So who's running continental extreme contact tires on their MSPs?

[DistantTea]

Opinions? We're thinking about throwing a set on the msp instead of snow tires since we don't use street tires when we race. For day to day but very spritited driving do the continentals still do reasonably well as the RE040s?

 

[funnylittlman]

On Tire Rack they say that they are better. Other people tend to disagree b/c those are surveys conducted by customers, not independent testors.

They haven't been out long enough to evaluate the Dry/Wet/Snow traction. I know that they are nice 'n cheap $90 a pop. I am thinking about these when my RE040's go south.

If you want a REALLY nice all season, go for the michelin Pilot A/S's They are pretty expensive but give you everything you are looking for

 

[DistantTea]

Those things are waaaay too expensive. I use R compound to race I don't need $200/ea all season tires.

The continentals look good because they look like pretty sweet rallycross tires too. So far the snow and rain reports on the conts look pretty good. Some saying they outdo cheaper snow tires in the cold. But I can't image them out handling the RE040s on the turns.

I think they're our only choice for a compromise tire.

 

[funnylittlman]

Well if you get them, please let me knw what you think...

 

[ping]

Agreed with funnylittleman - the tires aren't out long enough for the "snow" evaluations on the tirerack website to be worth much - and (to tirerack's credit) their salespeople will tell you that as well. My experience with Contis has been good, the tread design looks like it'd be a decent snow tire (*for an all-season, as I don't believe there's an all-season made that can hold a candle to a dedicated snow). I don't think it'd outperform the 040 except in the areas of quiet, comfort, and snow, but it should be quite acceptable based on what I've read, but I haven't driven one. That said, it's on my short list once the 040s wear out, and by then there will be better data available.

 

[DistantTea]

Yeah I know customer reviews on tirerack are about as useful as owner reviews on Edmunds. Its neat to see how many 16 year olds have Carerra GTs and Ferarri Enzos.

 

[griswold]

I'm currently running Falken Ziex 512 Z rated All Seasons. At $108 a tire, they're a bargin. Good fun factor on the dry and decent cold weather performance.

A little interesting in terms of wheel spin in the snow, but over all I've been happy. They ain't no blizzak though. I'll take them off in the summer and put summers on.

They're good enough. When it's really nasty out, like it's supposed to be this weekend, I'll take my wifes Xterra.

 

[Speedy]

I am them on for a month already. It ran though 2 snow storm. So far so good and the traction is better than the stock tires.

 

[gboromsp]

I'd hope they are better than stock tires. My stock Potenza's are the worst tire i've ever driven with in snow. I know they aren't made for it so I just leave the car parked one the rare occasions when we get snow like now. My mom is so nice that she let me have her Jeep Liberty, and she drove the spare car.

 

[funnylittlman]

^---

This weather makes me want to get a Jeep or Explorer or H2!

 

[Moscarsado]

I just got the conti extremesport tires 215 35 18, and i like them. They hold up better in and out of turns compared to the brigestone, the brigestone are sweet if your looking for miles.

 

[no_more_jettas]

I just put them on last week. Along with some new Kazera KZ-V wheels. (no ugly steelies for me). Whole thing was 930 from the TireRack. They even arrived the next day, even though I asked for 3-4 day cheap shipping.

So far, through 2 VA snowstorms, the traction has been great, no slips, slides, etc. About 1000% better than the stocktires. Pretty rock solid in the white stuff, and still real good on dry pavement. I like 'em.

 

[ping]

You may want an H2 but I completely outdrove one in the snow with my MSP during the last snowstorm. OK, admittedly, the driver of the H2 in question was using (ahem) "quite improper snow technique", and apparently had poor tires, but the fact is that they spun that screaming yellow bad boy 2 times in front of me and I was very able to drive around them and pull away.

"improper snow technique" = "floor it and cut the wheels sharply while talking on the cellphone - yep that'll work"

Driver was actually on and off and on the gas, and not very smooth, may have been a kid or very distracted parent, but that's not an excuse for very poor driving.

I really like imagining the conversation they had afterward "You (expletive), you got this lumbering behemoth road beast for me saying how safe and good in the snow and hills it is, and this puny little black sedan just drove away in the snow. I told you we should have just bought the Escalade..."

 

[rocketspeed]

No all season tire will give you anywhere near the performance of a dedicated summer tire in terms of dry, warm temperature corndering. Its just not possible. The features that make a tire good in snow are pretty much the exact opposite of what makes a good summer tire.

You will get pretty good dry handling out of an all-season tread in dry, and so-so snow performance. All season tires are all about compromises.

 

[funnylittlman]

The Pilots are suppose to be "comparable" to the summer tires. But you pay for them..

For how I drive my car, I think an all season will do just fine.

and PING

Yes I could only image the look on the dude's face when you pulled away. LOL I would be like DAMN IT...

 

[dream merchant]

i had some continetal sport contact tires on my integra about 3 years back and within like 6 months of use i had some serious dryrot cracking on all 4 tires and on both sidewalls.

crcks would only appear on the side of the tire closest to the ground since the crack was in between the ground and the weight of the car. longest crack was like 8 inches long..

went back to discount tire and got a brand new upgraded set for free (toyos). from that point on, i kinda passed on continental tires... left a bad impression on me...

abel.

 

[rocketspeed]

The Pilots are suppose to be "comparable" to the summer tires. But you pay for them..

I had these Pilots on my GTI VR6 and was very unhappy with them. They handled like doo-doo:

http://michelinman.com/catalog/tires/MichelinPilotMXM4.html?tiretype=3&tire=8

I think you're talking about these, though:

http://michelinman.com/catalog/tires/MichelinPilotSportAS.html?tiretype=3&tire=2

Here's the pure summer Pilot:

http://michelinman.com/catalog/tires/MichelinPilotSport.html?tiretype=3&tire=1

If you look, you'll see that Michelin rates both those all season tires 9/10 in terms of handling, while the Pilot Sport rates 10/10.

:bs:

Take a look at the tread blocks on both of those A/S tires vs. the summer tire. They have to put a lot more grabbing edges and more tread blocks on an all season tire. That makes the tire wash out sooner in a corner, as the tread blocks aren't as stiff and you aren't putting as much rubber down on the road.

They also have to use rubber compounds that remain flexible enough in cold weather. They are able to minimize that disadvantage to an extent by using multiple compounds, but its still a compromise.

 

[funnylittlman]

These are the Pilot A/S Summers (based off your links)

These are the Pilot A/S All Season

I see your point Rocketspeed. They are NOT as good as the summers as far as contact goes

 

[funnylittlman]

I just did a search at www.tirerack.com on the different Conti's that are out there (Summer Vs. All Season)

Here are 2:

ContiSport Contact 2

ContiExtremeContact

Again you can see the difference between the two... you oare giving up some grippage for some bad weather traction

Something else to look at tis the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S

It looks to have a pretty decent tread pattern and priced reasonably : $116 per tire

 

[GUNNAR]

I am in your area and have them, for the last 500 miles and some snow driving, they are night and day over the stock tires!