Continental Extreme Contact DWS

[AdmRose]

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...Clar=I think these would be a great replacement for my OEM tires. Any thoughts?

[vibolista]

I've heard Conti Contact DWS tires are excellent tires. A friend of ours is going to order a set for his car soon, so hopefully I'll get a ride on them sometime in the future.You can put a little more rubber on the road by going 215/55 16 if you are running the 205/55 16s. The OEM 17 uses a 215/50 17 tire and due to the offset, I would stay with that size. Which wheel are you on, 16 inch steelie. 16 inch alloy or 17 inch alloy?

[AdmRose]

Quote, originally posted by vibolista »Which wheel are you on, 16 inch steelie. 16 inch alloy or 17 inch alloy? 16 inch alloy

[lovemyraffe]

I've heard good things about the Conti DWS too. I opted for the General Altimax HP. Really good tire and not quite as expensive.

[06pvibe]

Quote, originally posted by AdmRose »http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...Clar=I think these would be a great replacement for my OEM tires. Any thoughts?Already done (in January) and we couldn't be happier w/them so far. http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=40005The ride is good, the handling a little slow, but hardly worth mentioning. Braking is great and hydroplaning is non-existent. The biggest problem w/them is that they are always on backorder.I now want a set of 225/45-17's for my Mazda3 HB, but will likely have to wait a month for them to come in!!

[lovemyraffe]

Quote, originally posted by lovemyraffe »I've heard good things about the Conti DWS too. I opted for the General Altimax HP. Really good tire and not quite as expensive.28,000 miles on the General's and they are bald.

[Cruxless]

I've been ruining them for almost a year now. They grip well but I find the side wall too soft for my liking. As soon as I burn through them I'll be going back to running Khumo ASX's. Btw, the size I'm running is 215/50/17.

[06pvibe]

Add about 6-8 more psi up front and 3 less than that in the rear. I think that will solve your soft-sidewall issue.I had ASX's on my Mazda. They didn't last 17k and scared the crap out of me in the rain. Never again.Out of 3 differents set of Kumho's we've had on two different cars, only one set was pretty good overall... and they were KH-16's, a std "touring" tire we had on my wife's old Saturn.

[DiveNut]

Quote, originally posted by lovemyraffe »28,000 miles on the General's and they are bald. I have had the same experience, despite regular tire rotations and pressure checks my Extreme Contacts were bald after just 26K miles. While they performed very well when new, being fairly soft they hooked up well in dry condition. I just felt the wear was excessive. Discount Tire (where I bought them) gave me a $500 credit towards a set of Good Year Triple Tracs that have 40K on them and 1/2 tread left.

[Kincaid]

I had Kumho SPTs on my Civic and loved them. I only had them about 15k miles and they seemed to have a lot of tread left, but then I traded them (and wheels) to move from 16's to 15's. They were awesome dry and wet, but below freezing they were dangerous - as expected from a high perf summer tire.The SPTs were probably the highest rated tires on one of the Civic websites I used to visit regularly.The longest lasting tires I ever had were the 14" Firestone tires I had on my Civic before getting the SPTs. They lasted over 50k miles.

[06pvibe]

Quote, originally posted by DiveNut »I have had the same experience, despite regular tire rotations and pressure checks my Extreme Contacts were bald after just 26K miles. While they performed very well when new, being fairly soft they hooked up well in dry condition. I just felt the wear was excessive. Discount Tire (where I bought them) gave me a $500 credit towards a set of Good Year Triple Tracs that have 40K on them and 1/2 tread left. The question I have is did you have the DWS's? The DW's as well as others in the ExtremeContact line don't rate nearly as well overall and don't have a 540 wear rating either.I'm guessing you had a different set of Conti's than we are discussing here.First rotation on both cars w/the DWS's and I'm seeing less wear (1/32 vs. 2-2 1/2/32's) better than any other set I've had on the Mazda. And they still look like-new on the Vibe as well.

[DiveNut]

Quote, originally posted by 06pvibe »The question I have is did you have the DWS's? The DW's as well as others in the ExtremeContact line don't rate nearly as well overall and don't have a 540 wear rating either.I'm guessing you had a different set of Conti's than we are discussing here.First rotation on both cars w/the DWS's and I'm seeing less wear (1/32 vs. 2-2 1/2/32's) better than any other set I've had on the Mazda. And they still look like-new on the Vibe as well. That is a good question, been several years since I had them really don't recall the rating. But your point is a good one.

[06pvibe]

Though many a Conti has been denoted ExtremeContact, the DWS's are a fairly recent series for Conti. It seems (from my research at least) that they started just over a year ago.And believe me when I tell you that never in my life have I given Conti's a second look... until now.We waited a month for the size our Vibe takes and at least that long for the 225's I'm running on the Mazda.As far as Kumho's are concerned: I have done the research and read the reviews only to be ultimately unhappy with them in our circumstances. And too I feel I had given them a fair chance buying three different sets in less than 10 yrs (two for the Saturn and one for the Mazda.) I stand by my personal experience with them. What else do I have to go on. What could be more personal than giving them that chance.Of course not all tires work the same on all vehicles either. So what works well on one doesn't necessarily translate well to another.*edit* Another thing I'd like to pass on to you all: Remember that OE tires pressure specs are created based on the tire(s) the manufacturer plans to use on that particular vehicle. That doesn't mean that another tire may not need some adjustment in the pressure department in order to accomplish the best performance. I had heard or read this years ago and again from my experience, it still holds true today's world.