Couldn't agree more mate. The Conti's are far too over rated, yes they are a good tyre but there are so many better tyres out there for these cars. We have to remember that Renault only put these tyres on because that was the best available from their contracted supplier. Its the same with the suspension, yes the cup set up is fantastic but if Renault thought they could compete in the marketplace with another 2k on the price it'd come with Ohlins.
The tyre tests are also something to take with a pinch of salt. The tests are usually done on std rep mobiles And in controlled conditions which are not really representative of how most of us drive a Renaultsport.
I have to disagree with Fernandez and Paddy_R. The choice of tyres is generally very subjective, and coupled with different car setups, conditions and people's requirements for what they want from a tyre and the whole car setup, it is difficult to make sweeping statements saying one tyre is better than another. That said, Continental tyres were rated top in tests across a variety of vehicles (including tests on a 444bhp Mustang Boss 302, VW Golf GTI and BMW 320i) with different reviewers;
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2014-Auto-Review-Max-Performance-Tyre-Test.htm ,
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2014-EVO-Max-Performance-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm ,
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2014-Auto-Zeitung-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm . These tests represent a fair variety of test cars, and conditions. I'm not sure where Fernandez is coming from with the comment about testing being done under controlled conditions. Of course they're done in controlled, repeatable conditions as this is the only way to conduct back to back tests on different products and get comparable results. As I said earlier, people drive in a variety of ways, and expect different things from their cars and tyres, so the range of testing that publications undertake may not cover exactly what you do all the time, but it is likely that Evo and others have done their research into what tests will cover a wide variety of driving scenarios.
The other thing to consider is the significant progression tyres have made in recent years. I was running CSC3 (and also run AD08 and 595RSRs for summer and track) and having worn them out, changed to CSC5. The difference between the two sets of tyres (all four were changed) is huge. I'm not going to discuss how the tyres behave as this is very subjective, but I know from data logging that the car can now hold higher lateral G forces and the tyres develop their belt temperature far quicker and run warmer than the CSC3s. The CSC5 tyres developing their temperature far quicker is quite interesting, and demonstrates a big change within the tyre (I can't say if its construction or compound). For day to day driving on back roads, I rate the CSC5 as the best tyre I've tried on the 197. Whilst it may not be best on outright grip in the summer, it hands down beats the CSC3, AD08 and 595RSR for a combination of road noise, wet weather grip and comfort, and for me, all these aspects are important when choosing a tyre.
For most people, unless they are able to get their hands on a range of tyres and test them personally, the tyre reviews are a very good way of gauging how tyres perform and which are best.
