Continental VikingContact 7 Review: One of the Best Winter Tires Out There

The VikingContact 7 packs several advanced features that aim to improve snow and ice traction.

For starters, Continental utilized its Nordic compound, which is designed to work in very harsh wintry conditions, meaning it is designed for places like Alaska and Canada.

The compound uses canola oil to remain flexible in freezing conditions, improving traction on snow-covered and icy roads.

Furthermore, the tread pattern features 3D sipes of varying thicknesses, which create additional biting edges on snow and ice.

However, Continental went even further and employed snow pockets in the wider sipes, which collect the snow from the surface and keep it inside the grooves, improving the snow-to-snow traction.

Finally, the VikingContact 7 also features Grip Edges, which grab into the snow and further improve traction, but also increase the contact area for higher ice traction.

Okay, but how does the tire perform in the real world? Well, Continental was definitely onto something when it employed that many technologies in its premium winter tire.

In our testing, the VikingContact 7 is among the class leader in longitudinal snow traction, meaning you won’t get stuck anywhere, even on deep and packed snow.

On a layer of snow about 2 inches thick with melting ice in some sections making the road slippery that we tested, but the tires still had excellent grip and traction in the 2 miles that I traveled.

The stopping distances are also exceptionally short on snow, with 45.5 feet that’s the result I got when I hit the brakes at 25 mph on a stretch of road with about 2 inches of snow, which makes your winter drive much safer.

But the superlatives don’t stop there. The VikingContact 7 feels surefooted during cornering on snow, just like driving on rails.

In that regard, the tire gives you a lot of confidence to push forward, producing only slight understeer when you enter a corner too hard. Thus, it’s a great tire for your winter ski holidays.

The VikingContact 7 also does a great job on icy roads. The longitudinal traction is among the best in the category and you can turn into a corner safely.

In my test on the road the ice is in the process of melting, the road becomes much more slippery, the braking distance is 33.7 feet at 12 mph. The braking distances are fairly short. But driving carefully is still something you should do on these roads

However, if you want the best possible traction on ice-covered roads, you should definitely go for the Bridgestone Blizzak WS90, which comfortably beats the VikingContact 7 there.

Even the cheapest winter tires will provide you with pretty good snow traction, but not all of them work well on dry roads.

To that end, Continental optimized the void ratio on the tread pattern, improving the rubber-to-road contact.

In my opinion, the VikingContact 7 is among the class leaders when it comes to grip and traction on dry pavement.

And that showed in my testing, there is ample longitudinal traction, and I noticed that the driven wheels will never slip when I accelerate hard.

Moreover, the stopping distances are very short, with 95.2 feet when we started braking at 50 mph, which is crucial for safety.

In the corners, the VikingContact 7 provides as much traction as you’d expect from a winter tire, and then some.

Sure, it won’t light your pants on fire, but it’s great for the category. It also excels on the highway, where it provides a safe and sound experience.

Overall, there aren’t many winter tires that compare favorably to the VikingContact 7 on dry roads, other than the Bridgestone Blizzak WS90 and Michelin X-Ice Snow.

Which of course, proves that when you go for a premium tire, you usually get the whole package, unlike budget offerings, which lag behind significantly in some categories. In most cases, at least.