Conti ExtremeContact DWS at 35k miles

[rjundi]

The tires since do put out more slightly more noise than when new.

In the DWS the S has now worn off. Supposedly good for the rain however during the weekend downpour for the first time ever I found the car(2005 Legacy wagon) actually feeling like it was hydroplaning/disconnected. These tires definitely had wonderful wet traction new, but it dropped off to below average.

I may or may not replace before winter. Should be interesting to see how they do missing that S (snow traction abilities).

I am a bit disappointed with these vs my previous Nokian WR G2's which never dropped in wet traction over their 48k lifespan cut short by a high manhole. However I did pay $180 more for the set of Nokian($680) vs these Continentals($550).

 

[Quattro Pete]

Aren't the Nokians like twice the price though?

I got a great deal on the DWS, so that's why I bought them for wife's C300. I wish I could get the WR for same price.

 

[Rand]

if the S is worn off you are between 4-5/32nds
so its not susprising that the hydroplaning resistance is fading.

 

[A_Harman]

Compared to my Michelin X-Ice2's, my Conti DWS's are pathetic in the snow. I drove on them in one snowstorm last December and switched over to the Michelin's as soon as I got home. I like the Conti's in the rain, though, which is why I bought them.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Compared to my Michelin X-Ice2's, my Conti DWS's are pathetic in the snow.

What else would you expect when comparing a dedicated winter tire to a UHP all-season?

 

[greenjp]

I've got these on my Saab 9-5 Aero after several sets of Kumho Ecsta ASXs. They appeared to be "better" based on tests and reviews and have longer treadlife ratings and warranty. Figured I'd make up the not-insubstantial cost difference with extra miles. In reality they perform no better in wet or dry (hasn't really snowed so no basis to compare) and treadlife has been poor considering the ratings. They're not lasting longer than the Kumhos. IMHO they're overrated.

jeff

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Compared to my Michelin X-Ice2's, my Conti DWS's are pathetic in the snow.

What else would you expect when comparing a dedicated winter tire to a UHP all-season?


That is why I would not compare them to a WRG2 either!

As much as they are marketed as a very winter-oriented all season, to me the G2s ARE a 'dedicated winter tire'.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Compared to my Michelin X-Ice2's, my Conti DWS's are pathetic in the snow.

What else would you expect when comparing a dedicated winter tire to a UHP all-season?


I expected the pucker factor of driving the DWS's in the snow to be about 50% of normal driving, whereas the pucker factor of driving X-Ice2's is about 20%. What I experienced was about 75% pucker factor compared to driving UHP summer tires in the snow.

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: Rand
if the S is worn off you are between 4-5/32nds
so its not susprising that the hydroplaning resistance is fading.


My disappointment is my prior Nokian WR G2's did not have a noticable drop off of any performance over 48k miles. One thing that floored me about the Nokian WR G2's(50k rated) is they were better winter tires with 40k than the Conti DWS brand new.

That all being said I likely won't purchase Conti DWS again, I think they are decent new but at 50% worn mark drop off sharply. While they are not premium priced they are above average for their given size.

 

[D189379]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Compared to my Michelin X-Ice2's, my Conti DWS's are pathetic in the snow.

What else would you expect when comparing a dedicated winter tire to a UHP all-season?


Personally, I expect that if you put the word "snow" in your tire name, that the tire should be equal, if not better, than other all-season tires in the snow.

My wife has gotten about 22000 miles and the S is gone. I'm very disappointed in the tread life and the "snow" aspect of these tires. Or maybe the S stand for 5hit? Just my opinion of course.

 

[greenjp]

Originally Posted By: D189379
Personally, I expect that if you put the word "snow" in your tire name, that the tire should be equal, if not better, than other all-season tires in the snow.

My wife has gotten about 22000 miles and the S is gone. I'm very disappointed in the tread life and the "snow" aspect of these tires. Or maybe the S stand for 5hit? Just my opinion of course.

I agree these are pretty mediocre tires but they are in the "ultra high performance" all season category, so the "snow" in their name is really just indicative that they can in fact drive in the snow, unlike a summer-only tire. Snow performance directly trades off against dry and wet. I would not expect them to perform in the same manner snow-wise as a standard or touring all-season tire, same as I wouldn't expect the latter to be as good as the DWS in dry or wet..

