Speedtoys

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The Conti DW isn't the best summer street tire you can buy (that's the Michelin Pilot Super Sport), but it is the best value for money tire you can buy. It performs within a hair of tires that cost much more and vastly out performs tires that cost the same. I don't think you can buy a better tire on a budget.
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That's where I am, quiet, then cost, then performance...

I dont track this car, and I can manage myself unusually well in the mountain roads with a lesser tire because of other hobbies...

I havent gotten down to Sean's 1/2 worn yet, but I thinks he's more go go happy with the supercharger than most. . I woulnt blame him either.


And mixing tyre types front to rear, was the worst thing I ever did once.



I'll feed back when Im down to that point...but...if I burn thru these, they're half the price of the A050s that I reallllly like. And quieter.

linderpat

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SeanR

Like Jeff said, i'm a bit go go happy and have burnt through more tires than I care to admit. You'd think I'd learn and not do it since it's so blasted expensive. Something about tire smoke and spinning them at 60mph just appeals to my inner child. Having said that, the experience had with the Conti's was on the 17" ones and swore off them. possibly more so due to the wife complaining about them. Now having spent a bit of $$ on the 18" I'm trying to balance the cost vs fun factor. Seems many manufactures have stopped producing the size I prefer (295/30/18) and the Hankooks worked well but may be moving to Sumitomo's. I suppose you could call me a cheap *** but going through a set of rears every 7k miles does suck.

I know a few people that love the Conti's and if they are happy, who's to say they are wrong?

ThetaTau87

Care to elaborate on your bad experience? I fail to see how installing new rear tires of a different (better performing) type could possibly be worse than driving around with bald rear tires.

If it is a major concern I would be much more likely to replace the fronts as well with better performing Conti DW than to put underperforming Kumho PS31s on the back just to keep with the same brand. You could even try it out to see how the mismatched set performs. If it results in squirrely handling then upgrade the fronts to DW.

bureau13

I decided to give the Conti's a try. If the mismatch with the fronts causes issues I'll replace those too. Thanks everyone for the feedback and advice, I'll report any issues with them.

They had "Riken" for $77/tire! I know nothing about them but maybe they'd make good, cheap smoke?

soontobered84

Okay, thanks!!

hans14914

Pilot Super Sport tires are probably the best I have ever owned. I love those tires. Need to buy another set, but guess I will look at the Contis before purchasing.

996AE

+1

I have them. drove 500 miles and took them off the car. Waste of money. That said I have read people really like them.

ThetaTau87

What about them made you trash them after just 500 miles? They get great reviews and the test results on Tirerack are always top notch. It seems extremely odd that a tire that most people love is so horrible in your opinion. I'm not trying to discredit your opinion at all. I'm genuinely interested to find out why you hated them.

What did you replace them with that you found acceptable?

vanster

I have Conti's on my '80 and they have been great! Also I just put a set on my V10 VW and no complaints.
Curious minds want to know

Adamant1971

My 2 cents

I think if you ran say a Potenza or Pilot Sport and then went to the DW you probably wouldn't like them. The conti's do have a much softer side wall and thus handle much differently IMO. When I had them I had no complaints, but when I switched to a Potenza I was like wow my steering so much more precise than it was with the conti's. But they are fabulous in the rain, hands down best rain tire I have ever had.

But if you are going the other way, like from an old set of worn out performance tires or some all seasons you will probably love the conti.

But I also wonder if there were not some defective tires in the mix here and if the wheels were road force balanced? Otherwise it's not apples to apples.

Speedtoys

The compliance differences in sidewalls an tread creep made the car push or oversteer GREATLY, one end or the other felt like it was cornering on jello...it was immediately clear.

The car was no longer working as a single unit.

Two days later when I had time to fix that mistake, I did.

Tire pressures/etc were all good..But mixing Toyos and Bridestones was miserable.

FredR

Would that be after you chuck them on a bonfire? I went really cheap once- never again!

My Continental brand experience has been very positive in that in our very hot and dry climate they lasted longer than any other make and the handling degradation with time as not so pronounced as with other major marques.

I would think they are in their element for all season applications and the Tirerack survey data is a good starting point. Maybe they are not quite so hooligan proof as with most things a "Jack of all trades" can never be the master of any.

As wisely stated in an earlier post the thing you should never do with tyres is put new ones on the front and leave old ones on the rear. Was forced to do that once after destroying a front tire on road debris the day before an autocross type event. First bend I completely lost the car due to oversteer that was way beyond anything I had previously experienced and was in a bush before I knew what had happened!

Rgds

Fred

ThetaTau87

Thanks for the reply. I hadn't really considered the sidewall compliance difference and how that would impact the handling.

Erik N

Just broke in a set of Conti DW's today. 300 km in 3 hrs in TX hill country, including a stop by the Comal SO (no ticket ). Were squirrely around fast bends at first, then dropped the pressures to 36/34, seemed to settle in. Not loud yet, but they are not a directional tread. Directionals always would howl badly on my car, except for the Hankook V12's which are NLA.