Performance All-Season Tire

Initial Review, 13,000 Miles on Tires
June 11, 2010

These are the best all-season tires for winter driving traction in slush and snow. We are in Western NY so we know about driving in snow !! They perform at the "winter tire" level without the noise associated at highway speeds. Very happy with the noise and handling characteristics as well. A real winner for Goodyear !

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
May 18, 2012

I have 18 inch Honda Ridgeline (5 spoke) wheels on my van. These tires are expensive, but I bought them because they had the best customer reviews in my size. I have put 6,000 miles on them and I couldn't be happier... I'm glad I spent the extra money! They are SUPER quiet; even my wife commented on how quiet the tires are. I recently drove through a torrential down pour and there was no hint of hydroplaning or skittishness from the tires. I could not say that about the Michelin MXMV4's that I replaced... even when they were new. I cannot comment on the winter performance of these tires, but I run Blizzaks anyway. My only complaint is the tires tend to flat spot over night, but they smooth out in about 5 miles. As long as they smooth out quickly, I don't mind. If you by these tires, have them re-balanced after the first 1,000 miles and make sure they balance them warm, and without the vehicle sitting for too long. You will not be disappointed with these tires.

Initial Review, 15,000 Miles on Tires
April 30, 2012

These tires were on my car and slightly used when I purchased it a year ago. About 12,000+ miles I've added. Dry traction is very good. My 95M Miata handles extremely well with these. Dry traction is very good. These tires loosen up quite a bit when wet. Actually just loose enough to make wet road driving alot of fun at about the speed limit on spirited scenic drives. If your up for that. They reject hydroplaning rather well. Was forced to drive all winter with these in nothern WV. They performed better than expected in the snow on a rear wheel drive vehicle, but you better be a good driver to avoid getting stuck. However, even my spouse could handle snow under 1 inch and plowed roads. We did burn up our rear tires in >3 mild months of winter, we contend with many hills to climb. And we did climb them in the snow with these tires all winter. I'd reconsider using these if being used on a true performance vehicle with muscle. My stock 95M Miata can spin them at will and powerslide with mildly spirited driving if just a little wet. Fun for me, but dangerous at higher speeds/horsepower. These are one of the very few all-season tires available for the stock 95M Miata BBS rims. 195/50 15. Upon an inspection today I did find an outward bulge the one of my sidwalls about 2" in diameter. QC may be an issue? Overall for the price, I'm quite pleased with the performance of these tires. Can't completely say how much of it is the car and how much is the tire. But these tires are giving me exactly what I expect from my Miata and I can afford to burn them up having a little having fun. Also, they look good enough. I'm buying 2 more rear tires. Zoom-Zoom

Note: these are directional tires

Dry Traction = very good+
Wet traction = ok, safe at moderate speeds, good highway, easily pushed to fun limit
Snow traction = just good enough
Hydroplaning rejection = very good
Braking = good

Initial Review, 7,000 Miles on Tires
April 27, 2012

Very pleased with these tires after 7,000 miles. Much better than the 'junk' Bridgestone Dueller 400 HL's (worst tires I ever owned) which only lasted 26,000 miles and were like skis in the snow. Shortly after putting on these tires I left on a 300 mile road trip and we had a horrible rainstorm. The tires performed spectacularly in the rain. Coming home from our trip down Parley's Canyon (very steep grades) on I-80 the road looked like a river - did I also mention I was towing a 3,000 pound boat behind me. Never once the the tires break free or felt as if they were going to hydroplane. I have been able to use the tires in all seasons now. Did great in light/moderate snow. Slightly louder (not much) than the Bridgestones and a little softer handing (again not much). Fuel economy has been the same - the Goodyear and the Bridgestone both have the Low Rolling Resistance Technology. Great thing about these tires is the 6yr. - 65,000 mile warranty. We only put about 7,500 miles a year on this vehicle and most tires are only warrantied for 4-5 years. Keep the longer warranty period in mind when you are shopping around. I will absolutely purchase these tires again.

