than my old Continental Pro Contact when new. Another super major improvement is steering response as the Conti Pro Contact SSR would tend to wonder a bit on the highway especially between 65 and 70 MPH. These tires grip the road like if they were glued to the road. Very impressed to date. BMW should offer these tires on the 328i.

These Continentals were good to the last drop. For comparison I've owned seven 3-series BMWs (E46, E90, F30) using these tires: original Continental ContiSport Contact (awesome grip on staggered setup, stiff ride, got 25,000 miles on rears), Continental ContiPro Contact (few redeeming qualities either in standard or run-flat form, harsh, loud), Continental ContiSport Contact 3 (similar to the original ContiSport, got 23,000 miles on rears), Michelin Pilot Super Sport (superb, light, stable, excellent grip, got 36,000 miles with rotation), Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110 (smooth ride, stable, moderate grip, replaced at 25,000 miles with plenty tread left), Bridgestone Potenza RE050A (harsh ride, never balanced correctly, returned them), Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 (super quiet/smooth, squishy turn in, steel belts showed at 12,000 miles on rears), Pirelli P7 Cinturato all season (currently in use on an F30, very good ride for a RF, stable at high speed, sub-par braking performance, moderately quiet, have become too slippery in the rain, ready to replace at 33,000 miles although they could go 38,000 miles). Continental ContiSport Contact 5 SSR (Very impressed. Squared setup on a second F30. Just into the wear bars at 27,000 miles with rotation. Still performing quite well with comparatively little noise for a worn tire. With less spirited driving I believe they would have gone over 30,000 miles. Excellent ride for a run-flat - the best I've experienced with this good of tread wear and overall high level of performance. Superior grip in wet or dry, stable at high speed and in corners, fairly communicative, predictable turn in. If these tires weren't so good, I'd get another set of Michelin Pilot Super Sports. But I prefer run-flats for my family and am more than satisfied with the ride, performance, and safety of these tires. This is the first set of run-flats I've flat out enjoyed. So I am now replacing the tires on both my F30s with the ContiSport Contact 5 SSR.)

Tires came with the car I bought in 2013. Still have about 3 mm tread after 38k miles!!! ... Smooth, relatively quiet, and cornered great for the first 10-15k. Then, steering and handling started feeling sloppy and tires became noisy. Need to increase radio/music volume at lower speeds. Outstanding dry traction, which fortunately is 99% of the time here in Southern CA. Not confident with the tire's wet traction at all - definitely felt nervous driving faster than 45 mph in heavy rain. Annoying "droning" sound at low speeds for past 25-38k miles. Looking to replace these tires ASAP, probably with non-RFTs.

Very good tire quality. Easy to balance for run flats. Smooth ride. Good grip.

Definitely better ride quality and quieter than the brand of run-flat that I replaced with these.

The worst threadwear tires I've ever had. I am not sure why mercedes choose this tire as their OEM c300 tires.

I had issues with these tires from new. When I got the car with 40 miles on it, it had be seating I guess on the lot for a few months so 2 of the tires had a flat spot. BMW changed them, rebalance and off I went, only to find out a few days later that I was still getting a shake on the steering wheel. BMW decided to just change the other two. 11,800 miles later the two rear tires are almost totally wore out to the point that I had to change them to pass VA inspection. Now I have to admit I am not "angel" when it comes to driving my car but I never had the issue with my 2013 335i and that was a 6 speed manual and I had auto-crossed it a couple of time, not this one. Yet I got over 30,000 on my set of Potenza S-04 Pole Position tires. And that just it, if you are comfortable running non-RFTs its best to go this route. But this tire is simple trash. Ride is harsh, it has excessive wind noise and the wear very quickly. In other words they have issues you don't need to have.

These tires came originally with my Mercedes-Benz C300 and I have experienced the same issue as one of the other reviewers on this post. My front two tires are worn out just within 9500 miles. This is our family car, thus we do not drive it on the track or anything like that. I have never experienced a tire ware down to the point of needing to replace it within 9500 miles. I will definitely not recommend, buy this tire, and if i purchase a car that has them, i will ask them to be removed or not purchase it at all.