kiker14

Hi All - I put new shoes on today, I picked up a set of Continental ExtremeContact DW's and so far I am a big fan.

I had 23k miles on the original Bridgestones (at least I assume they are the original, I bought the car recently so I guess it could be the second, but I digress).

Instantly I noticed the smoother ride, and the tires really handle bumps in the road much better. The car seems to feel a bit more "floaty" when driving, and at low (parking lot) speeds it does require slightly more "umph" to turn the wheels.

I haven't broken in the tires yet, only about 35 miles on them so far, but they seem to handle better than the (worn out) potenza's. Hopefully over the weekend I'll be able to give them a bit of a workout, and I'll report back. So far, I highly recomend the DW if you just need a summer tire. The DWS is apparently also very good if you need an all-year tire, but I have a separate winter vehicle (my dodge ram) so that was not something I needed.

monchie

Thanks for sharing your experience about that tire.

SayNoToPistons

iTrader: (8)

Tirerack recently did a comparison test with the Conti DW. Personally I wouldn't go for the DW as an all out summer.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PujsK...ature=youtu.be

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

New fresh tires always ride and handle better than old worn tires

kiker14

Thanks for the video - Now that I've put 100 or so miles on the tires (I have a daily 40+ mile commute) I agree that the response is a bit more sluggish, but for the price, and for the comfort, it fits exactly what I was looking for. I can still take a 90 degree turn at 25-30mph with confidence, that's plenty quick enough for me.

Yes, definitely, but I'm not sure they always sound better, and in this case, the Conti's are nearly silent. I'll continue to check in and provide my personal update every few hundred / thousand miles.

dezau

iTrader: (3)

I am running the DW on the GTI myself, and it's a really good tire for a really low price. ($600 for the whole set). Tread life seems to be good too according to reviews. Honestly if the buyer's not looking for all out performance, it's a really good tire.

GeorgeH

iTrader: (2)

Excellent rain tire. Very good dry tire. Yes you can get stickier dry tires, but on the street, most people won't notice the difference.

kiker14

just a quick update now that I have put ~500 miles on the tires - I still really like them. I have had the opportunity to drive them in heavy rain and was very impressed, their wet performance is very similar to their dry performance, I felt very confident and had to go to an empty parking lot to lose grip (intentionally). If you are staying within the law driving around town you won't lose grip wet or dry on this tire. They are still extremely quiet, and the ride is slightly less "floaty" now that they have worn in a bit. Overall I think for the price it would be very very tough to beat this tire.

CarAndDriver

Any updates or anyone else have these? The Firestone tires I originally wanted went up in price and so I'm looking around at other tires again. Thanks.

wrightcomputing

iTrader: (5)

I am a fan on the Dunlop Direzza Star specs they a loud wear out quickly and expensive. They are also the best for autocross and generally going round corners fast.
I have changes to Hankook Ventus RS3 not currently installed but sat in my garage. I have heard they perform just as well as the Star specs and even better on really hot days. They are also about $40 cheaper per tire at $170 rather than $210. I use the 245/40/18. A little wider then stock but still a good fit for the wheel.

CarAndDriver

Anyone else?

dezau

iTrader: (3)

the sidewall flexes too much. i wouldn't wanna buy it again

PeteInLongBeach

I bought a set of DWS recently and like them so far. Not quite as sticky as the OEM Dunlops, but they are better riding, quieter, and are supposed to be much better in the wet. Those features are much more usable to me than absolute cornering limits.

CarAndDriver

I'm in the same boat. Want a good dry tire, but one that isn't going to wear out in one year, roar and ride harshly.

I'd go with Michelin, but can't really justify the add'l expense.

GeorgeH

iTrader: (2)

If you want similar performance level, both wet and dry, but with a stiffer sidewall consider the Goodyear Asymmetrics. A little more expensive but a great overall tire.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

I'm running on a set of Conti DWS for about 19 months now. I really like them. For me, they are perfect and even though I don't need the 'Snow' capability, I appreciate the excellent wet handling when it rains in the winter - which it does quite a lot around here.
Put about 24K miles on them. The 'S' disappeared from two tires, but the other two still show all three letters. So treadwear is really good too. I noticed that they got a bit noisier as the time passed, but that's always the case. They were practically silent when new.
If the set wears out, I'll likely get another.

CarAndDriver

Thanks for your review. Since we live in the same area, pretty much the same weather conditions.

GeorgeH

iTrader: (2)

Note that the DW and DWS are different tires...

CarAndDriver

I wasn't reading well enough. Duh. Yeah, not interested in the all season DWS. Not sure why one needs all season tires in the Bay Area unless you drive your 8 in the Sierra Nevadas in the winter.

PeteInLongBeach

• "All-season" is not an actual snow tire classification. The DWS is not an actual snow tire, but is a design enhancement for winter use.
• Whereas we normally don't get snow in SF or LA, many of us do travel to the snowy areas in the winter months, which are not far away. So, the tire does come in handy for such trips.

CarAndDriver

The definition of an all-season tires includes M+S capabilities: mud and light snow. However, it is not a tire designed specifically to handle snow or ice exclusively.

And, I also mentioned traveling to the Sierras in the winter. Personally, I'd just rather rent a FWD or AWD car then take an RX-8 up to the snow and deal with RWD and salt and rocks on the road.

CarAndDriver

After 35,862 miles on Kumho Ecsta SPT rubber on my car, I now have the DWs on my car in stock tire size. Look forward to getting them broken in. Mailed in the free Magellan GPS paperwork - made sure to follow every instruction on that thing. Will give it away as an Xmas present.

CarAndDriver

I have 1K-2K miles on the Continental tires now and they are definitely first class daily driver tires. The tires provide and amazing ride and are very quiet. They soak up bumps and ruts well and seem to manage roar from the bad pavement we have here in California.

Dry traction and cornering stick seems to be very good. The bad is that the steering response isn't the sharpest, but seems to have improved from when new.

The tires are supposed to have great wet characteristics, but so far rain has been very sparse here in NorCal. So TBD on first-hand experience, but reviews say the tire is excellent in the wet.

elysium19

iTrader: (1)

exactly. I definitely appreciate your review and comments, just keep in mind its difficult to separate out newness vs tire characteristics, it really takes someone who's gone through many many sets of each to tell the difference (or a side by side comparison)

thanks for the comments though!

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

Most tires transition to a harder compound at lower tread depths to slow down wear as you get near the minimum 2/32" tread wear indicator bars, plus there is the usual hardening due to heat cylcing etc