Continental DWS vs. Avid Envigor vs. HTR A/S P01

[The Critic]

Yokohama Avid Envigors and Sumitomo HTR A/S P01s are High-Performance All Season Tires.

The Continental DWS is an Ultra High-Performance All Season tire.

According to the Tire Rack tests, despite the notoriously mushy steering response of the DWS, it posted noticeably better grip and shorter stopping distances than the Avid Envigors and the HTR A/S P01.

However, in the real world, if the steering response of the Continental DWS is truly as lousy as people claim it to be, then wouldn't the Avid Envigors be a better choice despite its lesser performance (on paper)?

Of those 3 tires, which would you guys choose? Price of the Avid Envigors and the Continental DWS are about the same, the Sumimotos are a bit less.

 

[rpn453]

I'd go with the DWS. I don't think the others would be very good in snow, and I also like the idea of better traction on all surfaces. How mushy could they be? The DWS in a 205/50R17 couldn't be nearly as bad as my 205/55R16 winter tires, so I'm sure they'd still feel great when I switch over in spring!

 

[newtoncd8]

I put the DWS on my A4 and so far, I have been very happy (only 600 miles on the tires though). I was also looking at the Envigor's, but there weren't enough reviews for me to go with them.

 

[oggb]

The DWS steering response is about average. Better if you keep them around 40 psi. I came from a set of UHP Summer tires before these Conti's and while I do occasionally miss the ultimate grip and razor-sharp steering response I'm incredibly impressed with how versatile these tires are.

Considering the cars in your signature I doubt you'd notice a difference between the three.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: rpn453
I'd go with the DWS. I don't think the others would be very good in snow, and I also like the idea of better traction on all surfaces. How mushy could they be? The DWS in a 205/50R17 couldn't be nearly as bad as my 205/55R16 winter tires, so I'm sure they'd still feel great when I switch over in spring!


I wonder if the DWS would have better steering response in a lower profile size, such as 225/40-18 on my friend's GTI. Since there's less sidewall to begin with, I wonder if this would result in less "flex" or if it would make the situation worse since the little sidewall that there is would be flexing a lot.

Also, I do not get any snow in NorCal so it's a non-issue.

 

[HTSS_TR]

I have DWS 235/45-17 on E430 with 40 PSI front and 38 PSI rear, the ride is firm but not hash and the steering is fairly quick but not as fast as UHP summer tires on the car before.

Yokohama Avid ENVigor are available in speed rates H, V and W. Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 are available in speed rates H and W.

The price of HTR A/S P01 and ENVigor in speed rate W is a little less than DWS. According to the test on Tirerack, Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 is not as good as ENVigor and treadlife is much less.

If you are in market for a set of UHP, either DWS or ENVigor will be a good choice.

 

[rpn453]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
I wonder if the DWS would have better steering response in a lower profile size, such as 225/40-18 on my friend's GTI. Since there's less sidewall to begin with, I wonder if this would result in less "flex" or if it would make the situation worse since the little sidewall that there is would be flexing a lot.

Also, I do not get any snow in NorCal so it's a non-issue.


Unless they intentionally made the lower profile sidewall flimsier for the sake of ride comfort, it should be more responsive. I've never heard of any tire manufacturer doing that, but I suppose it's possible. However, if they did, I doubt they'd design it to flex more overall than the taller sidewall versions of the same tire. I think most people want the trade in ride quality for steering response when they go lower profile.

I suspect the DWS' slower steering response is due to the tread design as much as or more than the sidewall. If snow isn't a factor, then it would probably make sense to use a tire with larger, more stable tread blocks than the DWS. I'd still consider the DWS, but the other tires are more optimized for clean-road conditions.

 

[PandaBear]

Personally I prefer non directional tires so that would be DWS for me out of the 3.

 

[rjundi]

I own a set of Bridgestone RE960's(WRX) and Continental DWS(Legacy GT). IMHO the DWS is really over rated and hyped up unless it dazzles in the winter conditions.

It pales in comparison to the RE960, however the RE960 is not great in winter conditions and pricier.