Continental Winter Tires Take First Place in Finnish Test

• New VikingContact 7 places first out of six competitors
• Scandanavian special tire is “best in class”
• Finnish car magazine Tuulilasi tests 14 performance characteristics

The new Continental VikingContact 7 took first place in the test conducted by Finnish magazine Tuulilasi (10/18 issue). The soft-compound tire, a special tire for driving at very low temperatures, prevailed against six competitors from European and Asian manufacturers. The editors wrote that the VikingContact 7 was “the best in its class when driving on ice, snow and wet roads”. The magazine had tested 14 different criteria.

Soft-compound tires are specialists for Scandinavian conditions. Their extremely soft compound stays flexible even at very low temperatures. In addition, these tires have a large number of slots and block edges in order to be able to grip perfectly on often icy road surfaces. This means that there is no need to use studs.

The VikingContact 7 will be manufactured this year in 112 sizes for rims with diameters of 14 to 21 inches. All tires are approved for speeds of up to 190 km/h and thus significantly higher than the speeds allowed in Northern Europe. Five tires are supplied with ContiSeal technology. These tires are self-sealing when they suffer punctures to their treads caused by objects up to five millimeters in diameter. Some tires are manufactured using SSR runflat technology, and models with ContiSilent technology for particularly comfortable rolling noise inside the vehicle are also available.