 

[D189379]

Originally Posted By: greenjp
Originally Posted By: D189379
Personally, I expect that if you put the word "snow" in your tire name, that the tire should be equal, if not better, than other all-season tires in the snow.

My wife has gotten about 22000 miles and the S is gone. I'm very disappointed in the tread life and the "snow" aspect of these tires. Or maybe the S stand for 5hit? Just my opinion of course.

I agree these are pretty mediocre tires but they are in the "ultra high performance" all season category, so the "snow" in their name is really just indicative that they can in fact drive in the snow, unlike a summer-only tire. Snow performance directly trades off against dry and wet. I would not expect them to perform in the same manner snow-wise as a standard or touring all-season tire, same as I wouldn't expect the latter to be as good as the DWS in dry or wet..


I agree, unfortunately I got caught up in all the stellar "opinions" of how great these were in the snow.

I could have bought a dedicated snow tire and ran them all year long and gotten the same tread life.

I guess I'm just annoyed that I paid a premium for these and they haven't delivered anything close to what I had hoped.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: D189379
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Compared to my Michelin X-Ice2's, my Conti DWS's are pathetic in the snow.

What else would you expect when comparing a dedicated winter tire to a UHP all-season?


Personally, I expect that if you put the word "snow" in your tire name, that the tire should be equal, if not better, than other all-season tires in the snow.

That's fair, but the previous poster that I responded to was comparing them to a dedicated winter tire.

Quote:

My wife has gotten about 22000 miles and the S is gone. I'm very disappointed in the tread life and the "snow" aspect of these tires. Or maybe the S stand for 5hit? Just my opinion of course.

It's a UHP tire. It trades treadlife for dry/wet grip. You will not get as many miles out of it as from a standard grand touring all season tire. Seems like you need to be shopping in a different tire category. By the way, my Bridgestone RE960 (also UHP all-season) tires have about 20K miles on them, and they're almost on their last legs as well. Forget snow traction. They are nearly down to wear bars, which is surprising since I downgraded from UHP summer tires hoping these UHP all-seasons would last somewhat longer...

 

[oilmaven]

I have these on my Kizashi AWD with about 12,000 miles on them. A couple of months ago I started getting a LOT of tire noise...to the point I was concerned that I might have a bad wheel bearing or rear diff. (noise seemed to be coming from the back of the car). A trip to the dealership indicated that the alignment was way off and had worn the tires unevenly...hence the noise. After a 4 wheel alignment to correct the problem the tires were rotated to "even out" the wear. Over the last couple thousand miles the tire noise has lessened a lot (still not as quiet as before though). I checked them recently and the "S" is still on the tires...they were pretty good last winter (for all I needed them...didn't get much snow and the car has AWD). I don't think I'll get them again either although the alignment issue wasn't the fault of the tires.

 

[Rand]

I recommended these to my stepmom for her g6.. she loves them compared to the oem garbage hankoook 425a?? that came on it

She is a ummm... timid winter driver.. but she has alot more confidence now and drives herself in to work in everything except a blizzard.

The conti dws "tread" a fine line between high performance and still snow capable. Outperforming most UHP tires in the snow by a wide margin and some regular all seasons.

They obviously being a W rated UHP tire arent going to match up against a T rated winter only tire.

In the tire size I checked the nokians would have been aprox 75% more than the contis.

 

[rjundi]

I am going back to Nokian's (WR G2) at tire replacement time. My last quote it was $50/tire more over DWS at my hole in the wall tire shop.

 

[Rand]

thats not bad in the size I was looking it it was something like 168+ ripoff shipping vs 103+ free ship.

this was over a year ago now (maybe close to 2?)

My stepmom is also irrational she had heard of continental so it was automatically better than hankook (who also make good tires you just have to stay away from their oem crud)

so the DWS fit the bill and she is very happy with them.. = my job is done. No noticeable wear yet I'm expecting at least 2-3 more years out of them.

 

[CBR.worm]

We don't have snow here, so we put the regular DW on two cars. Really disappointed. Very soft sidewalls, on my car they handled so much worse than the Michelin PS2's it was frustrating. They also made a lot of noise. TireRack had them listed as second in wet/dry performance only to the PS2 and quieter than the Michelins, I will never put much stake in a tirerack test again.

Luckily they wore out quickly and have since been replaced with the newer Pilot SS. The only good thing about the DW's were the price.