Continental ExtremeContact DW & DWS 16” Tires Reviews
Thread Starter
|
3rd Gear
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
From: Orange County, CA
Continental ExtremeContact DW & DWS 16” Tires Reviews
First off I’ve had a bit of experience with tires on other high performance cars BMW 3 series and 350Z, but I by no means am an expert so I understand that experiences and opinions will vary, this post is merely one person’s opinion of these tires.
Background: 2011MCS auto with no performance mods except a K&N drop-in filter. 16” stock ribspoke rims. Located in So Cal. Time of year is summer, 80-90 degree days and no rain. MINI is a daily driver that sees occasional canyon carving and no track days. My canyon carving is/can get very aggressive. I previously had Hankook RS3’s which are just a step below full blown track tires and damn those suckers held the dry road like crazy…those were the absolute grippy-est dry weather street tires I have ever had but ran through the set in 10k miles (which isn’t terrible for that type of tires, but my budget wanted a longer lasting tire). Both Continental tires were tested at PSI’s between 30-40psi.
Continental ExtremeContact DWS: I only had these on the car for 2 weeks and a few hundred miles. Which is a strong point for Continentals. What you say? Well Continental gives Continental ExtremeContact consumers (90) days to exchange them for another Continental tire if they are not completely satisfied. And that is exactly what I did. For the short-time they were on the car I notice the following pros and cons.
Pros:
- Super Super quiet
-Very comfortable and smooth riding, noticeable less jarring than my previous Hankook RS3’s
-great daily driver and corners well at slower speeds (ex: clover leaf on ramps at 35-40 are no problem)
Cons:
-This is the biggest COMPLAINT I had … these tires wander like crazy on the freeway at any speed above 60 MPH. Characteristic is exacerbated on grooved concrete freeways but it even happens on brand new smooth asphalt.
-does squeal and slide/push considerably in corners when getting more aggressive (ex: clover leaf onramps and twisties above 40MPH).
Conclusion:
If it weren’t for the fact that these tires wander like crazy at normal highway speeds I may have kept them. Like I said it’s a daily drive that is never tracked and only sees limited (less than 10% of the miles in the canyons being thrown in high speed corners. They were sooooo comfortable and quiet. I see on tire rack they have gotten exceptional reviews. I can only “assume” that these tires may not wander as much on heavier cars? Or anyone buying an all season tires just aren’t looking for the exceptional cornering. And this is where the rubber meet the road so to speak. To me my MINI is so loved because of the cornering ability. Even if it is only a short 200 yards on the freeway on ramp, I like to push my MINI into the turns so that I can get that same silly grin on my face, like the first time I test drove her. So too much wandering that required constant steering correction on straight flat freeways and the loss of being able to corner her to the limits w/o significantly noticeable slide and understeer meant these tires were not for this guy or his MINI.
Continental ExtremeContact DW: I’ve had these for only a couple of weeks and few hundred miles as well.
Pros:
-a very quiet tire, only slightly maybe 10% more noise than the DWS, but still way quieter than the RS3’s and by all of my experience one of the quietest tires I’ve personally ever owned.
-very comfortable ride. Again I would say the DWS only won out over the DW in comfort by a tiny tiny margin. With both the comfort and noise I would even be tempted to say that if you had not driven these tires back to back you would almost not notice the difference in noise and comfort between the DW and DWS.
-NO MORE wandering of the tires. Now don’t get me wrong the car still wanders a bit on grooved concrete and ever ever so slightly and occasionally on smooth asphalt, but nothing like the DWS. Plus with the experience from the DWS, I was being hyper aware of any wandering at highway speeds. Some of you may not even notice any wandering on the DW.
-Corners are again the servant’s to MINI. These tires grip in the corners. Not as much as the RS3’s but they hold their own.
Cons:
-at the limit in the turns these tires will “swoosh” a little. I have not gotten them to chirp or break loose in the high speed canyon carving I’ve done but they will “swoosh” a little…just a slight amount of slide. Now let me clarify this as some may say I don’t want my car sliding around turns. It’s a bit hard to explain…at the limit I can hear a little “swooshing” of the tires but the car still holds its line and does not understeer (any more than a MINI normally does).
