Was about to just get the same Continental 195/55/R16 Contact 2 tires when I noticed and asked Tire Rack people aboout the Bridgestone Potenza RE96AS Pole Position RFT tires. These are performance all season and I was told noisier but much better traction/handling.

The people who do the tire work claim the Continental's grip better. Anyone have direct experience?

TIA

 

I had the RE960AS RFTs in 17 inch on my 08 MCS and they were awesome. I used them on a couple autocross sessions and a track session and they still lasted over 30k miles :0

It's an ultra high performance all-season so the grip is really good. I haven't used the ContiPremiumContact 2 (i assume those are the ones you're talking about) though but on TR they're listed as Grand touring summer tire. If I had to guess the grip on the RE960AS might be more than the Continentals.

I've taken the RE960AS through an STL winter and it performed decently, I'd still go with winter tires though for serious winters like Wisconsin. You'd probably be happy with the RE960AS but note they are RFT so the ride will be stiffer than normal tires. And because they're RFT they're probably more expensive...I know that in 205/45/17 they were about 180 a tire.

 

I saw that on TR which worried me. I live in Portland which rarely sees snow just lots of rain. I was surprised the tire shop liked the ContiPremium better (Yes you had the right name). The price is almost the same. Its a performance car so I thought having a performance tire made sense.

 

Summer tires are also better in the rain, not just in the dry as the name might lead you to assume. Why not look at something like the Continental DW, a max performance summer tire that is non-RFT but gets really good reviews. And I think they're around $100/tire so not a bad deal at all.

I feel like my ContiSportContact 3 RFT tires are getting low on tread so I've been looking too and I'm leaning towards the Bridgestone Potenza S04 which ranks just above the DW (3rd vs 4th in TR's max summer tire rankings). They're also around $100 per tire but I'm looking at 205/45/17. I just checked and the S04s don't come in 195/55/16. Looks like there's not much in terms of 195/55/16 on TR but you could probably modify the size a tiny bit without affecting tire diameter/speed readings too drastically and find a much better tire.

 

Went to the tire shop today but they ordered non-run flats so I have the weekend to decide. They still claimed these tires grip better. When I mentioned the Bridgestone I don't think they were familiar with them but said they would be happy to get them. I'll research the tires you mentioned. Thank you as its very interesting.

 

You may get more eyes on this thread if you ask the mods to move it to the Tires, Wheels & Brakes section.

Surprised that nobody has mentioned Conti Extreme Contact Sports yet...