tirewheelguide
Head-to-head Updated

Continental Premium Contact 5 vs Continental Sport Contact 2 — Compared

Relative Score (0–100): the weighted average of the categories below, each 60% road tests and 40% owner reviews (comfort 40/60). Based on 4 + 0 road tests and 119 + 229 owner reviews. How we score

Premium Contact 5 is ahead, 70–62

Check price on Amazon · Premium Contact 5 or Sport Contact 2 on Amazon
Add your size for an exact match
/R

Both Amazon links then search this exact size.

TireWheelGuide may earn a commission from purchases made through these links.

Continental Premium Contact 5
Tire AContinental

Premium Contact 5

Summer

± 6

Tests 73 · 4 tests Owners 63 · 119 reviews

Best test result: #1 of 11 in 2019 AMS Summer SUV Tyre Test (straight aquaplaning)

Continental Sport Contact 2
Tire BContinental

Sport Contact 2

Summer

± 8

Tests – · none yet Owners 58 · 229 reviews

“You mean from BMW when bought new? Not sure, my car was pre-owned and came with those horrible Continental SC2 RFT's.”

Category by category

Relative Score per category, 0–100. Open “Why this score” for the tests and owner ratings behind it.

  1. 71

    Dry

    Premium Contact 5 +5
    66
    Why this score
    SourcePremium Contact 5Sport Contact 2
    Professional tests (TWG score) · 4 / – tests71≈ 67 (est.)
    Reviews found online7165

    Premium Contact 5: 60% × 71.1 + 40% × 70.9 = 71

    Sport Contact 2: 60% × 66.7 (est.) + 40% × 64.9 = 66

    No road tests of dry for Sport Contact 2. The test half is estimated from the owner ratings, as far as owners and testers agree (correlation 0.41).

  2. 77

    Wet

    Premium Contact 5 +11
    66
    Why this score
    SourcePremium Contact 5Sport Contact 2
    Professional tests (TWG score) · 4 / – tests79≈ 67 (est.)
    Reviews found online7465

    Premium Contact 5: 60% × 78.6 + 40% × 73.5 = 77

    Sport Contact 2: 60% × 67.3 (est.) + 40% × 64.5 = 66

    No road tests of wet for Sport Contact 2. The test half is estimated from the owner ratings, as far as owners and testers agree (correlation 0.55).

  3. 69

    Comfort

    Premium Contact 5 +12
    57
    Why this score
    SourcePremium Contact 5Sport Contact 2
    Professional tests (TWG score) · 1 / – tests74≈ 65 (est.)
    Reviews found online6652

    Premium Contact 5: 40% × 74.2 + 60% × 65.6 = 69

    Sport Contact 2: 40% × 65.3 (est.) + 60% × 52 = 57

    No road tests of comfort for Sport Contact 2. The test half is estimated from the owner ratings, as far as owners and testers agree (correlation 0.20).

  4. 70

    Noise

    No comparison
    –
    Why this score
    SourcePremium Contact 5Sport Contact 2
    Professional tests (TWG score) · 4 / – tests73–
    Reviews found online≈ 66 (est.)–

    Premium Contact 5: 60% × 73.2 + 40% × 66.4 (est.) = 70

    No owner ratings of noise for Premium Contact 5. The owner half is the owners’ average (66): owners’ noise ratings barely follow the road tests, so the tests say nothing about how owners would rate it.

  5. 59

    Treadwear

    Premium Contact 5 +6
    53
    Why this score
    SourcePremium Contact 5Sport Contact 2
    Professional tests (TWG score) · 1 / – tests69≈ 58 (est.)
    Reviews found online4344

    Premium Contact 5: 60% × 68.7 + 40% × 43.4 = 59

    Sport Contact 2: 60% × 58.5 (est.) + 40% × 44.2 = 53

    No road tests of treadwear for Sport Contact 2. The test half is estimated from the owner ratings, as far as owners and testers agree (correlation 0.36).

  6. 67

    Handling (owners)

    Premium Contact 5 +8
    59
    Why this score
    SourcePremium Contact 5Sport Contact 2
    Reviews found online6759
  7. 67

    Efficiency

    No comparison
    –
    Why this score
    SourcePremium Contact 5Sport Contact 2
    Professional tests (TWG score) · 3 / – tests67–
Scores at a glance
CategoryContinental Premium Contact 5Continental Sport Contact 2
Relative Score 70 62
Dry 71 66
Wet 77 66
Comfort 69 57
Noise 70 –
Treadwear 59 53
Handling (owners) 67 59
Efficiency 67 –

Higher is better. The Relative Score follows your weights below; category scores do not change.

Weight the categories that matter to you

Wet grip starts at “Important”. Treadwear starts at “Neutral” here: road tests measured it for at most one of the two tires, so it rests on owner reviews. Move the sliders and the scores update instantly.

Important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Less important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Less important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost

Only one of the two tires has a score here, so this weight changes nothing in the head-to-head.

Neutral
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Less important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost
Not important
NotLessNeutralImportantMost

Only one of the two tires has a score here, so this weight changes nothing in the head-to-head.

Recomputed
Headline score
± 6

Premium Contact 5

± 8

Sport Contact 2

Only categories both tires have data for count toward the headline score.