Conclusion:
A great tire for ME. Comfortable and quiet for daily driving. Great treadwear rating (looks Iike reviews say I should get at least 30k miles from them, which is 3x’s longer than the departed RS3’s. They are very affordable at just over $110 each. Still makes my MINI drive like a MINI. Now if money were not an issue and I just lived with the moderate tire noise I would keep buying RS3’s every 10k miles as those suckers were just phenominal…you had to really really push the car to get them to chirp and had to go track day crazy on the street to even get them close to thinking about breaking loose.
Anyways, for those of you considering with the DW or DWS know that they both are great riding tires with a 90 day satisfaction guarantee. If you still want to be able to throw the car into a turn at high speed then I’d say go with the DW. Interested in hearing about other MINI owners and the DWS and if they notice the wandering? And if it was too annoying for them. Like I said this is just one owners experience and we all have different subjective needs out of the tires we own. But hopefully the long review will give similar drivers a “little” bit of first hand experience with the Continental ExtremeContact line of tires.
Background: 2011MCS auto with no performance mods except a K&N drop-in filter. 16” stock ribspoke rims. Located in So Cal. Time of year is summer, 80-90 degree days and no rain. MINI is a daily driver that sees occasional canyon carving and no track days. My canyon carving is/can get very aggressive. I previously had Hankook RS3’s which are just a step below full blown track tires and damn those suckers held the dry road like crazy…those were the absolute grippy-est dry weather street tires I have ever had but ran through the set in 10k miles (which isn’t terrible for that type of tires, but my budget wanted a longer lasting tire). Both Continental tires were tested at PSI’s between 30-40psi.
Continental ExtremeContact DWS: I only had these on the car for 2 weeks and a few hundred miles. Which is a strong point for Continentals. What you say? Well Continental gives Continental ExtremeContact consumers (90) days to exchange them for another Continental tire if they are not completely satisfied. And that is exactly what I did. For the short-time they were on the car I notice the following pros and cons.
Pros:
- Super Super quiet
-Very comfortable and smooth riding, noticeable less jarring than my previous Hankook RS3’s
-great daily driver and corners well at slower speeds (ex: clover leaf on ramps at 35-40 are no problem)
Cons:
-This is the biggest COMPLAINT I had … these tires wander like crazy on the freeway at any speed above 60 MPH. Characteristic is exacerbated on grooved concrete freeways but it even happens on brand new smooth asphalt.
-does squeal and slide/push considerably in corners when getting more aggressive (ex: clover leaf onramps and twisties above 40MPH).
Conclusion:
If it weren’t for the fact that these tires wander like crazy at normal highway speeds I may have kept them. Like I said it’s a daily drive that is never tracked and only sees limited (less than 10% of the miles in the canyons being thrown in high speed corners. They were sooooo comfortable and quiet. I see on tire rack they have gotten exceptional reviews. I can only “assume” that these tires may not wander as much on heavier cars? Or anyone buying an all season tires just aren’t looking for the exceptional cornering. And this is where the rubber meet the road so to speak. To me my MINI is so loved because of the cornering ability. Even if it is only a short 200 yards on the freeway on ramp, I like to push my MINI into the turns so that I can get that same silly grin on my face, like the first time I test drove her. So too much wandering that required constant steering correction on straight flat freeways and the loss of being able to corner her to the limits w/o significantly noticeable slide and understeer meant these tires were not for this guy or his MINI.
Continental ExtremeContact DW: I’ve had these for only a couple of weeks and few hundred miles as well.
Pros:
-a very quiet tire, only slightly maybe 10% more noise than the DWS, but still way quieter than the RS3’s and by all of my experience one of the quietest tires I’ve personally ever owned.
-very comfortable ride. Again I would say the DWS only won out over the DW in comfort by a tiny tiny margin. With both the comfort and noise I would even be tempted to say that if you had not driven these tires back to back you would almost not notice the difference in noise and comfort between the DW and DWS.
-NO MORE wandering of the tires. Now don’t get me wrong the car still wanders a bit on grooved concrete and ever ever so slightly and occasionally on smooth asphalt, but nothing like the DWS. Plus with the experience from the DWS, I was being hyper aware of any wandering at highway speeds. Some of you may not even notice any wandering on the DW.
