Continental Tire Extreme Contact Force Impressions and Feedback

[krisk]

To me that looks more like a camber or alignment issue than a tire pressure issue. 3 degrees front neg camber is pretty typical on track but will eat the inside edge in street driving, which is why you really need adjustable camber plates to go between track and street camber settings if you’re driving the car a lot on the street. Also check front toe setting, too much toe out can chew up inside edge even faster than neg camber. Good luck and nice looking car btw.

Thank you for the feedback. Here's the breakdown of the use on the Sport 02's in the photo.

2,598 total miles
521 Track Miles: Front Camber -2.7 to -2.8, Front Toe -.04 to -.03
1,845 Street Miles: Front Camber -1.2
232 Street Miles: Front Camber -2.8

I wouldn't think the 232 miles of street driving with a -2.8 camber would wear like the photos. Most of the other street driving was with a normal street camber setup.

My biggest inquiry at this point is whether I should go with the higher pressures suggested by Hoosier or the lower recommendations I'm hearing in this thread. The car at this point sees almost no street driving, and the EC Force will not see anything but the track.

 

[stevbd]

What does the outside edge of the front tire look like?

 

[mpgainer]

I don't have any experience with the Sport 02's, but I've been through a couple of sets of the ECF's. I'm running -2.9 camber up front and hot tire pressures of about 34. I normally start with 26 or 27 cold. If you scroll up in this thread you'll see pictures I posted. I've experienced pretty even wear after multiple track days. I tried them at higher hot pressures and the grip fell of noticeably.

Here's a YouTube video about the ECF's. You can skip forward to 15:10.

 

[thelostotter]

Thank you for the feedback. Here's the breakdown of the use on the Sport 02's in the photo.

2,598 total miles
521 Track Miles: Front Camber -2.7 to -2.8, Front Toe -.04 to -.03
1,845 Street Miles: Front Camber -1.2
232 Street Miles: Front Camber -2.8

I wouldn't think the 232 miles of street driving with a -2.8 camber would wear like the photos. Most of the other street driving was with a normal street camber setup.

My biggest inquiry at this point is whether I should go with the higher pressures suggested by Hoosier or the lower recommendations I'm hearing in this thread. The car at this point sees almost no street driving, and the EC Force will not see anything but the track.

The negative camber up front isn’t your issue. Yes the inside will wear slightly faster on the street because of it but that will slowly occur over 1000s of miles. I think your issue is the small tire size being overwhelmed by the weight of your car and overheating. Toe out isn’t helping wear when the tire is greasy. I used to run a hair of toe out and ruined a couple sets of tires the same way as you by continuing to push when they got greasy (NT01 and GY SC3). I now run a hair of toe in and haven’t had the issue again. I think the ECF is much more tolerant of this than the tires I mentioned or the ECS02 too.

The Continental ECF tires are pretty narrow for their size. I didn’t get good outer shoulder wear with the 295/30/19s on my car even with -3.1 degree camber up front. Switching to the 315/30R19 squared made a huge different in wear and the grip went up too. I run 36F/35R, hot.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Silly question , but I did not see a comment if your were rotating your tires as this is a simple solution to a problem folks have with many tires . Often a track one goes to will eat up one side more than the other and frankly that often means a rotation, at least once, over a weekend at some tracks. Just throwing that out as I did not see it pop up in any of the responses.

 

[krisk]

Silly question , but I did not see a comment if your were rotating your tires as this is a simple solution to a problem folks have with many tires . Often a track one goes to will eat up one side more than the other and frankly that often means a rotation, at least once, over a weekend at some tracks. Just throwing that out as I did not see it pop up in any of the responses.

I did rotate the Sport 02 left to right after about 200 of the track miles. Since it's not a square setup I couldn't rotate front to back. With the EC Force I am using this year I am running a square setup so I will be rotating front to back. I've also heard from a few different places that you can run them backwards as long as it is dry and there is really no difference in performance.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

I would suggest you ask folks who are familiar with a track how tires wear and often you will find a need to rotate. With a square set up you will see your tire life extended and if you want to just get into a good habit, rotate your tires at every track at the end of day one. Overall that is a nice safety net for better wear and you may not find anyone experienced enough to let you know the dynamics of a track you may be participating at.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

.........and thelostotter is so correct , too tiny a tire for the car. Hope you are going much bigger/wider all the way around with the squared set?

 

[krisk]

The negative camber up front isn’t your issue. Yes the inside will wear slightly faster on the street because of it but that will slowly occur over 1000s of miles. I think your issue is the small tire size being overwhelmed by the weight of your car and overheating. Toe out isn’t helping wear when the tire is greasy. I used to run a hair of toe out and ruined a couple sets of tires the same way as you by continuing to push when they got greasy (NT01 and GY SC3). I now run a hair of toe in and haven’t had the issue again. I think the ECF is much more tolerant of this than the tires I mentioned or the ECS02 too.

