High Performance Snow Tires

Initial Review, 35,869 Miles on Tires
May 19, 2012

I have to give these OEM Dunlaps that came on the FIT a high grade because they have provided highly reliable and flawless performance for 36,000 miles, even under the most oppressive conditions.

They came as Original Equipment on my Base 2009 Honda FIT. I don’t expect to get more than 40K out of any OEM tires, and I replaced these early because I was going to be away on the road a lot this spring and summer. These tires could have easily went 40K, but rubber that has been on the road for more than 3 years on any tire starts to show its cracks, hardens a bit, and safety becomes an issue.

I drove these tires Hard and they never failed. I took them non-stop for 14 to 16 hours at a clip from Los Angeles to Portland, to Vancouver B.C. and then back to LA along the Coastline. I took them from Los Angeles to NYC in just 3.5 days, at high speeds, in both desert high temps and freezing low NY winter temps. Through snow and slush in the brutal 2010 winter in NYC. Back and forth, from NYC to Washington, DC. From NYC to LA via Savannah, New Orleans, Houston, & Phoenix. Countless trips from LA to San Diego and back. Hot summer road trips from LA to Las Vegas and back, and LA to Phoenix and Tucson and back. LA to San Francisco many times. All that, in addition to all the city driving in NYC and LA, through the potholes and bad streets, and constantly jamming them into curbs parallel parking. They just didn’t fail, they run fast and accurate, with great gas mileage. Never a flat, never a repair—all 4 tires still had the original May, 2009 air in them from Japan when I changed them out in May, 2012 . Incredible.

Initial Review, 35,998 Miles on Tires
April 24, 2012

This Tire at the time I bought it has a very high consumer reports rating, and it proved its self. I traveled 6,000 plus miles in the first 2 months of having them, In April from California to Florida, up thru Georgia on backroads, and thru Kansas to Denver. and back to northern California. Dry wet hot cold ice hail snow, this tire far out performed any tire I have ever owned . I traveled thru the extreame rain and wind that hit St Louis Mo and Kansas late April May of 2011, with the tornado force winds and rain so heavy you could not see to drive well, and had no issues with traction or lose of control at all.
This will be the ONLY tire I will ever buy again, this tire is the best of the best.

Initial Review, 13,000 Miles on Tires
May 16, 2012

I switched from Conti SpContact 2 tires to DWS mainly due to the amount of rain we get in the Burgh area and have not been disappinted since. DWS are super quite and offer excellent wet and light snow traction, on par with the best all season tires out there. while my SP2 lasted less than 15k miles, DWS treads are still deep and show no signs of wear, front or back. Cornering is not the same as SP2's but thats to be expected. For me, it was worth the trade off. If you are looking for high performance all season tires, look no further.

Initial Review, 15,000 Miles on Tires
May 17, 2012

Moved to this tire from the Direzza DZ 101 (would not recommend) mainly due to my concern for wet-traction. This tire hold my MINI straight and true through wet/snow conditions with no fear of hydroplaning. I feel completely confident driving through light-snow conditions in Tahoe without any chains/cables.

I made the mistake of Autocrossing on these tires, not realizing that the sidewall is nowhere near firm enough to prevent roll and excessive/dangerous wear, regardless of how much air-pressure you put in them (yeah, I'm an idiot). I did, however, manage to pull off top 3 placings in my class each time with these tires on my stock MINI, so there's something to be said for their performance ability if not at the sacrifice of the sidewall.

Overall, I would highly recommend this tire for daily driving conditions. Minimal road noise, excellent wet/snow traction, and very good tread-wear. Just don't be stupid like me and you can easily get 20k+ safe and enjoyable miles out of these tires in spirited driving conditions.

Initial Review, 40,000 Miles on Tires
May 10, 2012

I have had these tires installed on my RAV4 for a couple of years and I would like the share my experiences with them. Given that I live in MA and we have poor road conditions and pretty extreme weather, I am sure I have put those tires in many tests.

For the first 2 years they worked like a dream: Wet, Dry, Snow, there's barely a difference for the way I drive (going slower on heavy snow, of course). I drove about 300 miles during a huge snow storm (all 300 in heavy snow) and my car was as steady as a snowmobile with these Tires and 4WD, and never lost traction in rain.
When running over a deep puddle with speed, with the original tires my steering wheel will go crazy and the car will go out of control, which was the major reason why I switched. With these tires, my car go straight and steady. If you live in an area that rains a lot, I would highly recommend these tires.