-Corners are again the servant’s to MINI. These tires grip in the corners. Not as much as the RS3’s but they hold their own.
Cons:
-at the limit in the turns these tires will “swoosh” a little. I have not gotten them to chirp or break loose in the high speed canyon carving I’ve done but they will “swoosh” a little…just a slight amount of slide. Now let me clarify this as some may say I don’t want my car sliding around turns. It’s a bit hard to explain…at the limit I can hear a little “swooshing” of the tires but the car still holds its line and does not understeer (any more than a MINI normally does).
Conclusion:
A great tire for ME. Comfortable and quiet for daily driving. Great treadwear rating (looks Iike reviews say I should get at least 30k miles from them, which is 3x’s longer than the departed RS3’s. They are very affordable at just over $110 each. Still makes my MINI drive like a MINI. Now if money were not an issue and I just lived with the moderate tire noise I would keep buying RS3’s every 10k miles as those suckers were just phenominal…you had to really really push the car to get them to chirp and had to go track day crazy on the street to even get them close to thinking about breaking loose.
Anyways, for those of you considering with the DW or DWS know that they both are great riding tires with a 90 day satisfaction guarantee. If you still want to be able to throw the car into a turn at high speed then I’d say go with the DW. Interested in hearing about other MINI owners and the DWS and if they notice the wandering? And if it was too annoying for them. Like I said this is just one owners experience and we all have different subjective needs out of the tires we own. But hopefully the long review will give similar drivers a “little” bit of first hand experience with the Continental ExtremeContact line of tires.
6th Gear
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,097
Likes: 8
From: Knoxville, TN
That "swooshy" feeling should go away after a few hundred miles of breaking the new tires in. Also, the DW is a bit soft in the sidewall. I found that bringing them up to 39 psi makes a huge difference in turn in feel. Enjoy them, they are a great street tire!
3rd Gear
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 153
Likes: 0
Thanks for posting such a detailed review. I just wanted to chime in that I'm having the exact same "wandering" (I've also heard it called trameling?), and I'm on DW, not DWS. Only on grooved concrete, and some sections are much worse than others (the 134 between the 5 and the 2 is the worst! and of course on my daily drive).
I also found them much better at 38 psi in terms of handling and cornering. Very sticky, very quiet, but very disconcerting on grooved concrete in SoCal. :(
I also found them much better at 38 psi in terms of handling and cornering. Very sticky, very quiet, but very disconcerting on grooved concrete in SoCal. :(
6th Gear
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,358
Likes: 1
From: Graham, NC
I had the DW on my MINI for approximately 25,000 miles before they needed to be replaced. Found them to be great tires in both wet and dry conditions. No appreciable loss of grip even as the tread depth got very thin. Stayed quiet throughout their life.
I currently have the DWS on my MINI - now at about 18,000 miles. As expected, grip is a tick less than the DW. The tradeoff is I should be able to get the full 50,000 miles of warrantied tread life out of them, so I can skip a year of buying new tires. The bad news is the road noise is getting to be a bit much with them, so the next 30,000 miles may not be the most enjoyable.
On the issue of the wandering, I did think the DWS took longer than either of the two previous tires I had (Yoko S.drives and the Conti DW) to get properly scrubbed in and really start sticking to the road versus feeling like they were skating all over the place. I'd say it was around 1,500+/- miles where the others were probably between 500 - 1000 miles.
I currently have the DWS on my MINI - now at about 18,000 miles. As expected, grip is a tick less than the DW. The tradeoff is I should be able to get the full 50,000 miles of warrantied tread life out of them, so I can skip a year of buying new tires. The bad news is the road noise is getting to be a bit much with them, so the next 30,000 miles may not be the most enjoyable.
On the issue of the wandering, I did think the DWS took longer than either of the two previous tires I had (Yoko S.drives and the Conti DW) to get properly scrubbed in and really start sticking to the road versus feeling like they were skating all over the place. I'd say it was around 1,500+/- miles where the others were probably between 500 - 1000 miles.
