Continental VikingContact 7. FEATURES AND BENEFITS: Longer lasting tread life; Winter weather traction; Enhanced controllability; . OVERVIEW: The Continental VikingContact 7 is a touring, winter tire manufactured for passenger vehicles and SUVs.The tire upgrades the winter weather performance. The tire was molded from a special winter weather compound blend that utilizes silica and canola oil to keep the rubber flexibility in colder temperatures. The tread's symmetric pattern features a high-density siping detail of versatile siping thickness and shape. The tread blocks' grip edges increase the snow traction by grabbing onto the snow-covered road surface and enlarging the tire's surface contact area. The tread's interlocked block bridges and snow pockets stabilize the snow-on-snow performance and ensure a safer winter weather drive. The tread's optimized block pattern helps prevent hydroplaning by dispersing water and slush from below the footprint. This allows the tire to improve the wet and slippery road surface performance, guaranteeing high driving safety levels.The model's tread design also improves its controllability. The tread design's solid linkages and interlocked block bridges manage to secure the tread stability during the drive, which maintains the tire's road contact throughout its performance. This significantly upgrades the steering responsiveness and the driving stability. The steering becomes faster and more precise in its response to the driver's commands, while the structure is stabilized against the driving pressure affecting the model. The shoulder tread block pattern also features a high-density siping detail, which boosts the number of biting edges gripping the road surface. This allows the model to boost the cornering and maneuvering ability and power. The 3D Trapez Sipes and the optimally placed snow edges of the tread blocks work together to create friction between the tire and the road surface at the moment of braking. This significantly shortens the braking distance and improves the winter weather stopping ability.The VikingContact 7 upgrades the tread life. The tread's stabilized elements prevent irregular wear formations across the tread area. The interlocking block bridges and the solid linkages secure the structural stability and ensure even pressure distribution along the tread area. The equally spread out forces of acceleration, cornering and braking resists uneven wear, extending the usability and service life. Manufacturers recommend changing tires every 10 years. As long as tires are properly stored before they are sold, the year of their manufacture will not shorten their service life.