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, 1,500 Miles on Tires
May 16, 2012

I was looking to replace Toyo Proxes 4 all seasons with another more up to date ultra high performance all season. My top priority was wet traction and resistance to hydroplaning, since my BMW has no electronic stability programs. After reading extensive reviews and studying the tread patterns and designs, I was attracted to the very aggressive v-groove design of the Generals which is similar to what Formula 1 racers use for racing in the rain. This design allows huge amounts of water to be pumped out from the contact area of the tread to the sides of the tires. I just recently drove through torrential downpours, deep puddles at highway speeds and a very deep pool of water, in excess of 6" at about 25-30 mph with stellar results. At the highway speeds there was minimal deflection when hitting the standing water and when I went through the deep puddle, the tires generated an immense stream of high pressure water shooting straight up at about a 45 degree angle, like a deep V offshore fishing or speed boat, and the car steered straight like an arrow. Steering feel and grip in the wet was exceptionally good, feeling as good in the wet as in the dry.

Initial Review, 57,000 Miles on Tires
May 15, 2012

Put over 55,000 miles on these on our Mercedes ML430. Buying another set today - very satisfied with the overall all-season performance and long tread life.

Initial Review, 30,000 Miles on Tires
May 17, 2012

Let me start by saying that I absolutely LOVE this tire. I have been running this tire on my "winter beater" Saturn for 3 seasons already. I live in NW PA and I drive all over the state for my job. I bought this tire primarily for it's ability to get me through the regular lake-effect snowstorms that we are famous for in the northeast. I have been absolutely amazed and pleased with the ability of this tire to get me through our frequent snow storms. I have regularly driven through drifts and fresh snow that my bumper is plowing through and the belly of the car is dragging through. I have never once gotten stuck with this tire.

Since this is a winter tire, I expected it to be good in the snow. But what really has amazed me is the treadlife. Although this is my "winter" car, most of the 30,000 miles of use has been on dry roads. I was expecting that these tires wouldn't last very long due to their very soft tread compound. I have been very surprised at how well they have held up. I might have rotated them once, but probably not more than that, yet the tread wear is very uniform across all four tires, and I still have about 40% tread life remaining. I will admit, given that this past winter was my 3rd season with these tires, I did notice a decrease in their ability to handle the snow. I would say that they still worked better than a new "all-season" tire, but I will be putting on a new set before the next snow flies.

In summary: Snow performance is outstanding, tread life has been much greater than I expected, they are louder than an all-season tire--but only slightly more, and if you remember that these are snow tires and not "performance" tires--you won't be disappointed with the handling. I recommended these to a co-worker who put them on his Accord, and he was very happy. I LOVE these tires!

Initial Review, 1,000 Miles on Tires
May 15, 2012

These Continental Extreme Contact DWS replaced a set of Good Year Eagle Authority tires. The Continentals are much smoothier riding and quieter than the Eagles. These tires totally changed the feel of this car. I wanted a smooth,quiet ride as the first requirement. Second requirement was excellent grip in dry, wet, and snow in an all season tire. Third requirement was the tread wear rating. These tires were installed on my 17 year olds car, so these tires will hopefully keep him on the road. I studied the reviews, performance testing and the warranty info and I believe I picked the right tire for our needs. If these tires perform in the snow half as well as they perform in the dry and wet conditions they will recieve a 10 rating from this purchaser. I've been extremely well pleased with these tires.

Initial Review, 20,000 Miles on Tires
April 29, 2012

I love this tire. I started off with the OEM on my car - the Michelin MXM4 V-rated tires. They lasted 40k miles, but I was scared to death if I got caught in a heavy downpour on the interstate. I then went to BFGoodrich TA-KDW. They had dramatically improved traction (as you would expect from going to all-season to summer), especially on wet surfaces thanks to those deep grooves. However, those deep grooves produced excessive road noise. It sounded like I had mudders on my Accord. They also killed over after 20K miles. Given, I've only had my Potenzas about 20K miles and they are looking like I need to start thinking about purchasing a new set, I love them. They are incredibly quiet and comfortable. They have tremendous grip on dry surfaces, and I feel very safe on wet and puddled surfaces. Would highly recommend to anyone that wants performance and comfort, while willing to sacrifice some tread life.

Initial Review, 11,050 Miles on Tires
May 08, 2012

Have been through every season at least once since purchase. The tire is performing great. I am still mad at Honda for duping us all with their OEM Dunlop tire that came with the car. Although the Continental tire is doing a great job, it is averaging about 5 mpg less then I got on the Dunlops...but the Dunlops were the worst when it came to ice/snow and barely acceptable in the rain.