5th Gear
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 917
Likes: 27
From: Pulaski,NY
I have the Conti's DW 205/50 on some SSR Type C 16x7 rims on my GP. I feel that this is an excellent tire for a street ride. As others have said the initial break in period is longer than any other tire that I have owned. Give them some time to come into it. One other area that seems to be over looked is the weight of this tire. They are super light and compared to other brands may be three to four lbs lighter per corner. This will give you better braking, acceleration, and allow your suspension to do it's job easier. When I first put these rims on I went with Dunlop Direzza Star Specs and found, for my use, they were very LOUD in the GP with reduced sound insulation and also very harsh due to the stiff sidewalls. Much more so than the Mich PS2's that I ran on the stock rims. I find that I get more out of the reduced weight on the Conti's than I do on the slightly better turn in of the Dunlop's.
Steve
Steve
1st Gear
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 38
Likes: 0
From: Houston TX
First off I’ve had a bit of experience with tires on other high performance cars BMW 3 series and 350Z, but I by no means am an expert so I understand that experiences and opinions will vary, this post is merely one person’s opinion of these tires.
Background: 2011MCS auto with no performance mods except a K&N drop-in filter. 16” stock ribspoke rims. Located in So Cal. Time of year is summer, 80-90 degree days and no rain. MINI is a daily driver that sees occasional canyon carving and no track days. My canyon carving is/can get very aggressive. I previously had Hankook RS3’s which are just a step below full blown track tires and damn those suckers held the dry road like crazy…those were the absolute grippy-est dry weather street tires I have ever had but ran through the set in 10k miles (which isn’t terrible for that type of tires, but my budget wanted a longer lasting tire). Both Continental tires were tested at PSI’s between 30-40psi.
Continental ExtremeContact DWS: I only had these on the car for 2 weeks and a few hundred miles. Which is a strong point for Continentals. What you say? Well Continental gives Continental ExtremeContact consumers (90) days to exchange them for another Continental tire if they are not completely satisfied. And that is exactly what I did. For the short-time they were on the car I notice the following pros and cons.
Pros:
- Super Super quiet
-Very comfortable and smooth riding, noticeable less jarring than my previous Hankook RS3’s
-great daily driver and corners well at slower speeds (ex: clover leaf on ramps at 35-40 are no problem)
Cons:
-This is the biggest COMPLAINT I had … these tires wander like crazy on the freeway at any speed above 60 MPH. Characteristic is exacerbated on grooved concrete freeways but it even happens on brand new smooth asphalt.
-does squeal and slide/push considerably in corners when getting more aggressive (ex: clover leaf onramps and twisties above 40MPH).
Conclusion:
If it weren’t for the fact that these tires wander like crazy at normal highway speeds I may have kept them. Like I said it’s a daily drive that is never tracked and only sees limited (less than 10% of the miles in the canyons being thrown in high speed corners. They were sooooo comfortable and quiet. I see on tire rack they have gotten exceptional reviews. I can only “assume” that these tires may not wander as much on heavier cars? Or anyone buying an all season tires just aren’t looking for the exceptional cornering. And this is where the rubber meet the road so to speak. To me my MINI is so loved because of the cornering ability. Even if it is only a short 200 yards on the freeway on ramp, I like to push my MINI into the turns so that I can get that same silly grin on my face, like the first time I test drove her. So too much wandering that required constant steering correction on straight flat freeways and the loss of being able to corner her to the limits w/o significantly noticeable slide and understeer meant these tires were not for this guy or his MINI.
Continental ExtremeContact DW: I’ve had these for only a couple of weeks and few hundred miles as well.
Pros:
-a very quiet tire, only slightly maybe 10% more noise than the DWS, but still way quieter than the RS3’s and by all of my experience one of the quietest tires I’ve personally ever owned.
-very comfortable ride. Again I would say the DWS only won out over the DW in comfort by a tiny tiny margin. With both the comfort and noise I would even be tempted to say that if you had not driven these tires back to back you would almost not notice the difference in noise and comfort between the DW and DWS.
-NO MORE wandering of the tires. Now don’t get me wrong the car still wanders a bit on grooved concrete and ever ever so slightly and occasionally on smooth asphalt, but nothing like the DWS. Plus with the experience from the DWS, I was being hyper aware of any wandering at highway speeds. Some of you may not even notice any wandering on the DW.
-Corners are again the servant’s to MINI. These tires grip in the corners. Not as much as the RS3’s but they hold their own.
