Continental CrossContact LX20

[AZjeff]

The 2014 RAV4 has 51K miles and the OEM Conti CrossContacts were at 4/32s and with my recently new commute of 75 miles/day from 5000 feet elevation to 3200 feet with the possibility of bad roads it was time for new tires. The OEM Contis have stayed perfectly in balance with 10K rotations and have worn evenly but have a road tread pattern of ribs and I wanted a bit more bite and they have always been a bit noisy and the RAV doesn't have the best sound damping. I considered the BITOG darlings Cooper and General but discovered on Tire Rack that this newer generation LX20 model has great reviews and decided to give Conti another go. Went in to Discount Tire on Black Friday and ordered up a set in 225/65-17 and went in this past Thursday morning at 8am to get them installed. 36 minutes later they were pulling the car out ready to go. 3 guys made the change over. They were all uniformly 4 lbs over the placard 33 psi as usual. When the service writer first came out to the RAV to get the odo reading and gauge the tires I had him look at all the wheels and confirm there were only a couple of small chips with no other scratches or damage and told him I'd taken photos and explained I had a problem with the DT where I previously lived and was just being cautious. I think he put the word out to be careful with this job but I did notice that they roll the tires around the floor then lift them up and stand them on the wheel and rotate them around as they dress them... with the possibility of grinding any grit around on the face of the wheel. I looked very closely and didn't find any scratches but it's a poor practice.

Anyway, I'm happy with first impressions of this tire. First thing I noticed was they have a rim protector molded in that must be 3/8" wide, awesome! Second thing is the tread is more agressive that I expected from the photos online. Some nice edges instead of smooth ribs and grooves on the OEMs. They're noticeably quieter on the same commute, to be expected going from worn tires to new, and they'e softer riding and well balanced. I'll get a nice heat cycle on them this week when we take a trip to Phoenix. The Black Friday discount plus a Conti rebate got the cost under $500. A couple of pics of the rim protector and tread.

 

[Nick1994]

We put a set on my grandparents Trailblazer in 2014. It took Discount Tire a few tries to get them balanced correctly but once they figured out they were nice and smooth with good handling. Quiet too.

 

[Slick17601]

My Dad has a set of them on his 2014 Sierra and they are doing great. Strongly considering putting them on my RAM and selling the OEM Goodyears on Craig's List.

 

[Audios]

I just put these on the GL a few weeks ago, rebate sold it. I took off the OE 4x4 contacts which were so loud, these are a huge improvement. They do feel a bit more soft in turns, but this is a 5k lb SUV so I cant expect much.

 

[HangFire]

28K/18 months on the Honda Pilot's LX20's, they're holding up well, still quiet and good rain, snow traction.

There is a BITOG'er here who had tread chunking problems, in Texas vehicle lived down a long rocky unpaved driveway. So probably not a tire for you if that is your situation.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted by HangFire
28K/18 months on the Honda Pilot's LX20's, they're holding up well, still quiet and good rain, snow traction.

There is a BITOG'er here who had tread chunking problems, in Texas vehicle lived down a long rocky unpaved driveway. So probably not a tire for you if that is your situation.

I posted about chunking problems with them on my grandparent's Trailblazer. But it was driven on rough dirt roads, I think if it was a pavement queen it would have been fine.

 

[cbpat1]

These are the tires that came OEM 235/55/20 on our 2018 Tahoe. When I took delivery of the Tahoe, I was a little disappointed that it didn't come with Michelin's. You pay nearly 60k for a vehicle, and you expect the best. I only have a little less than 5k on the vehicle, but I have to say, I hope these tires hold up well because they are the smoothest, quietest tires that ever came with a vehicle, and I've been buying new cars for 43 years. If they hold up well for 40k, I will replace them with the same Continental Cross Contacts again without hesitation. No matter what surface, tar, cement, whatever, nice quiet, smooth ride. Living in Florida, I don't have to worry about snow, or sleet, but, these tires work in the rain and the sunshine just wonderfully.

 

[oldmaninsc]

I just put a set of these on my Traverse. So far I'm very impressed. Just made a trip to Seattle area and the tires were excellent. Very low noise, very good in rain, very smooth ride. They are light years ahead of the Goodyear OEM tires that came on the vehicle. Big thumps up to Discount Tire.

 

[Doc8404]

Had these on my 2001 F150 4x4
Wasn't a fan when it was wet or snow.

 

[HangFire]

Interesting. Ours, on a Honda Pilot AWD, have been doing well in an exceptionally rainy 2018, including a couple of snow storms.

 

[Cup of Joe]

Quote
According to Continental's Joe Maher, product manager Passenger & Winter Tires, tires do not wear at a linear rate.

"A tire wears faster with near full tread depth and slower when at lower tread depths. This is caused by tread ‘squirm," Maher said. "Tread blocks distort the higher they are, this distortion causes heat and increased wear rate. Less distortion when the tread blocks are close to the tread base, less wear rate. This is why, adding additional mileage to a tire is not as simple as adding additional tread depth."


From: crosscontact lx20 review

I have been using the LX20 for the last 3 years and will need a replacement either the end of 2019 or spring 2020 so I submitted a question to Continental about when a replacement for the LX20 would be on the market since they came to market in 2011.

Quote
Thank you for contacting Customer Relations at Continental Tire the Americas, LLC.

We are planning a successor to the LX20; however, we do not have a scheduled date.