Hi David,

I’m not sure how soon you will be replacing your tires, but if that event is not too soon, I may be able to provide better information and experience with the Continental Extreme Contact DWS all-season tires.

Here is the deal: I’m going to try running the DWS tires during the upcoming winter. I’m in Minnesota where there is about 40 inches of snowfall during the winter, and mostly zero to sub-zero temperatures starting in November/December to February/March. That means I will be running the DWS tires on a snow pack for around 4 months with moderate snowfalls during this time.

If the experiment fails (the DWS’s prove inadequate in this environment), I can retreat to my Dunlop studless snow tires (wheel/tire setup) that I have in storage. If all goes well, I’ll attempt to keep the DWS tires on all winter.

I admit being rather conservative, so it’s likely that at the first sign of trouble, I will retreat to my studless snow tires and not give the DWS’s a fair test. Also my studless snow tires are 225’s mounted on 17” wheels while my DWS’s are 245’s mounted on 18” wheels. That means the size (tire width and wheel size) difference may make the comparison invalid.

Anyway… I’ll report the results on this thread.

--Spike

 

Great tire, can't go wrong with them. Happy that they are starting to fill orders finally.

 

Hi Neal,

Thanks for the input which I appreciate. I agree this is one great tire.

When I looked at the Surveys on tirerack.com, the Continental Extreme Contact DW (the summer performance version) gets a better consumer rating for "Ride Comfort" and "Noise Comfort" than the DWS. That surprises me a little since the DW is a summer performance tire (and this type of tire is not typically comfortable or quiet). I realize this is a consumer survey that might contain bias and lack expertise.

Additional Comments:

• I’ve driven on Michelin PS2’s, and consider this a great tire. But, the Continental Extreme Contact DWS’s are certainly more comfortable and more silent, and not too far off the performance and handling I get with summer performance tires. I realize this is a bold statement since the DWS’s are A/S tires. I should mention that I’m only comparing street driving.
  
  
• I do not have any experience with the Continental Extreme Contact DW, but apparently the DW is better than the DWS in most categories with the exception of winter driving (of course).
  
  
• When comparing pricing, tirerack.com offers the Continental Extreme Contact (DW or DWS) at very competitive pricing. I would have saved at least $40 per tire if I had purchased these at tirerack.com.
  
  
• If my experiment is successful (driving on the DWS during the coming winter), I’ll be buying DW’s this spring for summer driving.

Thanks for participating here. You consistently offer good advice and information about tires for the Z.

--Spike

 

was curious if anyone has been able to compare the DW and DWS with regards to tire noise and comfort.

i am in the same boat as Spike wanting a quieter tire for the Z.

 

Two totally different tires really. The DWS will ride quieter and softer than the summer only DW. You'll trade dry handling and response for creature comfort.

 

Good. I had a snow accident in the 350Z once, and Ive never gotten over it. Snow frightens the shiit out of me. If the DWS feels confident in 1-inch of snow I would be happy.

 

I have a slow leak in one of my tires that I just noticed (about 1 PSI every 2 or 3 days). I thought it was the changing weather, but after adjusting the pressure in my other tires, this one keeps losing it.

So, I'm guessing I will need a new tire soon and I'd really rather replace all 4 at once.

I'm looking for treadlife and wet-weather handling more than anything. I don't track my car or anything, it's mostly just a top-down cruiser with some kick.

These tires are within my budget and I'm strongly considering them. I'm thinking they are the best tire choice for me unless someone has any additional info since the last time this thread was posted in almost a year ago.

How did they handle in the winter?

This is my first time buying tires for my Z since it's always just been a weekend car.

 

I have these on my wifes SLK300. Great traction and handling, rides good, low road noise, no noticible tramlining. We have no problems during our mild winters but that's nothing compared to what you get up in Indiana.

Treadlife might be a problem, the rears have lasted only a little more than 10K miles each time. Oddly, the fronts have lasted her about 20K. Different car so take that with a grain of salt.

