Continental is notorious for producing excellent all-season tires, but they don’t lag much behind in the winter tread department. VikingContact 7 in particular is one of the latest additions, and this tire was specifically created for harsh northern environments (hence the name).
VikingContact 7 is not a studded tire or a touring tire, but it’s there to ensure you have the best performance on ice and snow possible. Everything from materials to the pattern design was made with an idea of the maximum efficacy in winter weather.
In order to perform well on snow, the tires need to be soft, adaptive, but also have a lot of cavities for sweeping through slush. Well, Continental included several high-quality materials that enhance the softness of the tires without sacrificing strength and durability.
The first material is the canola oil. When added into the composition, it increases the adaptability, pliability and flexibility. In short – the treads can be very soft without forgetting about their form and integrity. It’s a good combination, and very efficient for snow climbing.
Another great component is silica. They usually put a lot of it into the tread proper, because it’s excellent at granting more grip and control on slippery surfaces. Basically, you get more braking distance and handling on snow and ice, but chiefly – in water.
There are many subtypes of VikingContact 7 with varying groove positioning. The main and by far the most exciting tread variant is the one without circumferential grooves at all.
This pattern is the sort of an adaptive grooves network – virtually the entire contact patch is full of rhomb-like blocks separated by the canals. As a result, it’s a very aggressive and versatile tread design.
It obviously wouldn’t be very responsive around corners, but they compensated this problem with some very richly grooved shoulders. They improve the handling very much, but it’s not the main source of traction.
In rainy weather, the groove network evacuates virtually all the water from beneath the car, nullifying the hydroplaning and improving the handling. The pattern is great for traction as it is. In snow, it performs even better – blocks acting as many little claws that adapt well to the changing surface.
It also helps that the tread is so full of sipes of different widths and sizes. Some help sweep through snow, and some are there for the biting into slippery surfaces, which is very useful in winter.
The lack of integrity could be a huge problem in such a tire, but the grooves aren’t separating the blocks completely. In fact, the rhombs are reliably connected by many little bridges. That makes sure the tread keeps its form without giving up the main advantage – terrain adaptability.
Due to this Herculean effort of developing an optimized and highly-adaptive tread design, the tires are great in virtually any winter conditions. They are especially good in snow, which is actually the main element they were developed for. You can even speed on ice, but it’s just theorizing.
The main consensus about these tires is that they are superbly quiet and smooth on good roads and in snow, but vibrates and roars awfully on less than ideal ones. You must remember that Viking tires are good at adapting to the environment. They’ll let you know if the road is not smooth.
So, it’s equally a road problem, as well. Their ideal environment is somewhere in Northern Europe, where the roads are good and there’s plenty of snow around. For anything milder, they’re probably overkill.
So, Continental VikingContact 7 tires are superb if you want to deal with a lot of snow, slush, ice and water. It’s their element, and they feel great there, above else.
They don’t really have significant problems, save for the inability to correctly predict how long they’ll last. It’s bound to be long, but you can’t tell, nor can Conti, it seems. They are also quite costlier than usual – the prices can be as steep as $200, but what you pay for is pure quality.
If you can afford them and need them in harsh winters, they are absolutely worth it.
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