Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum - Snow Tires for the XF

Planning to get winter tires for the SportBrake soon. I have a set of Blizzak tires I put on my Highlander each season and they are fantastic, it can get thru anything. I see Continental just released a VikingContact 7 to the US in my size, 255/35/20. No Reviews on them yet, can find a little info on them from European reviews online. I called my Discount Tire store and they can get them, they have never heard of them, but confirmed they are available now and they'll match the TireRack $.
Continental VikingContact 7
I'm surprised they're not rated as Performance Snow tires, just a Studless Ice & Snow. Do you think I'm going to notice a big difference in 'Performace', it is a snow tire I know, of this Continental vs. a Blizzak or Pirelli Sottozero ?
The main difference I see is the VikingContact is a 97T rating, 118mph, vs a 97H or V for the Performance, 130 or 149 mph.
The price is significant, almost $600 less per set for the Continental vs. Bridgestone. I will have them for a few years so the $600 spread out over a few seasons isn't much, I'm a big fan of Continental tires, I switched out the Pirelli CinturatoTouring tires that came on my SportBrake to the Continental ExtremeContact DWS-06 right after I got it.

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