Pros, cons & observations

Themes extracted from owner reviews found online — not the opinion of TireWheelGuide.

Tire A Premium Contact 5

Pros

  • Exceptional grip in both wet and dry road conditions
  • High levels of ride comfort and low cabin noise
  • Predictable and safe handling characteristics

Cons

  • Rapid and premature tread wear
  • Soft sidewalls leading to vague steering feedback and body roll
  • Performance degradation as the tread depth decreases
All owner themes in the Premium Contact 5 review

Tire B Sport Contact 2

Pros

  • Excellent grip and handling in both dry and wet conditions
  • Predictable and progressive behavior at the limit
  • Strong braking performance

Cons

  • Rapid and often premature tread wear
  • High levels of road noise, particularly on rough or concrete surfaces
  • Poor performance in snow, ice, and freezing temperatures
All owner themes in the Sport Contact 2 review

What real owners are saying

From Reddit, forums and review threads. Not part of our score

Tire A

Continental Premium Contact 5

We haven't collected enough community discussion about this tire yet.

Tire B

Continental Sport Contact 2

Mixed

Community sentiment regarding the Continental SportContact 2 is mixed, with some drivers praising its dry and wet grip, comfort, and wear life on passenger vehicles, while others criticize its road noise and wet performance compared to competitors or dislike the run-flat version. A substantial portion of the discussions mentioning 'SC2' refer to Pirelli motorcycle track tires or Saturn SC2 cars rather than this Continental tire model.

mbworld.org

“I've got 19,000 on my CSC 1's, and problaby another 10,000 left on them. I don't know why they're lasting so long-I'm sideways at least a couple of times a day. I've also heard of people complaining that they only lasted 8,000 miles, so it all depends on how you drive. BTW-I don't know that I would get them again-Why? Becasue now they put their freakin' website on the side of the tires in 1" tall letters. I mean, jeez...”
rennlist.com

“I wasn't all that impressed by the SC2s that were OEM on my S4. IMO the RE050s are less noisy and better in the rain. No experience with the Sport Contact 3s though. If you're not looking for the ultimate in 10/10ths performance in all honesty I would recommend the Kumho SPTs. Pretty impressive tire and when you factor in the low cost - amazing. I am running them on my S4 for daily summer use and am 100% happy. For the C2S I'm running the Bridgestones for street and R888s for auto-x/track use.”
my350z.com

“Finally decided on purchasing the Continental ContiSportContact2 with 255/30/20 front and 305/25/20 rear. Traction has improved but still an issue with the TT setup. Will have to get a spare set of DRs on 18s for the track. The rear wheel is 20x10.5 29mm offset, fenders are cut. Here are some pics.”
Top themes
#tread wear life#dry and wet grip#cabin road noise#ride comfort quality#fitment and sizing#motorcycle track tire confusion

Based on 35 community posts

Specs side by side

Attribute A · Continental Premium Contact 5 B · Continental Sport Contact 2
CategorySummerSummer
Vehicle typePassenger Car / CrossoverPassenger Car / Crossover
Sizes available2320
Rim diameters14″ – 17″15″ – 21″
UTQG—280 AA A
Sizes in common22

Which one should you actually buy?

Continental Premium Contact 5

Continental Sport Contact 2

Winner: Continental Premium Contact 5 — better comfort, wet and handling. It leads or ties in every category we score.

Pick tire A You want the most comfortable ride

Continental Premium Contact 5 scores 69 vs 57 on comfort.

Pick tire A Your priority is wet-weather safety

Continental Premium Contact 5 scores 77 vs 66 on wet.

Pick tire A You enjoy sharp, responsive handling

Continental Premium Contact 5 scores 67 vs 59 on handling.

Pick tire A You want the longest tread life

Continental Premium Contact 5 scores 59 vs 53 on treadwear.

Tire A · Continental Premium Contact 5
Check price on Amazon
Tire B · Continental Sport Contact 2
Check price on Amazon

TireWheelGuide may earn a commission from purchases made through these links.

Premium Contact 5 or Sport Contact 2?

Which is better in the wet, Premium Contact 5 or Sport Contact 2?

Continental Premium Contact 5, 77 vs 66 on our wet score.

Which grips better on dry roads, Premium Contact 5 or Sport Contact 2?

Continental Premium Contact 5, 71 vs 66 on our dry score.

Which is more comfortable, Premium Contact 5 or Sport Contact 2?

Continental Premium Contact 5, 69 vs 57 on our comfort score.

Which lasts longer, Premium Contact 5 or Sport Contact 2?

Continental Premium Contact 5, 59 vs 53 on our treadwear score.

How do we compare tires?

Every category score blends two independent signals. 60% comes from professional tire tests (braking distances, lap times, noise measurements), each result compared with every other tire in the same test and newer tests counting more. 40% comes from owner reviews found online, adjusted for how generously each site rates. Both use one scale: the average tested tire gets 70, the best 100. When a tire has only one of the two, the missing half is estimated from the other and the score stays closer to average; with no road test and fewer than five owner reviews it gets no score yet.

Handling is the exception: road tests measure it inside the dry and wet scores, so its own row comes from owner ratings only and starts as less important.

Community buzz from Reddit and forums is shown for context only — it never changes the score. Full methodology