Tire recommendations

[Omnis]

I had the Generals delivered today and they're already wonderful. They actually feel soft and supple. The chinese crap on my car right now feels like it's made from stone. The new tires also have a wonderfully pungent aroma. My whole condo building smelled like fresh tires. It's so nice to have rubber that was manufactured fresh within a month or two. Going with the new design excludes the rotting warehoused crap. Can't wait to put them on.

 

[Omnis]

Tire Rack's test is up: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=222

I have to say, they're pretty much right in line with my impressions so far. The turn-in response is scary good. It's like completely ridiculous on my Lexus. I can blow on my steering wheel and the car will dive into the next lane. The car doesn't deflect so hard on braking, and because of that it scrubs speed like HELL. I was boxed in doing 80 behind another guy doing 85, who suddenly changed lanes because of some OLD PIECE OF **** doing 35 mph in the middle of the highway. All my stuff hit the windshield. It was so awesome how hard the tires bit into the road. The car was totally composed. Probably saved my bacon, lol. I haven't discovered a difference in the wet, either. Excellent performance all around. Not sure my car is capable of finding their limits. And my god are they comfortable. I feel like I can finally drive in comfort without clenching back a diarrhea poop. Peace of mind is a great thing.

 

[Joey D]

I'm in need of new tires for the Volvo. They wore weird since the previous owner didn't know what a rotation was, this means fronts are at 30% while the rears are at 50%. This isn't exactly ideal for the AWD system either since they really should be more or less the same exact size. They also wore really strange too since the car never had an alignment prior to me buying it. I'm also not a huge fan of the tires that came on the car, Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus.

The dealer recommended replacing them before winter and gave me some absurd quote on the OEM tires, which are Continental Pro Contacts. While I don't mind those, they are a little on the tame side for my driving style since they're rated as a Grand Touring Tire and not a Performance Tire.

So I'm looking for something new. Right now I'm leaning towards the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06, since the tires I really like, the Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3+ are pretty pricey. Is there anything I'm missing that I should look at?

While it does snow in Salt Lake, it doesn't snow nearly enough to warrant winter tires nor does it really get all that cold unless you head for the mountains, which I don't. It also doesn't rain from like April until October, so I don't really deal with wet roads either for half the year, although when it rains it's a monsoon so everything floods. Also, I'd like something at least W speed rated but would prefer Y (186mph).

 

[Bram Turismo]

@Joey D I've just purchased a set of Hankook Ventus Evo2 tyres. In terms of price they are really competitive, but for overall grip they should slot in just below a set of Pilot Sports. It is a tyre that wants to flex a bit, though, but without losing grip. So it moves around a bit more due to the sidewall flex. I'm merely tesitng them, as I first was looking for a set of ADVAN Fleva V701 tyres that should grip equally as good as the Hankooks, but perform slightly better in the wet. They are a little bit more pricey, though. Honestly, I cannot recommend the Hankook tyre for possible wet conditions as reviews make it sound like it can be a tricky tyre in the wet. But I'm planning on only driving my car on the track in the dry, so I'm not looking at wet weather performance.

Ultimately, the Pilot Sport seems to remain the best performance tyre, but you do pay a price for it.

 

[Pete05]

I'm in need of new tires for the Volvo. They wore weird since the previous owner didn't know what a rotation was, this means fronts are at 30% while the rears are at 50%. This isn't exactly ideal for the AWD system either since they really should be more or less the same exact size. They also wore really strange too since the car never had an alignment prior to me buying it. I'm also not a huge fan of the tires that came on the car, Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus.

The dealer recommended replacing them before winter and gave me some absurd quote on the OEM tires, which are Continental Pro Contacts. While I don't mind those, they are a little on the tame side for my driving style since they're rated as a Grand Touring Tire and not a Performance Tire.

So I'm looking for something new. Right now I'm leaning towards the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06, since the tires I really like, the Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3+ are pretty pricey. Is there anything I'm missing that I should look at?

While it does snow in Salt Lake, it doesn't snow nearly enough to warrant winter tires nor does it really get all that cold unless you head for the mountains, which I don't. It also doesn't rain from like April until October, so I don't really deal with wet roads either for half the year, although when it rains it's a monsoon so everything floods. Also, I'd like something at least W speed rated but would prefer Y (186mph).

Joey, have a serious look at the Continental ContiSportContact 5.

I can’t recommend them enough. Great grip in the dry but more importantly, great grip in the wet & that should be the only time anyone overestimates their grip conditions shouldn’t it

The wet braking performance of these tyres is a pleasant surprise & that alone should sell them to anyone.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

So I'm looking for something new. Right now I'm leaning towards the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06, since the tires I really like, the Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3+ are pretty pricey. Is there anything I'm missing that I should look at?

