Continental WinterContact TS 860 is a premium studless winter tire that ensures a high level of safety on ice and snow-covered roads, as well as on wet and dry pavements. The tire is designed to be fitted on compact and midsize passenger cars.

It is characterized by premium traction and efficient braking performance on winter surfaces, long tread life, smooth and comfortable ride, as well as excellent stability in any winter conditions.

The Continental WinterContact TS 860 tire model has been designed specifically for the weather conditions of Central and Western Europe. It is expected to gradually replace the quite successful model ContiWinterContact TS 850, which scored a total of 47 prizes and awards in comparative winter tire tests conducted by various European industry publications, motoring associations, and consumer organizations, which makes the Conti TS850 today’s best winter tire produced by Continental. Naturally, the stakes have upped a bit with the WinterContact TS860, and the tire maker surely wants the new development to improve upon the performance of the predecessor model. Well, there are all the prerequisites for that. For example, the WinterContact TS860 braking efficiency on wet pavement has been increased by 5%, on ice by 4%.

There are also improvements in snow traction and ride comfort. At the same time, the fuel efficiency and the expected mileage of the new-generation tire are still up to the high level of the TS850.

The V-directed tread design and the unique construction of the WinterContact TS860 tire ensure superior handling response and efficient winter braking even in the most extreme of emergency situations. In addition, on winter surfaces various proprietary innovative technologies come into play, which serve to boost snow and ice traction.

For example, on winter roads, the SnowCurve technology is activated: the sidewalls of the tread blocks feature additional grooves that form a unique “snow pocket” ensuring extra snow traction.

The efficient braking performance ensured by the Continental WinterContact TS860 even on ice-covered roads is the result of using the Liquid Layer Drainage technology. Generally, during the braking on winter surfaces, a water film is formed underneath the tread, which causes the contact patch to shrink significantly.

The new technology, which includes extra drainage grooves cut into the tread blocks, speeds up evacuation of water from the contact area, which serves to considerably reduce the stopping distance on an ice-covered road. The Continental engineers also renewed the rubber compound of the WinterContact TS860. The new Cool Chili compound is characterized by a high content of silica and the inclusion of special resins that keep the tire supple even at low winter temperatures. This combination of different components ensures a short stopping distance and better traction delivered by the TS860 model at absolutely any winter surface.

As we can see, Continental invested a lot of effort into developing yet another top-class winter tire. We can only wait to witness the first successful steps made by the Continental WinterContact TS860 in independent tire tests in order to make sure that the new model does outperform its rivals.

UPD. In 2017, the Continental range was extended with the WinterContact TS 860S SSR model designed to be fitted on sports cars. The key feature of the S-version of the TS 860 model is the Self Supporting Runflat (SSR) technology that allows the car to continue driving even in the event of a puncture and loss of inflated pressure.