hey guys so i just purchased these tires for my MCS after reading all the reviews on how its a great A/S tire. at first i was a little put off about some of what you guys posted on here about the side walls being a bit mushy on the 16" rims... well luckily on 17" 215/45/17 they feel great. i pushed the wheel pressure up to 35psi right now and the turn in response feels almost as sharp as the pirelli RF tires that where on it.. im pretty sure if i put another psi or 2 in the tire that there wouldn't to be much of a difference at all. the grip is really great even though they are not broken in yet and i can see it only getting better as time goes on.

now the amazing thing about these tires is they are absolutely silent and they have a great ride quality to them.. no more avoiding tiny imperfections in the road anymore for fear of losing a filling haha... also most of my dash rattles are gone now haha! so this makes the car even more pleasurable to drive.

i haven't had a chance to really push them to to hard as they only have a few miles on them so far and are no where near broken in but my initial though is they are probably one of the best if not the best A/S tires i have ever owned. i would however not recommend them if your running under a 17" rim if you are looking for something comparable to the runflats responsiveness. i could see them being a bit mushy with response with the larger side walls on a 15"-16" rims with lower pressure (32psi) in the wheel and i dont think you could ever get the responsiveness of the runflats with them..but here is the thing i think you have to consider...that this is the case with almost any tire in that size range thats not a RF. luckily they feel great with the psi bumped up a tiny bit on the 215/45/17's

also have to mention that the 215/45/17 look great on the car and fill the wheel wells much better then the 205's i had on there before.. and they look a bit more aggressive now with the wider 215's. they also corrected my speedo inconstancy of 2mph i had when i was on the highway. with the 205's id be doing 58 on my gps when the speedo said 60 now with the 215's its dead on with 60 with my gps... i think its weird that mini would put 205's on if they were the incorrect size for there speedo to read.

well since this is just my initial impression ill update this in the future once they are broken in and let you know what i think. im also curious to hear other peoples experiences with these tires and what pressure you like them set too

 

Will be interested in your longer-term opinions as these are one of two I am considering.
The other is Bridgestone RE960AS.
I have previous experience with the Bridgestone.
I noted that on the TireRack survey that while the Contis rate just a bit better over-all they are poorer in Dry Traction and Cornering Stability than are the Bridgestones.
One thing worth noting: TireRack data shows the Bridgestone to weigh in at 25 lbs while the Conti is shown at 20 lbs.

 

Had mine for about 7500 miles and I like them. I have them in the stock 17" size not e 16's either. I have found for to set to the tire pressure at about 37 lbs seems to be the sweet spot. Maintains good handling, good mileage, without feeling harsh.

The only issue i have noticed is that they have started to have some noise on concrete road surfaces. That being said they are still quiet on asphalt and the noise isn't that bad. Turning on the radio at a lower volume makes it go away.

Very confidence inspiring in wet as you cannot tell you are driving on a wet surface. Have driven them in light snow and mild ice. In snow they grip fine and don't slip. In the ice they loose grip when getting going but seem to be fine once you get a little momentum. They actually seem to grip better than the last tires I had that were rated for the same conditions.

Not a bad choice. Not going to be a summer tire but an excellent all-around all-season tire which maintains the sporty handling of the MINI.

 

Thanks for the post unxpectederror. I'm waffling between the Contis and the Yoko Avids when the runflats finally bite the dust.. Yours is the first positive post on sidewall stiffness I've seen, though most are running 16" wheels.

I too look forward seeing if your results to compare with hunter99s experience.

 

I have been running the DWS's for about 15,000 miles. I run them at 40 psi. This seems to firm them up quite a bit. Yes, they are way softer than runflats, however, all non-runflats are. They are very good in wet, above average in dry and supposedly very good in snow. The turn in is a bit soft, however the extra psi really helps. They are also very comfortable and quiet so far. They seem to be wearing well.
I live in Missouri and need a true all season tire and the DWS fit the bill. If I lived in an area that does not experience much snow, I would seriously look at the new Yokohama Envigors.