In Winter 2010, I was in NYC and we got caught with the biggest snow storm for NYC in a century. Most sedan were buried in snow when it was 3-4 feet high, while my car was one of the very few moving objects on the street. It almost felt like I was in a Video game on a Snow Rally track, but once again the tires and 4WD combined made driving possible, when other car owners were busy digging their car out, I drove by with a smile on my face.

After all the miles on the tires, Treadware is very significant and now it performs poorly on light snow, my car starts skidding with only an inch of snow even with 4WD. Still performs great in rain / wet / dry surface. I will not blame the tires as it seems to be right time for new ones anyways, and I am definitely choosing the same tires again unless I find a good deal on another decent tires. I don't want to overrate them, but they are good enough for me to write this long review to praise them, in compare to the OEM Bridgestone Dueler which is a total trash.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
April 28, 2012

I have driven on Michelin Alpin, Bridgeston Blizzak, and older Continental WinterContact winter tires before on my previous cars and minivan. I must say that these Continental ExtremeWinterContact winter tires are definitely the most quiet, best handling, and most comfortable ones from my experience. My commute is about 40% city streets, 30% freeways, and 30% curvy mountainous highways. It is because of the mountainous roads that I must travel on regularly which prompted my winter tire research for a high performance winter tire. The Tire Rack website and review was very influential in my decision to try out these ExtremeWinterContact winter tires. I must say that the reviews are quite accurate as my last set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS60 compared very similarly to me as the Tire Rack review comparison. One difference I should point out was that I found the ExtremeWinterContact tires on my Honda Odyssey minivan worked best for the road I typically traveled when inflated to 42psi on the front and 40psi on the rear. These tire pressures yielded the best balance between cornering performance, ride comfort, and road noise.

I had finally removed these ExtremeWinterContact tires for my all-season tires (Kumho ECSTA Platinum LX... also excellent tires) even though our weather in Vancouver, BC has warmed up to over 15C. The ExtremeWinterContact tires worked so well in the dry that I had forgotten they were winter tires that should be swapped out for all-season tires. In summary, I highly recommend the Continental ExtremeWinterContact winter tires for anyone looking for the best performance winter tires for ice, snow, wet, and dry conditions.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
April 27, 2012

Great tire. So much quieter than the OE Bridgestones that came on the car. Not sure why the same manufacture makes such varying tire levels, but anyway. This tire handles really well, cornering is great, wet traction is very good and what little snow they have been driven in they have performed very well. I would highly recommend this tire for anyone looking for a well balanced all season tire.

Initial Review, 9,600 Miles on Tires
April 22, 2012

I BOUGHT 4 OF THESE TIRES FROM TIRERACK LAST SUMMER AND WAITED UNTIL I HAD ABOUT 10,OOO MILES ON THESE TIRES TO GIVE YOU AN ACCURATE REVIEW. THESE ARE EXCEPTIONALY GREAT TIRES. THEY RIDE MUCH SMOOTHER THAN THE OEM CONTINENTAL TIRES. THEY ARE QUIET AND VITUALLY SHOW VERY LITTLE WEAR WITH 10K MILES. THE HANDLING AND GRIP BOTH DRY AND WET IS SUPERIOR. I DROVE 160 MILES THROUGH THE INTENSE PART OF THE OCTOBER 2011 NORTHEAST (MA-CT-NY)FOOT OF SNOW AND ICE STORM AND NEVER SLIPPED ONCE! EXCELLENT SNOW/ICE TRACTION. THESE TIRES OUT PERFORM ALL MY EXPECTATIONS IN EVERY CATEGORY. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TIRE FOR ALL SEASON USE. MY WIFE DRIVES THIS VEHICLE MORE THAN ME AND SHE LOVES THE TIRES. I FEEL CONFIDENT WITH THESE TIRES ON HER CAR. I MISTAKENLY BOUGHT THE NEW KUMHO ECSTA 4X TIRES FOR MY MINI COOPER S FROM TIRERACK AND THEY RIDE NOTICEABLY HARDER THAN THE ENVIGORS, WISH I COULD TRADE THEM. I HAVE BOUGHT MANY TIRES IN MY LIFETIME AND THESE ARE ONE OF THE BEST. THEY HAVE A MODERN AGGRESSIVE LOOKING TREAD PATTERN WHICH IS APPEALING BUT THE TREAD PATTERN PICKS UP SMALL PEBBLES, THAT'S THE ONLY LITTLE ANNOYING DOWNSIDE OF THE TIRE.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
April 15, 2012