Cons:
-at the limit in the turns these tires will “swoosh” a little. I have not gotten them to chirp or break loose in the high speed canyon carving I’ve done but they will “swoosh” a little…just a slight amount of slide. Now let me clarify this as some may say I don’t want my car sliding around turns. It’s a bit hard to explain…at the limit I can hear a little “swooshing” of the tires but the car still holds its line and does not understeer (any more than a MINI normally does).
Conclusion:
A great tire for ME. Comfortable and quiet for daily driving. Great treadwear rating (looks Iike reviews say I should get at least 30k miles from them, which is 3x’s longer than the departed RS3’s. They are very affordable at just over $110 each. Still makes my MINI drive like a MINI. Now if money were not an issue and I just lived with the moderate tire noise I would keep buying RS3’s every 10k miles as those suckers were just phenominal…you had to really really push the car to get them to chirp and had to go track day crazy on the street to even get them close to thinking about breaking loose.
Anyways, for those of you considering with the DW or DWS know that they both are great riding tires with a 90 day satisfaction guarantee. If you still want to be able to throw the car into a turn at high speed then I’d say go with the DW. Interested in hearing about other MINI owners and the DWS and if they notice the wandering? And if it was too annoying for them. Like I said this is just one owners experience and we all have different subjective needs out of the tires we own. But hopefully the long review will give similar drivers a “little” bit of first hand experience with the Continental ExtremeContact line of tires.
Background: 2011MCS auto with no performance mods except a K&N drop-in filter. 16” stock ribspoke rims. Located in So Cal. Time of year is summer, 80-90 degree days and no rain. MINI is a daily driver that sees occasional canyon carving and no track days. My canyon carving is/can get very aggressive. I previously had Hankook RS3’s which are just a step below full blown track tires and damn those suckers held the dry road like crazy…those were the absolute grippy-est dry weather street tires I have ever had but ran through the set in 10k miles (which isn’t terrible for that type of tires, but my budget wanted a longer lasting tire). Both Continental tires were tested at PSI’s between 30-40psi.
Continental ExtremeContact DWS: I only had these on the car for 2 weeks and a few hundred miles. Which is a strong point for Continentals. What you say? Well Continental gives Continental ExtremeContact consumers (90) days to exchange them for another Continental tire if they are not completely satisfied. And that is exactly what I did. For the short-time they were on the car I notice the following pros and cons.
Pros:
- Super Super quiet
-Very comfortable and smooth riding, noticeable less jarring than my previous Hankook RS3’s
-great daily driver and corners well at slower speeds (ex: clover leaf on ramps at 35-40 are no problem)
Cons:
-This is the biggest COMPLAINT I had … these tires wander like crazy on the freeway at any speed above 60 MPH. Characteristic is exacerbated on grooved concrete freeways but it even happens on brand new smooth asphalt.
-does squeal and slide/push considerably in corners when getting more aggressive (ex: clover leaf onramps and twisties above 40MPH).
Conclusion:
If it weren’t for the fact that these tires wander like crazy at normal highway speeds I may have kept them. Like I said it’s a daily drive that is never tracked and only sees limited (less than 10% of the miles in the canyons being thrown in high speed corners. They were sooooo comfortable and quiet. I see on tire rack they have gotten exceptional reviews. I can only “assume” that these tires may not wander as much on heavier cars? Or anyone buying an all season tires just aren’t looking for the exceptional cornering. And this is where the rubber meet the road so to speak. To me my MINI is so loved because of the cornering ability. Even if it is only a short 200 yards on the freeway on ramp, I like to push my MINI into the turns so that I can get that same silly grin on my face, like the first time I test drove her. So too much wandering that required constant steering correction on straight flat freeways and the loss of being able to corner her to the limits w/o significantly noticeable slide and understeer meant these tires were not for this guy or his MINI.
Continental ExtremeContact DW: I’ve had these for only a couple of weeks and few hundred miles as well.
Pros:
-a very quiet tire, only slightly maybe 10% more noise than the DWS, but still way quieter than the RS3’s and by all of my experience one of the quietest tires I’ve personally ever owned.