While it does snow in Salt Lake, it doesn't snow nearly enough to warrant winter tires nor does it really get all that cold unless you head for the mountains, which I don't. It also doesn't rain from like April until October, so I don't really deal with wet roads either for half the year, although when it rains it's a monsoon so everything floods. Also, I'd like something at least W speed rated but would prefer Y (186mph).

If you're considering summer tires, I would recommend the Continental ExtremeContact Sport. They are the successor to the DW summer tire. They closed up the performance to the Pilot Sports (summer tire), though they're closer to the prior generation and the Pilot Sport 4S is still ahead.

I currently have the DW's and I'm satisfied with their performance. If they remained consistent, then the Continentals are a bit softer than the Pilot Sports. I think the sidewall of the Continentals was not as beefy, but they were a little lighter due to that.

 

[Danoff]

I'm in need of new tires for the Volvo. They wore weird since the previous owner didn't know what a rotation was, this means fronts are at 30% while the rears are at 50%. This isn't exactly ideal for the AWD system either since they really should be more or less the same exact size. They also wore really strange too since the car never had an alignment prior to me buying it. I'm also not a huge fan of the tires that came on the car, Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus.

The dealer recommended replacing them before winter and gave me some absurd quote on the OEM tires, which are Continental Pro Contacts. While I don't mind those, they are a little on the tame side for my driving style since they're rated as a Grand Touring Tire and not a Performance Tire.

So I'm looking for something new. Right now I'm leaning towards the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06, since the tires I really like, the Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3+ are pretty pricey. Is there anything I'm missing that I should look at?

While it does snow in Salt Lake, it doesn't snow nearly enough to warrant winter tires nor does it really get all that cold unless you head for the mountains, which I don't. It also doesn't rain from like April until October, so I don't really deal with wet roads either for half the year, although when it rains it's a monsoon so everything floods. Also, I'd like something at least W speed rated but would prefer Y (186mph).

I've taken pilot super sports out in sub-freezing temperatures (high 20s), they were rocks, and downright scary to drive on any kind of ice and snow. I'm really not sure you want to run summers in the winter in salt lake city.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

For some reason I disregarded the part about the snow. The Continentals would be okay if there was no snow and above 32 degrees. The DWS should be fine, thought that generation has been out for a while now I believe.

 

[Joey D]

Thanks everyone.

I guess I should point out, I still do need all-season tires. It's actually not legal to drive in the winter months here (Oct-Apr) without winter tires - which UDOT classifies as anything that's an all-season or winter tire. No one bothers to check if you have proper tires or not though and people do run summer tires here year round. I could probably get away with it too, but I do need to travel I-80 occasionally and if there's an advisory going over Parley's Summit into Park City, they do check your tires and will not let you pass if you don't have "winter" tires or chains.

Basically what I'm looking for is a performance all-season since they're more or less a summer tire that can do OK in light snow and don't turn to hockey pucks in cold weather. It's what is on the car right now and I didn't have any issues this past winter - although it only really snowed like five times and it's always dry and powdery.

So after doing some more research, I have it narrowed down to the Continental DWS 06 (which I do agree with @ROAD_DOGG33J they are a bit aged), the BFGoodrich g-Force COMP 2 A/S, or just sucking it up and buying the Michelin's. Based on TireRack's tests, I'm thinking the BFG's are better than the DWS but not as good as the Michelin's. The BFG's are also about $30 cheaper for the set than the DWS's, which is a plus.

It's hard to get real reviews though since it seems like most people who leave product reviews on sites like TireRack are fairly stupid. For the BFG's one reviewer gave it a one star because they weren't as good as their g-Force Comp 2...a summer only tire. Also, I love it when people say "oh the tire wore out in 10,000", I always want to tell them that it didn't unless you rag on your car 100% of the time or have very sticky summer tires.

 

[Pupik]

Bridgestone makes a W-rated All-Season tire called the RE970AS, soon to be replaced by the RE980-series. I've heard good things about the Continental Sport Contacts, too (but limited personal experience). It only snows twice a year where I live, so that might not be a useful data point; others have said they're fine in the snow and others haven't been impressed. But I've been confident in light snow with them...maybe I've just driven in a little more of it than the average Alabamian*. As my RE970s have about 35,000 miles of wear, they are starting to hum a bit more, even though the wear pattern seems even. Didn't note any hub/bearing issues last time I was in the shop.

"All-season" is technically only defined by the ratio of tread block-to-void area. A full racing slick has a 0% void area and a true off-road performance tire might be 40-50%. But a typical on-road performance tire might have many tiny little gaps (called "sipes") to increase overall contact patch for grip and allow cooling/venting, dirt, loose stones, rain, grease, as well as noise cancellation. DOT regs mark it with that sun+snowflake logo, but it isn't a guarantee it's going to be a good for driving wildly in snow like a true snow tire could.



* this is a phrase I never would have said 8 years ago.