Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 vs Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 tires

For most drivers of sedans, coupes, minivans, and crossovers, all-season tires are a nice versatile choice. All-season tires deliver great wear properties, year-round grip, handling and steering response that are capable and predictable, a refined and quiet ride, and road manners that are stable and sedate. While that’s a nice set of bullet points for most drivers, all-season tires tend to fall a little short for people who really like to push the envelope and explore the limits of their vehicles’ handling, cornering, and braking performance. That’s where summer tires or ultra-high-performance (UHP) tires really shine. Summer and UHP tires have significant design differences compared to all-season tires, including a stiffer tread and sidewall for high-speed stability and enhanced cornering, an optimized contact patch and tread design, and a tread compound that’s softer and “stickier” for better adhesion to the road. Summer and UHP tires do come with some tradeoffs, including shorter tread life, sometimes a less forgiving ride, and poor cold-weather performance (we’ll touch on that a bit later). Still, many drivers of sporty models are willing to make those sacrifices to get the performance they want out of their vehicles and tires.

Today, we’re going to look at the Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 and Yokohama Advan Neova AD09, both of which are extremely capable summer/UHP tires from premium manufacturers. In the course of this head-to-head comparison between the Continental and the Yokohama, you’ll see us make frequent reference to SimpleScore. If you’re not familiar, SimpleScore is the ratings system that the SimpleTire team devised to give you a quick, easy idea of a tire’s strengths and weaknesses. We look at manufacturer’s info, the tire’s specs, and customer reviews, then take those data points and distill them to a 1-10 numerical value for the categories of traction, handling, and longevity, as well as an overall average SimpleScore. For the Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 and Yokohama Advan Neova AD09, the SimpleScore numbers look like this:

Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02:

• Traction: 9.8
• Handling: 9.7
• Longevity: 8.5
• Overall average SimpleScore: 9.3

Yokohama Advan Neova AD09:

• Traction: 8.7
• Handling: 8.7
• Longevity: 7.3
• Overall average SimpleScore: 8.2

As you can see, both the Continental and the Yokohama bring a lot to the game, with SimpleScores that, while not closely matched, are certainly solid and admirable for any tire. As handy as SimpleScore is, it’s also the 30,000 foot view that doesn’t give you a detailed picture of what a tire’s features and performance are like. Let’s go in for a closer look with this product comparison review.

Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 tires

The ExtremeContact Sport 02 is a next-generation summer tire that offers the perfect balance of tread life, handling properties, ride comfort, and low noise. The ExtremeContact Sport 02 is designed with Continental’s +Silane tread compound for confident handling in wet weather, with deep circumferential grooves that resist hydroplaning by acting as a pathway to divert standing water from the tire’s contact patch. SimpleScore for traction is a very strong 9.8. SimpleScore for handling is pretty strong too, at a formidable 9.6 – thanks to a ribbed, asymmetric tread pattern with a continuous center rib for enhanced driver feedback and steering response, wide tread blocks, and a reinforced shoulder that gives a boost to lateral grip while cornering. Unlike many tires in the UHP and summer categories, the Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 is covered by a 30,000 mile limited manufacturer tread life warranty. With two steel belts, a durable polyester casing, and a nylon cap ply layer, the ExtremeContact Sport 02 gets a SimpleScore of 8.5 for longevity. SimpleTire’s price on the Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 starts around $162 per tire.

Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 tires

Yokohama has decades of experience in the motorsports world, and the Advan Neova AD09 can be considered a track tire that’s also street-legal – that’s how performance-oriented this tire is. The Advan Neova AD09 delivers super-sticky and direct handling with a silica-rich tread compound that’s molded into an asymmetric pattern with a strong center rib and large, bold outboard tread blocks. High-speed straight-line stability and cornering are all very solid with the Advan Neova AD09, allowing you to push your sporty sedan or coupe to the limit, and we give this tire a SimpleScore of 8.4 for handling. Wet and dry traction are solid and consistent with deep lateral grooves and an innovative, curved full-depth circumferential groove for a SimpleScore of 8.7. A rigid sidewall design and durable internal construction played into our decision to give this tire a SimpleScore of 7.3 for longevity. It’s important to remember that the Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 is a summer/UHP tire – its tread formulation is soft and sticky for great adhesion to the road but will stiffen up and lose traction on colder days so the tire should not be used when temperatures are consistently below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. SimpleTire’s price on the Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 starts at $167 per tire.

Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 vs. Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 tires on traction

When it comes to the traction category for the Continental and the Yokohama, the split of SimpleScore ratings isn’t even close, with the Continental coming in with a 9.8 vs 8.7 for the Yokohama. The +Silane tread formulation of the Continental figures heavily into that SimpleScore, along with an advanced system of grooves for wet-weather performance. The Yokohama is a barely street-legal tire that’s derived from their racing and track designs, while the Continental is designed more for day-to-day versatility. Our decision:

ADVANTAGE: Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02

Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 vs. Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 tires on handling

In the handling category, again we’re not even close, with the Continental boasting a SimpleScore of 9.7 vs 8.7 for the Yokohama. Even though the Yokohama is derived from competition tires, the features that give the Continental a leg up in traction also contribute to steering response and cornering that are nimble, precise and accurate. Its reinforced shoulder resists deformation and tread squirm when pushed hard around corners, and the asymmetric tread with solid center rib give the Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 a steering response that’s light and quick without being overly touchy and twitchy. Our decision:

ADVANTAGE: Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02

Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 vs. Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 tires on longevity

A lot of times when we’re talking about longevity SimpleScores, it’s the limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty that tips the scales in one direction or another. That’s the case here, with the Continental weighing in with a SimpleScore of 8.5 for handling vs 7.3 for the Yokohama. Most summer/UHP tires don’t come with a limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty at all, but the Continental has 30,000 miles worth of coverage from the factory. That’s the clincher on this one, so the verdict:

ADVANTAGE: Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02

When to use each

The question here is, what do you really need out of a set of tires, and how does it relate to your vehicle and your driving style? If you need year-round performance, then a set of summer or UHP tires aren’t for you. That softer, stickier tread formulation hardens and loses its traction in colder weather, and tire manufacturers advise against using summer or UHP tires if temperatures are below 40-45 degrees F. If, on the other hand, you don’t mind swapping your tires for all-season tires in the colder months and if you find that all-season or touring tires are a little sluggish and clumsy when it comes to handling, steering response and cornering, maybe you should consider the Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 or Yokohama Advan Neova AD09. For performance-oriented sports sedans, coupes or sporty crossovers, summer or UHP tires can really be the best way to get the absolute most out of your car’s performance potential.

Which one should you choose?

Often when it comes down to the ‘which one should you choose’ question, we at the SimpleTire team have a tough call between one tire and the other. In the case of the Continental ExtremeContactSport 02 and Yokohama Advan Neova AD09, we’re not torn that way at all. The Continental outranks the Yokohama in all the important categories as well as being covered by a 30,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty. The Yokohama is designed for performance, but in this case, we feel that the Continental presents a better value, especially when you consider there’s not even much of a price disparity between the two. Easy call in this case…if it were one of us at the SimpleTire team looking for a UHP tire for a sporty sedan or crossover, we’d go with the Continental.

Still not sure which tire to buy? Fortunately, SimpleTire is here to help, and our helpful agents are more than happy to assist you in selecting the right tire for your ride and budget.