 

Hi, I’m running a 350Z Performance model. I’ve had the Continental Extreme Contact DWS’s on for two seasons now and about 20K miles. I still really like the tires. The wear is excellent.

I run studless snow tires from DEC-MAR (I’m in Minnesota) and the Continental Extreme Contact DWS’s the rest of the year. I did try running the Continental Extreme Contact DWS’s the first winter I mounted them, and the experiment was a failure. They can be driven in slippery snow and on frozen roadways, but they are a little scary in these conditions and are not close to the safe handling your get with four studless snow tires.

I think you probably get enough snow and ice in Indiana (OK, maybe not this year) so that you should still consider swapping out in the winter for studless snow tires. With that said, if you are careful and don’t drive in storms having over 1.5” of snow, you can get by with the Continental DWS tires... But repeating, they are best when you want a tire to overlap summer/winter.

--Spike

 

Dave, She’s driving that SLK300 a lot harder than you think she is.
...kidding of course but could not resist.

I have 20K on my Continental Extreme Contact DWS’s, and I hardly see significant wear on the front or rear. I’m sure I’ll go another 15K. But... as you mention, the longevity might vary by vehicle.

--Spike

 

Thanks for the reply. They are rated fairly high in terms of tread life, which is one of the reasons I was considering them, but I have heard that the way they measure tread life is debatable in its accuracy.

My goal is to get a tire that will last 20k +. To compare, my car still has the factory tires and I'm rolling up on 18.8k right now. They still measure decent tread depth as well, I just REALLY hate these tires.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm actually just looking for something I can drive on plowed roads with maybe a little snow cover. When it gets bad, I have an Accord I drive so no real worries there. So long as the tires can handle slick conditions and rain, I'm happy.

If you have any other suggestions for an all-season with >20k in tread life, I'm open to it. These are what I narrowed my search to with my own research. Actually, during my search, this thread came up and I was pretty happy to see it.

 

Got it... The Continental DWS is fine in these conditions (plowed roads). It's only in deeper snow where you begin slipping (and the tires will still handle this). --Spike

 

MB owners claim that the rear wear is normal on the SLK bases on the alignment settings. As we all summise, the car has a lot to do with life expectancy because of alignment, weight and driving style.

Since I've gotten a different alignment on the Z, I've been getting over 20K on my PS2s which I consider to be excellent wear for them considering my drving style.

 

Just purchased the DWS as part of a wheel/tire package (with ASA AR1s). They replaced some leaky chrome rims and very tired Avon Techs. Holy schmoly I can hear the radio again! I don't know if it's because the Avons were crap to begin with or just old but the DWS is definitely super quiet. And it actually rained today in the Bay Area and my G35 felt very planted. And it's got a 50,000 miles/6-year warranty too.

TireRack didn't offer the Road Hazard insurance because Continental has its own road hazard warranty with the tire. My only question is (maybe Neal can chime in here) if I ever get a nail or whatnot, do I just get it patched and then send the receipt off to Continental?

 

That's how it works! If you can't repair it you buy a new tire and ship the old back to us for credit. Conti's r-hazard program is good for 1 Year / first 2/32" of wear.

 

Noice! Hopefully I won't run into any nails though!

 

I'm considering a set of extremecontact DW (the summer performance tires) for my new wheels. I wasn't able to tell from the descriptions online: Can the tires be swapped side to side? Specifically, I my camber will be set near the limit of stock limits (on the negative side) so I expect some premature wear on the inner edge, and would like to be able to swap the tires side to side (i.e. swap them between wheels side to side). I can't tell if the tread pattern allows you to do it.

 

That tire is asymmetrical in design so it can be put on the opposite side w/out the need to dismount it from the wheel.

 

But can it be swapped side to side? Because for the purposes of evening out the camber wear, swapping the entire wheel+tire doesn't get me anywhere.

 

The tire has to always have "outside" facing outward. So if you're asking can the inside of the tire, on say drivers side, be moved to now be the outside of the pass side.... then no you can't do that. The inside will always be the inside and outside will always be the outside regardless of where they are installed.