-very comfortable ride. Again I would say the DWS only won out over the DW in comfort by a tiny tiny margin. With both the comfort and noise I would even be tempted to say that if you had not driven these tires back to back you would almost not notice the difference in noise and comfort between the DW and DWS.
-NO MORE wandering of the tires. Now don’t get me wrong the car still wanders a bit on grooved concrete and ever ever so slightly and occasionally on smooth asphalt, but nothing like the DWS. Plus with the experience from the DWS, I was being hyper aware of any wandering at highway speeds. Some of you may not even notice any wandering on the DW.
-Corners are again the servant’s to MINI. These tires grip in the corners. Not as much as the RS3’s but they hold their own.
Cons:
-at the limit in the turns these tires will “swoosh” a little. I have not gotten them to chirp or break loose in the high speed canyon carving I’ve done but they will “swoosh” a little…just a slight amount of slide. Now let me clarify this as some may say I don’t want my car sliding around turns. It’s a bit hard to explain…at the limit I can hear a little “swooshing” of the tires but the car still holds its line and does not understeer (any more than a MINI normally does).
Conclusion:
A great tire for ME. Comfortable and quiet for daily driving. Great treadwear rating (looks Iike reviews say I should get at least 30k miles from them, which is 3x’s longer than the departed RS3’s. They are very affordable at just over $110 each. Still makes my MINI drive like a MINI. Now if money were not an issue and I just lived with the moderate tire noise I would keep buying RS3’s every 10k miles as those suckers were just phenominal…you had to really really push the car to get them to chirp and had to go track day crazy on the street to even get them close to thinking about breaking loose.
Anyways, for those of you considering with the DW or DWS know that they both are great riding tires with a 90 day satisfaction guarantee. If you still want to be able to throw the car into a turn at high speed then I’d say go with the DW. Interested in hearing about other MINI owners and the DWS and if they notice the wandering? And if it was too annoying for them. Like I said this is just one owners experience and we all have different subjective needs out of the tires we own. But hopefully the long review will give similar drivers a “little” bit of first hand experience with the Continental ExtremeContact line of tires.
Thread Starter
|
3rd Gear
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
From: Orange County, CA
I have the Conti's DW 205/50 on some SSR Type C 16x7 rims on my GP. I feel that this is an excellent tire for a street ride. As others have said the initial break in period is longer than any other tire that I have owned. Give them some time to come into it. One other area that seems to be over looked is the weight of this tire. They are super light and compared to other brands may be three to four lbs lighter per corner. This will give you better braking, acceleration, and allow your suspension to do it's job easier. When I first put these rims on I went with Dunlop Direzza Star Specs and found, for my use, they were very LOUD in the GP with reduced sound insulation and also very harsh due to the stiff sidewalls. Much more so than the Mich PS2's that I ran on the stock rims. I find that I get more out of the reduced weight on the Conti's than I do on the slightly better turn in of the Dunlop's.
Steve
Steve
Trending Topics
Neutral
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
perfect post for me to find!
so i was originally running 205/40/18 pirelli p-zero runflats on my jcw. needed to replace the rear set (does anyone else's rear tires bald on the inside of the tread first?) and i wanted to transition to non-runflats for ride quality and noise. (also picked up a compressor and dynaplug)
after reading some threads, but not finding this one, i decided to go with the conti DWS 215/40/18. because discount tire could only get those,not the DW. and they were cheapest out of any local or online shops.
i have had them for about 700 miles. i cant believe i havent gotten pulled over for a dui with how slippery (wandery?) these frickin tires feel! i feel like im sliding all over the lane above 50mph. i read that they take about 800 miles to break in but i dont know, they have barely gotten any "better." they honestly made me a bit nervous driving with them at first.
i might give them a bit longer because of this continental warranty you speak of, and then see if i can trade them for the DW. do i just contact continental directly, or discount tire?
oh! the reason i was actually searching for this post was because on my way home today, i took a couple curves on the freeway and the DSC kicked in and was braking for me and the little dash light flashed. but the car didnt feel like it was slipping at all. it really freaked me out. could it be becasue of the tires? or did they mess some sensor or something up changing tires? i havent driven these particular curves since ive had these tires yet either.
thanks!
oh, forgot to add, from just replacing the rears only the noise and ride quality has improved incredibly.