 

I used to have these tires on my old MINI and I really liked them. I didn't have them long enough to see how well they aged. I won't automatically go to these when I get rid of my current runflats but will research what's out there in the coming years. Still, the DWS may be my next tires.

 

my experience with tires over the years on a lot of different cars is: BF Goodrich, good. Had an awesome set of their T/A tires on my eclipse, and family and coworkers liked them on their vehicles as well. Yokohama bad... very loud road noise, tread pattern was weak (their standard high performance all-season radial), etc.
When I purchased my mini last march, it came with the OEM pirelli's and conti's... after a week on the conti's and my first trip in the snow, I don't have any gripes yet but I'll be rotating the pirelli's back on in the spring.

 

alright so i have driven these in about 2" of fresh snow and in some rain... amazing, its just like driving on dry pavement in both cases. also 36-37psi is perfect on these tires, nice and stiff with very little role. it must just be the 16's that are sloppy?

i cant wait to see how they do in some deeper snow.

see the thing with these tires is that not only are they top of the crop for dry pavement handling, they are definitely the best UHP A/S tire for snow and rain... no doubt and add in the fact that from what i read they will last 2x as long as the other top competitors makes this tire a true winner. this tire is truly impressive when you considering everything it has to offer.

to let you know in the past i have owned BFGoodrich G-Force super sport A/S and Michelin Pilot Sport A/S plus... while both sets where 215/45/17 tires they were however not on the mini. but I still get an idea for the limits of the tires regardless... so comparing them to these.. dry traction is pretty close in the group with the nod going off to the Michelins. both the BFGs the Michelins have slightly stiffer side walls at lower psi but its really not that far off. 32psi on them = maybe 35psi on the DWS ... both these tires lasted me right around 25-28k though.. so wear wasn't so great on them. nether hold a candle to the wet and snow grip of the Continentals with the BFG's being the worst of the bunch in these conditions. I consider the Michelin the loser out of the group though as while offering slightly better dry performance it really isnt worth the big price difference when compared to the other 2 sets... i wont go into detail about comparing the ride quality between these tires because they where on 2 different cars thus having different suspensions. however i will say the Continentals felt the smoothest of the bunch with my factory sports optioned suspension but again ill say this might not be directly comparable...

Continental ExtremeContact DWS
+ great dry pavement performance
+ amazing wet and snow performance
+ amazing treat wear for a UHP tire
+ cheap $105 each
- slightly less stiff then the Michelins and BFGs

BFGoodrich G-Force super sport A/S
+ great dry pavement performance
+ cheap $105-$110 each
+ slightly stiffer side wall
- worst in group in wet and snow
- lousy tread life

Michelin Pilot Sport A/S plus
+ best dry pavement performance
+ slightly stiffer side wall
+/- decent in rain but not so much in snow
- Pricey at $155-$160 each
- lousy tread life

to sum it up there really isnt a tire out there that is as versatile and have as good tread life.. while still having amazing performance like these tires.

i have only put 400 miles on these so far but i already love em.. i feel they are the best over all A/S performance tire especially if you live in a area like the North East that has a constantly changing climate.

I hope this helps anyone whos shopping for a new tire.

 

I haven't driven in the deep stuff yet in my mini, but the time will come...

The awesome BFGoodrich tires I had on my old car were the Traction T/A's, not A/S... all season high performance touring tires I think they were called. They weren't UHP or max performance summer treads. They were rated #1 on tire rack at the time.

 

40psi at above 40 degrees and then 36 under. then running snows so not sure about really cold. probably still 34-36. I've found 40 to be good in feel.