Recently purchased these tires for my 11' Sonata at the beginning of the winter to replace a set of Yokohama Avid's that were just awful. Right away I noticed a substantial difference in ride comfort, smoothness and noise. We live in Colorado where the weather can change in a matter of minutes. With the first snowfall I just had to test them out on the twisty slick mountain roads and they performed beautifully. Light snow traction was great and deep snow wasn't much worse. They are no dedicated winter tire but for your average driver that doesn't push the limits, these tires are all you need.
I also had them out in a pouring rain storm. Tried to get them to slip but it was next to impossible. To get these tires to fail you in the rain, you'd have to be driving in a way that almost no tire could handle and TRYING to wreck yourself.

Recently, we got caught in a bad snowstorm on the highway. It was perfect timing after the storm started but before the plow trucks could get to it so it was nasty. Whiteout conditions and easily 3 inches of heavy wet slushy snow on the roadway that hadn't been plowed yet. These tires were solid as a rock! My traction control never even had to take over. I felt safe that these tires would hold their own in bad conditions and they did! Highly recommended tire for the casual driver.

As for treadwear, I just inspected my tires after the winter and I see almost no noticeable treadwear. All siping and everything still there. I think these tires will last.
If your looking for all-season flexibility but don't want to sacrifice too much in the snow, these tires will get you around.

Initial Review, 50,000 Miles on Tires
April 19, 2012

While I've read plenty reviews bashing this tire, it's evident that those owners either have no idea how to make clear and articulate distinctions between bad driving, terrible maintenance, or faulty car equipment. I have yet to encounter a tire so bad that the tire itself creates cupped tires- that's typically an inflation issue.

I live in Atlanta where we encounter ice which is by far worst than 4-8 inches of snow. I haven't had any problems with my tires as long as I did as recommended and slow down while driving in a lower gear (2nd/3rd 30-50mph. With that being said, I personally put my car to the test; dry hot days are not a problem on the pavement or asphalt. These tires are constructed very well for high speed cornering and overall ride comfort, even though my car's component aren't exactly high performance these tires were able to compensate where Goodyear Integrity left off. Road noise is minimal, in fact beside the sheer pleasure of the new comfort and control, this was the first noteworthy attribute. As for wet conditions wet and constant raining conditions these were some of the better tires aside from my Michelin MX4's. Coming from a standstill I typically pull the gear down to 2nd (where torque runs a high degree of causing tires to lose traction) before taking off and still I'm able to pull off in confidence that my rubber is meeting the ground with adequate coverage.

Overall Traction-9.3
Wet-8.8
Dry-9.6

Overall Responsiveness-9.4
Cornering-9.2
Stopping-8.9

Stability-9.3

Ride Comfort-
Driver "feel" for the road- 9.6
Cabin Noise(domestic car, not a Lexus)-9.5

Mileage- Excellent/10 I'm currently @ 46,000 without any rotations after 10K.

!!!GREAT TIRE FOR ANY SEDAN!!!
225/60/16

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
April 17, 2012

This snow and ice tire took me to Utah and back for a ski trip and handled all that Wisconsin Winter could muster. I had no problems with this tire. It performs like a snow and ice tire should with no surprises in dry conditions. Obviously this is not a high performance snow tire and some tread squish could be felt during hard cornering in dry conditions. No obvious treadwear. Bumps and pot holes felt smoothed out and non-jarring as compared to summer setup. Stopping, starting, and braking were as expected or better in winter conditions. This tire provides stable and predictable traction in all observed winter conditions of hard pack (wet), fresh Wasatch powder (dry), slush, ice , and dry. ABS doesn't come on very much during braking. I took an off ramp way too fast and a liberal application of throttle and some steering input allowed me to avoid the curb. Traction control was off. The tire cleaned out nicely allowing me to get into middle of lane, but I over corrected and tapped the opposite curb. Minor curb rash was all that resulted but it could have been much worse with as fast as I was going. Climbing and descending Utah passes were no problem as tractor-trailers were on the side of the road. Light snow on Wisconsin back roads were handled with aplomb. Passing was predictable and easy. Overall, this is a good winter tire. No regrets. Too bad Continental doesn't guarantee more snow with winter tire purchase!