so i was originally running 205/40/18 pirelli p-zero runflats on my jcw. needed to replace the rear set (does anyone else's rear tires bald on the inside of the tread first?) and i wanted to transition to non-runflats for ride quality and noise. (also picked up a compressor and dynaplug)
after reading some threads, but not finding this one, i decided to go with the conti DWS 215/40/18. because discount tire could only get those,not the DW. and they were cheapest out of any local or online shops.
i have had them for about 700 miles. i cant believe i havent gotten pulled over for a dui with how slippery (wandery?) these frickin tires feel! i feel like im sliding all over the lane above 50mph. i read that they take about 800 miles to break in but i dont know, they have barely gotten any "better." they honestly made me a bit nervous driving with them at first.
i might give them a bit longer because of this continental warranty you speak of, and then see if i can trade them for the DW. do i just contact continental directly, or discount tire?
oh! the reason i was actually searching for this post was because on my way home today, i took a couple curves on the freeway and the DSC kicked in and was braking for me and the little dash light flashed. but the car didnt feel like it was slipping at all. it really freaked me out. could it be becasue of the tires? or did they mess some sensor or something up changing tires? i havent driven these particular curves since ive had these tires yet either.
thanks!
oh, forgot to add, from just replacing the rears only the noise and ride quality has improved incredibly.
Last edited by adam_d; May 14, 2013 at 07:54 PM. Reason: added that last line
Thread Starter
|
3rd Gear
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
From: Orange County, CA
Remember: the Conti trade-in warranty is (60) days, I think it was (90) days in the past.
Tramling/Wandering/"Ice Skates": I agree with other posters that there needs to be a break-in period before the tires show optimal performance. With that said I traded in my DWS for DW with less than a couple hundred miles on the DWS. So I may have never experienced the DWS at is prime. That being said the DW with less than 100 miles on them performed much better than the DWS with the same mileage. There was still a bit of wandering/tramling in the first week, but then it subsided and is really not noticeable any more. I stand by my original assessment of my Hankook RS3's as well, and without a doubt the RS3's held straight better...hard to explain but the RS3's just stuck like they were on rails even in a straight line. The DW and DWS don't have that same RS3 feel. (Again, OK with me as I wanted the higher tread life, quieter ride, smoother ride...its all about trade-offs).
(60) day warranty: I used Beker Tires in Orange, CA. A great, privately owned tire shop. I'm sure customer experiences with the Conti 60 day warranty will vary. At Becker tire they originally told me to contact Conti and when the new tires arrived they would call me and I would just pay the new mounting and balance fees. I called Conti, and the rep said "Oh sorry for the problems, please tell Becker you want to exchange your DWS for DW and they will take care of you. I called Becker back, and they made some calls to their Conti distributor and in a couple hours called me back and said "ok, all set just come back in tomorrow and we will have your tires, you just need to pay the install". I think Becker just had not done this Conti Warranty b4, so they had a learning curve (or could have just been the Becker rep...who knows, but it was all taken care of to my satisfaction).
DSC/Traction Control: I don't know how that system works specifically so who knows if its even possible to mess it up during install of new tires. I will say this, I daily drive my car 90% of the miles, just commuting around So Cal. The other 10% I flying around clover leafs and round abouts like a lunatic....hahahaha. From my very brief experience with the DWS, I felt like they would never live up to my modest driving skillz on the twists...they did engage the traction control often and I imagine that may be what you are experiencing.
Tramling/Wandering/"Ice Skates": I agree with other posters that there needs to be a break-in period before the tires show optimal performance. With that said I traded in my DWS for DW with less than a couple hundred miles on the DWS. So I may have never experienced the DWS at is prime. That being said the DW with less than 100 miles on them performed much better than the DWS with the same mileage. There was still a bit of wandering/tramling in the first week, but then it subsided and is really not noticeable any more. I stand by my original assessment of my Hankook RS3's as well, and without a doubt the RS3's held straight better...hard to explain but the RS3's just stuck like they were on rails even in a straight line. The DW and DWS don't have that same RS3 feel. (Again, OK with me as I wanted the higher tread life, quieter ride, smoother ride...its all about trade-offs).