I had 2 sets of the 960's on C-class'. I always liked them but snow wasn't great with them. They were much more firm and sporty but with my MINI I actually was looking forward to a little smoother tire coming from the RF's, sport suspension on an S. I think I'd choose the Pilot sport AS+, then the DWS then the 960. The 960 seems to me to just be a all season summer tire. It never did great with snow or even real wet either, not like the DWS. (and yea the MINI v a MB is part of the difference but not all of it)



I think you're right. I think the Pilot Sport AS+ might be better but not for the price. I'd have got it if it were a closer difference. The DWS is very nice and I'm happy to use it 8 months of the year. Blizzaks round out the winter.

 

Hi
Do you still like the tires?
Are ou stll happy with the 215s?
Are thry still quiet?

 

I too am going to switch from RF to these or Avids (no snow here really) in January. I keep hearing people like you guys running the pressure up there around 37-40 psi. Does this cause bad wear problems on the tires, making the center wear out prematurely? I know us MINI drivers go through treads at a higher than normal rate anyway , but not wanting to buy them more often than I have too!!

Kevin

 

I loved my ContiExtreme Contacts. I ran about 50% of their tread before I traded in my MINI. They provided excellent all season traction. They really shone in rain; it was definitely their strong suit. However, snow was not the greatest. They never slipped, but it did require a decent amount more of attention when accelerating in snow.

As with everything else, though, a car will only perform as well as its driver allows it.

Have fun with those tires!

 

I believe the tires can hold much more than 40psi. So far my tires appear to be wearing fine. I have 15,000 miles on them at this point and rotate them every 10,000.

 

According to tire rack the continental dws maximum inflation is 51 psi. So I believe 38 or 40 psi should cause no major wear problems.

 

That's great to hear. I didn't think to check their maximum inflation.

 

I like the tires quite a bit. Good grip, smooth and quite a deal. The squishiness is still on occasion, irritating but largely it's just fine. You'll appreciate it on crap roads after winter snow/ice/salt etc kills them.

I'm very happy with 215 width. I'd like as much rubber on the ground as I can get. I can't say I can actually tell the difference but hopefully it IS making a difference! Should be about 5% better grip

I'm not sure I've really objectively listened to the tires enough to say. If you want quiet, look up some of the stuff are doing with Dynamat. Making these MINI's quiet like their big brothers from Bavaria.

 

This thread is great, I've been looking at tires for a while now. I want A/S and the DWS seems to be a great choice. I never even thought about getting wider tires until I saw Unxpectederror's original post. I just want to confirm something, my current stock tires are the 205/45R/17's, but it'll be okay to use 215's?

 

yep, do the 215. you'll be happy. i think everything about this tire has been covered on here.

 

Awesome, thanks man.

 

just ordered them from TireRack...i'll let everyone know how they work.

 

1. yes i more then like, i love em.
2. yes im very pleased with the size and they look much better then the 205 that come stock.
3. yes very quite.. night and day from the runflats i had on there before


i drove these in 6"+ of snow the other day and man are they really good for a A/S tire. They wont ever be a snow tire but I cant say ive had a UHP A/S tire thats dealt better in snow.

 

First post, please be gentle. Just want to say thanks to everyone on this forum. I just got rid of the run-flats and replaced with the Conti ExtremeContact DWS in 215/45/17. All I can say is man, I wish I had done this sooner. The difference is remarkable on my '05 MCS. Quiet, quiet, quiet. Now to put together my "spare" kit. Any recommendations appreciated on compressors, plug, etc. And I've heard differing opinions on the use of Slime and it's affect on TPMS. Note, this would be the last resort. I would try plugging first. And anyone ever use Tyre Guardian? As alway, appreciate all the info. You all are an incredible group!

 

I forgot to follow up on my previous post. I bought the Continenatals DWS and they are great! They are quiet, and handle great in the snow, especially with all the snows we've been having in the NorthEast lately. I wish I had switched over sooner.

 

Since I'm still running Conti RFs I can't address Slime, but Slime does make a small compressor that fits in the cubby in front of the driver-side tail light.

As far as plugs- you can use either string plugs or the mushrooms. Both work well, pick the one that you think will work for you.