New UltraContact with Innovative Technology

Hanover, January 2022. With the new UltraContact, Continental is now offering a summer tire with a very long service life and the familiar safety standards. For this, the tire developers have redesigned the compound and tread to combine more kilometers and maximum robustness with safe handling characteristics and low rolling resistance.

To achieve the long service life, a new, very robust rubber compound was developed for the tread, known as the YellowChili compound. It contains a special network of durable polymer compounds that make possible less abrasion than the usual compounds. Thanks to its high-quality ingredients, it can also interlock well with the road surface to give a high level of grip – important for good start off, precise steering and safe braking distances.

Another way to reduce abrasion and extend service life is the specially developed tread. The combination of a high number of sipes with solid tread ribs ensures high stiffness and stability, as the pressure is distributed evenly across the entire contact surface.

Continental's tyre engineers have developed a robust construction as the tyre is intended for a long service life. In addition, many of the tire sizes of the new UltraContact are equipped with a rim protection rib, which offers additional protection for the bottom area of the sidewall.

Short braking distances, even on wet roads, are among the most important tire characteristics. With the new UltraContact, the large number of different slanted sipes ensure good discharge of water from the contact surface into the tread grooves and tire shoulders. This so-called bevel-sipe concept – a bevel is a chamfered surface – accelerates water removal, ensuring short braking distances in rain. 

Ride comfort is strongly associated with low tire/road noise. Physically, noises are sound waves at different frequencies. To keep them low, small elements – known as “noise breakers” – are introduced into the grooves between the tread strips. Like a wave breaker, they reduce noise emission without hindering water removal.

The newly-designed sidewall shows the new four-section layout of future Continental tire generations for the first time. The product name is placed opposite the clearly visible dimension specification; a large Continental logo is also shown twice on the sidewall. High-quality design elements can be seen between the logos and the model or size designation. Another new feature is that the product name can also be seen in the tread grooves.