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Continental DWS are they that good?

5K views 26 replies 17 participants last post by  felixthecat 
#1 · (Edited)
I have been reading through all the posts here and the continentals seem the best choice? I am heading to the USA in two weeks were tires are buy 1 get 3 free compared to Canadian pricing. I have dedicated snows for the winter but want some good tires for April-November. I prefer all season to summer only, any and all advice is welcome. My car requires 235/40/18. Thanks![woot]
 
#4 ·
I personally love the Michelin Pilot Sport AS3's. I've got about 10k on them and through one of the worst winters we have had in awhile and they are great. Great dry traction. It monsooned here last night with lots of standing water and I felt like I was driving a tank.
 
#5 ·
You really can't go wrong with the DWS for all around performance and ride. Seeing as how you already have winter tires you could consider the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3 if you want a little better ultimate grip and steering response in wet and dry traction. They are not as good as the DWS in snow.
 
#7 ·
Checked out tire rack all 4 tires for $540.00 WOW! In Canada Same tire $840.00. Boy are we getting screwed up here. I do not know how to buy from tire rack as I know the shipping to here would be very high. I thank you all for your help. I will be in the USA less than two weeks to get some tires. I think I am leaning towards the Contis.[loveff]
 
#9 ·
tirerack has an option to ship to an installer. Have them shipped to a shop near where you will be visiting here in the US. You can call and schedule an apt around your visit then. Ive never waited longer than a week when getting tires delivered from tirerack either, they ship fast. Get in touch with Seth, I am sure he will take care of you
 
#8 ·
If your looking for a great a/s w/ great snow traction= DWS's. Its geared towards snow traction vs other a/s's that have better traction in the dry. DWS isn't as good in the dry cornering as some of the others. I'd rather give up some dry grip to get snow/icy traction. If I was living in the s/w, I'd be on Dunlop star specs.
 
#18 ·
when you cross back into Canada and declare your new tires at the border, you will likely have to pay the 13% anyways.
 
#12 ·
The DWS is a great tire. I installed a set on my wife's Mazda 3 before we went from Philly to New York to Vermont toMontreal to Boston to Philly back in October/November of 2011. Absolutely a great tire. They make the DWS in the Extreme Contact and the Pure Contact. I will be replacing my Goodyear Eagle F1 All Seasons with the DWS's when I need tires.
 
#14 ·
Could be if your not looking for a performance tire. Works for the regular public. The op is on 18's so I'd think he'd want a performance a/s tire.
 
#16 ·
I had the DWS on my suby then switched back to the Hankook v12s.


The hankooks seem to hold better in the corners, but have a softer side-wall, so they dont feel quite as precise.

Overall though, they are both great tires.
 
#21 ·
This is something Ive noticed with the hankook V4 im currently using aside from being noisy from the alignment issues i had early in their life. The soft sidewalls seem to make the steering seems very springy or mushy when making very slight corrections going slow but seems to respond slightly better at highway speeds. im currently looking for a tire that has stiffer sidewalls to give better steering response, road feel and to get rid of that god awful hollow bouncing rubber ball resonance noise they generate on the road!!!.
 
#20 ·
I bought and had a set of PureContacts put on the car on 8/30/14. They replace my OEM ContiProContacts with 46K miles. A huge difference in ride quality, noise and response. All for the better. I have over 300 miles on them in less than 2 weeks! My commute is 44 miles round trip, mostly highway. They feel like they want to wander highway speed (65-75 mph. I believe it is due to the deep tread and tall tread block. I can't wait to see how they handle heavy rain, snow and snow melt. I originally wanted the Pirelli P7 Cintauro +. I actually felt the two different tires in the store and the was surprised how stiff the tread blacks were on the Pirellis. I got mine from Discount Tire Direct because they had a double rebate and since the Pirellis were in short supply, got the PureContacts for the same price as the P7's, $109 each. I got $150 in rebates and 0% for 9 months on the Car CareOne credit card. I also got the tire replacement certificates for any type of failure and TPMS rebuild kits. Total shipped $521, includes free shipping (got them in two days!). These are the 215/55 R16.
 
#23 ·
I swapped the Michelin Pilot Sport tires out for DWS's the second day I owned my 13' Titanium with the handling package. The DWS tires handled well in the snow. The steering response was not as quick as the Michelin summer tires. But I was ok with that and did not want to run a set of winter wheels and tires. I wanted to run all season HP on this car. The DWS's got pretty noisy around 20,000 miles and are deafening at 40,000 miles. They are nearly at the wear bars but I can't stand the noise anymore. Every Continental tire I have ever run has been noisy. I am considering trying a set of Toyo Proxes 4 Plus. Anyone running these Toyo's? G.B.
 
#25 ·
I just got these earlier this year, and after about 6k miles on them I say they are by far the best all weather sport tire I have ever had. Living in West Virginia I have truly put these tires to the test in snow, rain, and dry weather and have been satisfied. Even after 6k+ miles I have yet to see even the slightest bit of wear on these tires. My only complaint is they do tend to hydro-plain easy due to me getting an excessively wide tire. Highly Recommended!!
 
#26 ·
I have a friend with an '06 Miata. She has gone through 3 sets of DWS. I wore out a set on my Focus on the stock 16" STs, and they were almost as good as the previous Goodyear F1 GS-D3 summer tires.

I feel they are the best all-around tire if you are faced with snow. If you are faced with any snow, I suggest them strongly. If you are not faced with snow, I'd suggest a summer tire. My current favorite is the Michelin Pilot Super Sport. It is an amazingly good tire.
 
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