Initial Review, 1,200 Miles on Tires
May 01, 2012

These tires transformed my grocery-getter tC into a worthy track machine. I drove my car to the limits on the tires that came on it, which were Goodyear Eagle RSA. Those are All-Season tires and they showed it in their grip levels. I canyon my car regularly to get to places around town, and the immediate improvement with these tires was staggering. My car now had the same traction my All-Seasons had in the dry, in rain with the Bridgestones. The dry traction on the Bridgestones is incredible. After they were installed, I also purchased drilled and slotted rotors with an aggressive brake pad to compliment the brakes, and took my car to Streets of Willow in Rosamond, CA. I was able to run successfully with Subaru STI's without falling behind on cornering, albeit my straight line speed lacked a huge amount of power.

Comfort wise, they are a definite improvement in smoothness on the regular road and even better on the highway. The noise levels are lower as well compared to the All-Seasons. I enjoy less banging and slamming over bumps with these tires and they do so without sacrificing traction and grip.

Treadwear however is the only thing that I see being the low point on these tires, but then again, I do a lot of driving(600 miles a week), and I purchased these UHP Summer Tires expecting to wear them out a tad sooner. I'm planning on rotation of these tires every 1.25-2k miles. And so far they still have 95% tread on the front axle and 100% on the rear.

Overall, these tires are an excellent replacement tire for any vehicle that sees moderate weather conditions. In the rain they give performance equal to a good quality All-Season without sacrificing the dry traction drivers of Summer Tires demand. A definite solid decision and I will certainly purchase these tires again. I highly recommend them to anyone considering them and all my friends like them too!

Initial Review, 8,000 Miles on Tires
January 27, 2011

Just a so so tire. I have sport package on my car but I am not driving like a mad man at this time so I have not tested the limits. My biggest issue with this tire is it is turning brown, keeps getting worse. You can't scrub the brown off and make tires look like new and you have to use tire dressing to conceal. Recently I saw a number of other up market cars in a parking lot with Cinturato P7 and noticed that they all had same problem of turning brown. Car and Drive commented on thes tire in Feb 2011 issue (pg 84). The tires were on a 2009 A4 Sedan with sport package. After 25k they put on a new set of P Zeros and said it felt like a new car. They said P Zeros took 16 feet off 70-to-0 braking distance and added 0.03g in corning grip. I guess Pirelli's Green Performance approach to developing products offerings is not working. Car does not handle as sharp as Michelin PS2 and the low rolling resitance compound they used is not really up to task as tires look dried out and turn a brown color. I guess they need to make improvement on this one. Remember it is not only how you feel but how you look and these tires just don't cut it. Throw-in a VERY high price and these tires just don't make sense. When you need new tires you should just pass on Cinturato P7s. I just bought new tires for my A6 and I chose Michelin PS2 again and could not be happier. On my old Volvo V70 R I had PZero Rosso and PZero Nero All season and both those tires where much better and did not have issue of turning brown.

Initial Review, 100 Miles on Tires
May 03, 2012

I made a mistake and bought the Continental DWS based on the reviews here. On my Genesis, the DWS's pulled hard right even after an alignment. The Genesis has no camber adjustment so whatever tires you put on it better track straight. The dealer believes that it is the tread pattern of the DWS that caused the problem. The dealer sent the DWS back and we replaced them with four of the new General G Max AS-03. The minute we put them on my Genesis, the pulling problem was solved and the car tracked straight. These tires are as quiet as the DWS and the car really feels connected to the road. These General tires are ultra high performance all season. They are not soft mushy tires. I would even consider putting these on my SL500. So far, I am really pleased with these tires. I will write another update after I put a couple of thousand miles on them.

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, 3,000 Miles on Tires
April 24, 2012

So far the tires have performed to my expectations. If I had it to do over again i would have gotten the same tire in a 245 section as there was hardly any price difference. They were good at the last Autocross, we had nice weather and they felt responsive and predictable, good overall grip level. Wear has been unnoticeable at 3000 miles. I started Autocrossing on All seasons and these are a good stepping stone to the higher class Continental ExtremeContactDW max performance summers I plan to move on to. But I don't regret these, I may buy again, but in the 245/40R18 size.