The Continental ECF tires are pretty narrow for their size. I didn’t get good outer shoulder wear with the 295/30/19s on my car even with -3.1 degree camber up front. Switching to the 315/30R19 squared made a huge different in wear and the grip went up too. I run 36F/35R, hot.

.........and thelostotter is so correct , too tiny a tire for the car. Hope you are going much bigger/wider all the way around with the squared set?

Thank you both for the feedback. I'm new to the track, so at this point I have to rely heavily on what I find from online research, and feedback like this helps. Right or wrong, I'm going to be running the ECF in a 295/30/19 this year. I went with the 295 after much research for two reasons.

1. Research indicated that for track use, it was generally more beneficial to run a tire on the narrow allowable size for a given wheel width versus a wider tire. With a 11" wide wheel, the 295 is on the narrow end of fitment, while a 315 is on the wider end.

2. I was concerned about being able to fit the 315 in the front. I have a 28mm spacer up front, and with the 295 I have about 7mm of clearance between the tire and strut. I'm assuming with those measurements I would have to run at least a 30mm spacer, but likely more to give enough clearance if I went to a 315. With a -2.9 camber I'm really close to the fender and I don't know that I could manage the 315 especially with added spacer width. This was the main reason for going with the 295.

From the feedback I have received here as well as other research, it seems the toe out could be responsible, at least in part, to the rapid wear on the Sport02. I plan to adjust to either run zero toe or slight toe in. I'm open to suggestions as to what settings to try.

Thanks again for the help, and I welcome the suggestions!

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Tiny tires up front is a Mustang issue and I think you will find a much better outcome with the 295s and having them square.
Simple Rule --- two day event, rotate at least once while there.

 

[Mike_FL]

This is a 295/30/19 ECF on my 19x11. I’m not even sure a 315 m would fit. Would definitely need cortex offset coilovers for the front

 

[Meateater]

This is a 295/30/19 ECF on my 19x11. I’m not even sure a 315 m would fit. Would definitely need cortex offset coilovers for the front

View attachment 101375

I run the ECFs with 295 30 19 on the front and 315 30 19 rear. Front camber is -2.8 and rear camber is -2 for the track. I have adjustable rear camber arms and Ford Performance progressive lowering springs all around. ('17 GT350). Without camber, you might have clearance problems in the rear with a 315, maybe. This is an OK compromise in my opinion if you prefer a wider rear tire, which I have found to be beneficial.
My preference would be to have 305s up front, but the ECF isn't available in that size as we all know.

 

[JDee]

Dark Horse with track pack option comes with 305 fronts 315 rears.

On a regular Mustang, 305's square all around is easily done with ARP 3 1/4" long studs, open lug nuts and a 3/4" or so spacer.

I have never seen 315s up front on a Mustang, might be doable but I dunno. If it is possible someone on here will have done it.

In my humble opinion, Mustang's push less with a square tire setup. That wider rear tire stuff is for straight line racers only.

 

[mpgainer]

I have ECF 295's on 10.5 inch rims up front and 315's on 11's in the rear. No issues in the back and the suspension is stock (Mach 1). The fronts rubbed the plastic fender trim when my camber was only -2.3ish. I installed Vorshlag camber plates and I'm now at about -2.9. Rubbing is gone, but I don't think 315's would fit.

 

[krisk]

Dark Horse with track pack option comes with 305 fronts 315 rears.
On a regular Mustang 305's square all around is easily done with ARP 3 1/4" long studs and open lug nuts.
I have never seen 315s up front on a Mustang, might be doable I dunno. If it is possible someone on here will have done it.

In my research I didn't see many mentions of someone running 315s on the front. @thelostotter mentioned starting with 295 square then going to 315 and it making a big difference in wear. I've seen plenty of people running 305s, but since the ECF are either 315 or 295, I went with 295.

 

[thelostotter]

Here is my car with 19x11 ET50 wheels with 315/30R19 ECF tires. The rears fit fine. The outer edge of the fronts have just barely rubbed the inside of the fender in one corner at one track. This is with 25mm spacers and -3.1 degrees camber, -3.2 should cure that. Been problem free everywhere else.

I like this tire in this size but I’d prefer they came in 305s since they are easier to fit.

Edit: Someone above mentioned inner fender liner rub which I forgot about since it didn’t bother me. Yes the 315s and 305s rub the inside plastic fender liner at full lock. They self clearanced pretty quick.