Okay, so I'm in the market for some new tires & am faced with two different scenarios -

Continental Extreme Contact DWS from America's Tire, $620 mounted & balanced. The downside, in about a year I'll be moving to my home town where America's / Discount tire doesn't exist, so I will have to pay for balances / rotations / puncture fixes / etc. out of pocket.

Cooper Zeon rs3-a from Les Schwab, $687 mounted & balanced. Les Schwab is pretty much the only tire place in my home town & I have some near by where I live now as well. The downside, there really doesn't seem to be as much info / reviews of these tires compared to the Conti's. Also, they are slightly more expensive. The upside, I could get them serviced for free after I move.

I've narrowed it down to these because they seem to be the best performing tire/$ and these two retailers seem to be able to offer the best prices & service. I looked into Tire Rack & it just seems confusing with really no upside (unless I'm missing something).

So then, has anyone had experience with both of these tires? I'll be mounting them on my 17" R98's. Which scenario would y'all choose?

 

Does a Costco exist in your hometown?

I got a set of Michelin AS 3 all season performance tires for about $580 out-the-door with free everything like rotations and etc... I believe the Michelins will go on sale on or after August 3rd.

I am not familiar with Cooper tires' performance and had a great experience with Conti DWS until my 3rd set. I had issues in hydroplaning and that brought to the Michelin brand back.

Good luck with the tire purchase!

 

Any club store will do the same thing or deal for you... like BJ's and Sam's Club. Ideally, they are all the same in pricing, selection and service offered.

 

Tip...
In my experience coopers under perform.... They are a price point tire...
Conti's have good and bad tires...depends on the $$.
The better generals (made by Continentprettye pretty good...
And one tip...
Many chain places WILL NOT INSTALL NON RUNFLATS or non OEM size tires...

 

Thanks for the replies everyone, right now I'm leaning toward the Conti's from America's Tire. Any other 17" tire suggestions for my R53 in the same price range for a good all season performance tire? Looking around $120/tire & need an all season because in Idaho (where I may be moving back to), it's pretty common to experience all seasons in a day haha.

 

I have been happy with Conti DWS on the other car (Subaru Outback) but no experience on the Mini.

Costco installed Michelin PSS 215-45-17 for me without even blinking. Only downside to Costco is the choice is limited to Bridgestone or Michelin.

Tire Rack is great - pick the tires you want, pick a local installer from the Tire Rack web site, have the tires shipped to the installer, show up, pay the pre-negotiated installation charge, done. That's how I got the Contis on the Subaru.

Overall - pick the tire you want. Worry about the store second. The rotation service and free flat fixes are a great selling point but in reality how often will you take advantage of it? I rotate the tires myself, I can get it done in about 20 minutes easy. Unless you have really crappy roads or drive by a lot of construction sites with contractors dropping nails and other assorted HW, punctures are pretty rare. Between the 3 cars in the family I think our last puncture was 2008 and 5 sets of tires ago. (OK now I'm tempting fate.)

 

If your area doesnt get too cold, why bother to put all season tires? Summer tires would be a much better choice in every single aspect Tirerack is very good, as you can choose from a super long list of tires. Just find an installer in your nearby area to put it on (choose the one is avaliable in your hometown of course).

 

What is the significance of August 3rd for the Michelins to go on sale at Costco? Is there a known tire sale that I'm not aware of?

 

I've had Conti DWS on my 2012 MCS for 7,100 miles or so.


Very smooth ride, quiet, grippy enough for spirited driving. No tramlining, that was a problem with the DW summer tires I had before.


We have 4 real seasons here, I'm going to try them in snow this winter instead of switching to my snow tires.


We ran these year-round on our Mazda 5, 25,000 miles or so, also with good results and good-enough snow traction [for the few times needed here].


HTH.

 

Currently Costco is running a sale on Bridgestone tires that runs until Aug. 3rd.. Sunday. Usually the new sale catalog becomes in effect the following Thursday meaning the 8th or so. Check online for specifics.

Usually, Costco alternates its brands that go on special.

I am waiting for the Michelin AS 3's to go on special ($70 off on a set of 4). This will be my second and currently have 52K on them. It's getting real close...

 

Well, despite the title of this post, I ended up going with a set of the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3's. These tires are FANTASTIC on dry pavement, very excited to try them in some rain. I went with America's tire because they had the best price & could get them the quickest (they also have the $70 rebate).

Oh, and I snagged a set of R98 wheels while I was at it :-)