(60) day warranty: I used Beker Tires in Orange, CA. A great, privately owned tire shop. I'm sure customer experiences with the Conti 60 day warranty will vary. At Becker tire they originally told me to contact Conti and when the new tires arrived they would call me and I would just pay the new mounting and balance fees. I called Conti, and the rep said "Oh sorry for the problems, please tell Becker you want to exchange your DWS for DW and they will take care of you. I called Becker back, and they made some calls to their Conti distributor and in a couple hours called me back and said "ok, all set just come back in tomorrow and we will have your tires, you just need to pay the install". I think Becker just had not done this Conti Warranty b4, so they had a learning curve (or could have just been the Becker rep...who knows, but it was all taken care of to my satisfaction).
DSC/Traction Control: I don't know how that system works specifically so who knows if its even possible to mess it up during install of new tires. I will say this, I daily drive my car 90% of the miles, just commuting around So Cal. The other 10% I flying around clover leafs and round abouts like a lunatic....hahahaha. From my very brief experience with the DWS, I felt like they would never live up to my modest driving skillz on the twists...they did engage the traction control often and I imagine that may be what you are experiencing.
perfect post for me to find!
so i was originally running 205/40/18 pirelli p-zero runflats on my jcw. needed to replace the rear set (does anyone else's rear tires bald on the inside of the tread first?) and i wanted to transition to non-runflats for ride quality and noise. (also picked up a compressor and dynaplug)
after reading some threads, but not finding this one, i decided to go with the conti DWS 215/40/18. because discount tire could only get those,not the DW. and they were cheapest out of any local or online shops.
i have had them for about 700 miles. i cant believe i havent gotten pulled over for a dui with how slippery (wandery?) these frickin tires feel! i feel like im sliding all over the lane above 50mph. i read that they take about 800 miles to break in but i dont know, they have barely gotten any "better." they honestly made me a bit nervous driving with them at first.
i might give them a bit longer because of this continental warranty you speak of, and then see if i can trade them for the DW. do i just contact continental directly, or discount tire?
oh! the reason i was actually searching for this post was because on my way home today, i took a couple curves on the freeway and the DSC kicked in and was braking for me and the little dash light flashed. but the car didnt feel like it was slipping at all. it really freaked me out. could it be becasue of the tires? or did they mess some sensor or something up changing tires? i havent driven these particular curves since ive had these tires yet either.
thanks!
oh, forgot to add, from just replacing the rears only the noise and ride quality has improved incredibly.
so i was originally running 205/40/18 pirelli p-zero runflats on my jcw. needed to replace the rear set (does anyone else's rear tires bald on the inside of the tread first?) and i wanted to transition to non-runflats for ride quality and noise. (also picked up a compressor and dynaplug)
after reading some threads, but not finding this one, i decided to go with the conti DWS 215/40/18. because discount tire could only get those,not the DW. and they were cheapest out of any local or online shops.
i have had them for about 700 miles. i cant believe i havent gotten pulled over for a dui with how slippery (wandery?) these frickin tires feel! i feel like im sliding all over the lane above 50mph. i read that they take about 800 miles to break in but i dont know, they have barely gotten any "better." they honestly made me a bit nervous driving with them at first.
i might give them a bit longer because of this continental warranty you speak of, and then see if i can trade them for the DW. do i just contact continental directly, or discount tire?
oh! the reason i was actually searching for this post was because on my way home today, i took a couple curves on the freeway and the DSC kicked in and was braking for me and the little dash light flashed. but the car didnt feel like it was slipping at all. it really freaked me out. could it be becasue of the tires? or did they mess some sensor or something up changing tires? i havent driven these particular curves since ive had these tires yet either.
thanks!
oh, forgot to add, from just replacing the rears only the noise and ride quality has improved incredibly.
6th Gear
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,916
Likes: 7
From: California
I would expect run-flats on the front and DWS's on the rear to be a terrible combination for handling due to very different slip angle and rollover characteristics of the tires. I'm not surprised that the DSC would read trouble brewing if you try to dance even a waltz with the car.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
molala
MINIs & Minis for Sale
1
Oct 2, 2015 01:53 PM
squawSkiBum
MINI Parts for Sale
0
Sep 2, 2015 09:56 PM