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
April 19, 2012

I drive all over the Midwest in all types of weather, dry, rain, snow and these tires have performed great. The tread wear has been excellent, the wet and snow traction has been as good as tires I have paid twice as much for. No there don't corner like Goodyear F1's but then there are designed to. If your drive a high performance SUV and need a great tire that offer great value and performance, I don't think you can go wrong with these. My Porsche uses P295/45/20's and the tread noise is less than what I would expect from a tire of this diameter and tread width. I am sometimes confused by the reviews I read on tires I have purchased from the Tire Rack and I've bought a lot of them. My results always seem to be better than many of the reviews I read. My advice is rotate your tires if you can and for ---'s sake check your tire pressure! I can't tell you how many cars and trucks I see on the road with under inflated tires.

Initial Review, 18,656 Miles on Tires
April 03, 2010

I do mostly highway driving (95%) and have 115,000 miles on the car in 2 1/2 years. These are great tires, by far the best set my Impala has had (Goodyear and Cooper prior to the Hankooks). I purchased them on the recommendation of Consumer Reports. CR gave these Hankooks a high rating for handling in snow and ice conditions. Only 1 other tire had higher ratings from Consumer Reports, and it was much more expensive. I am very impressed with handling and performance in every way, and would definitely purchase these tires again. They are also a very nice looking tire!

Initial Review, 25,000 Miles on Tires
April 05, 2012

I bought this tire as a replacement for the OEM Dunlops, which had decent grip in dry/wet conditions most of the year but were somewhat noisy and only lasted 15,000 miles. They were also HORRIBLE in the snow, I almost drove off the road in a storm going maybe 30-40mph. Hydroplaning was also a serious problem.

I was looking for a replacement that would have good overall grip but also be a bit quieter. The Kumho is a nice tire in that it gives a quiet ride + also absorbs bumps decently well, and naturally these qualities really shine in weather above 60 degrees. But as the tread wore the car seemed to take bumps more harshly. The tread wore faster than I believed it would. I could probably drive it another 3,000 miles before I was really asking for trouble.

Another issue is that due to the softer sidewalls the car leans more than before when cornering. A car like the Fit is really meant for somewhat stiffer tires, as I no longer felt quite as comfortable taking brisk turns. I'm an average driver & I would have to use the muscles in my body to sit upright in some cases, despite the Fit's seat bolsters. For easy going drivers this won't be much of a problem as harder cornering is not desired.

In terms of hydro planing, I'd say the tires were a bit better than the Dunlops but not by much, especially as the tread wore. Wet traction was good, but through deeper puddles it can get scary. Although the Fit seems to be prone to hydroplaning by design.

In light snow these tires are tolerable but not great. I'd say they're better than the Dunlops, but I live on the 45th parallel and dedicated snow tires are a must. I didn't encounter much ice, but I'd say stay away from ice on these.

Responsiveness is decent but there is noticeable steering lag. Sudden inputs take a moment to produce a response.

For my next tires, I chose high performance all-season Sumitomo HTR A/S P01 tires to try to reduce the hydroplaning + body lean issues while still maintaining ride comfort.

Initial Review, 15,000 Miles on Tires
April 02, 2012

I live in souther AZ, so not able to rate tire for ice, snow use. I don't get out in the mud much either. However, I do go out on rough off road trails often, and I would rate this tire very high for rock, dirt, sand driving. I normally air down to about 20 PSI when off road, and these tires have never balked at any desert terrain. I have about 15K miles on them, so far tread wear is minimal and wearing very evenly. These tires perform very well in dry conditions, I run them at about 38 PSI. Based on performance I would probably buy them again.

Initial Review, 20,000 Miles on Tires
April 02, 2012

I originally bought these for replacement on a 9-3 convertible, but switched them to the Aero Wagon (and the summer high performance tires from the Aero to the CV) to run a track event with the 9-3. Frankly, I liked the performance of the 9-5 better with narrower, taller tires and the performance of the convertible better with the more sporting tires.

In summary, the SP Sport were well rated by Tire Rack, and in my experience they performed pretty much in line with the TR testing. They are smooth riding, don't "squeal" during spirited cornering, and stick well in the wet. I am a snowbird, and therefore the tires are never driven on ice or snow. My only complaint: they have been discontinued in my size.