How are the Vredestein's working out?

For those of you running The Continental Extreme Contact's, are they still running quiet for you? And how's the performance?

 

The Vredestein's are fine. I don't have 500 miles on them yet though. No wet driving yet either.

I am waiting to get some more time on them before I jump fully on the bandwagon. They look great though

 

I have 4,000 miles on them and I have to say I still love them. Very quiet, which is important to me; no discernible increase in noise. They perform well in snow and rain. I drove during a few days of snow this winter (nothing deep); and about 5-6 days of rain. Solid on both accounts. I haven't pushed them hard though. But no reason to believe there'd be an issue if I did. this may sound cheesy, but if you want me to capture and post an audio .wav file from the interior at speed on a quiet road, I can give that a go.

 

Please do! Not cheesy to me...

 

happy to - it'll be a fun challenge to figure out to do accurately. In the meantime, I just downloaded 'SPL Meter' to my iphone. I don't have a reference meter to calibrate it, so the relative measurements below are more relevant (and considered pretty accurate, judging from the reviews) than the absolute db levels.

Here's what I've just measured:
- sitting in car, engine off (29db)
- sitting in family room, no one home, central a/c running (32 db)
- sitting in car, climate control off, engine idling (38db)
- 60 mph, climate control off, engine not accelerating or decelerating (to reduce the amount of noise contributed by the engine), very smooth asphalt road (56db)
- 60 mph, same conditions, normal to somewhat rough asphalt road (64db)

 

I just got as quote today for Continental $240 a tire. I have seen them cheaper on the net but obviously not installed and balanced. Are they that much better then their competitors? I still have the originals on my car at 110k kms and they are wearing thin. I will be forced to replace them by the end of the summer or I will be driving on slicks.

 

Does the "Discount Tire Store" chain operate in Canada? In the U.S. the stores claim to meet competitors' prices. If you take a copy of the specific Discount Tire eBay listing (sometimes the D.T. eBay price is lower than the local store price) the local store may match the D.T. eBay price. This past Spring, D.T. eBay brief sale price for a Continental Extreme DW 245/45-18 was circa $170US when the local store price was circa $200US. You can easily spot the D.T. eBay listings by the small red "Discount Tire" print in the lower right(or is it left) of the listing thumbnail photo.

 

I put 600 miles on a set of the new Continential ExtremeContact DWs for OEM 19" wheels, and this is the worst tire that I have ever had. I love Continental tires for my sedans, but the XKR 4.2 is too much for this tire. Don't even bother if you have a XK 5.0 or XKR 5.0. I think it might be fine for a XK 4.2. Here's why:

Pros:

DW is soft and quiet.
Supposedly better treadwear.

Cons:

DW is a sloppy and imprecise tire. Turn-in is terrible; the car feels as if it is reacting a half second after you turn. It's "wallowy" and "marshmallow-like" over large bumps at speed, which contributes to the overall feeling that this tire is working overtime to keep up with the rest of the car.

Ugly tire; looks like winter tires on the car.

Traction is terrible in dry and wet. In rain with moderate acceleration from second gear, my traction control light would illuminate incessantly. On rainy days, I had trouble pulling into my parking garage at work because of the steeper incline - the tires were fighting to connect in second gear startup.

On dry days, the tires chirped with moderate acceleration from a red light and also between the 1-2 gear change in sport mode. A spirited exit from a 25mph corner left me with no traction and solid yellow traction control light.

Resolution:

I called my tire dealer (dealer has 60 day satisfaction on any tire; Continental has 60 day satisfaction on the DW). Tire dealer said that the "scrub-in" period for the DW is about 25 miles, so no traction issues should remain. They drove the car and agreed that the tire is either (1) just plain bad; or (2) not enough tire for the XKR.

I replaced the tire with the Yokohama Advan Neova AD08, which, simply put, are amazing. This is the best tire that I have owned. Out of the box: (1) no wheel spin; (2) planted feeling; (3) steering feel and sharp turn-in is the best that I have ever experienced with ANY tire (road feedback increased); and (4) looks amazing. This is a very wide and aggressive tire (either optical illusion or actually runs wide).

 

Question: How is the noise with the Yokohama's?

 

I've always been a big advocate of Michelin Pilot Sports, expensive but worth it.

 

I am extremely happy with the Vredestein's. Great ride, quiet, and grippy as hell, especially on wet pavement. Sticks to the road like velcro..

When I first had them mounted, the service manager was concerned about one of the rear tires that he said was a bit out of round and might cause a vibration at high speed. Well, I have definately driven these tires at "high speed" with no vibration problems, no wear problems, no problems at all...

So, my final report? Buy these tires. They are a great value

 

The Yokohomas actually are very quiet. Certainly the tire noise is more than the Continentals, but nearly silent with the windows up. At highway speeds, there is more tire roar than in the Continentals, but *significantly* less than my Pirellis that were 2000 miles from being bald.

I can't say enough good things about the Yokos. Yes, you can hear the tires on the highway (about the same as the Contis at slow speed), but I actually want to hear some noise when I'm in my XKR.

I have Hankooks on my Range Rover and those are wisper quiet - so is the Range Rover, but that's the way it's supposed to be. In the XKR with Contis, I felt as if something was missing - they were too quiet, too squishy, too vague and just not right for a sports car. I'm sure they'll be great on a 335i or similar.

 

Hearing good things about the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus.

Quiet, good performance, 45K mile tread life. About $300 more than for a set of Vredestein's.

 

Can't go wrong with Pilot's...

 

I recently replaced my tires with Nitto 555's and they are very good and the price is right at about $250 each. This is one of the only sport/performance tires I've found that actually had a tread warranty! I found a review board online on these tires and the reviews were all very good- mostly Vette and Mustang owners. They are quiet, smooth and "grippy". I have not removed the traction controls and "smoked'em" ---YET! I don't want to have to replace them too soon!

Tim

 

I have Nitto 555's on my 02 XKR 100 (20" Montreal wheels). They are good tires - echo your sentiment.

 

My 08 XK came with Dunlop SP Sports and the road noise is really bothersome. I have driven Porsche's with Michelin Pilot Sports for the last 10 years and I miss how quiet they were. Does anyone have any experience with them on Jags?

 

So I went to Hennessey Jag in Gwinnett (Dan, I'm sorry - they are closer than Nalley) and had a tech ride with me to tell me if the hum I have is all tire noise or if I have another situation.

He stated everything he heard was tire noise. I currently have the Perelli PZero Rosso's.

So I started talking to him about tire, saying I had decided on Getting Michelin Pilot Sport AS Plus. He said, "well, if hate noise you will hate those tires." He says they have had several people come in and complain about the noise of those tires. I was so surprised, given the feedback I have read from people that have bought them.

I was set on those Pilot Sport AS Plus tires, but now I am not sure. I do not want to spend $1400 on a set of tires only to have to live with what I have now (Noise, etc). So, I am back to getting Vredestein's. I haven't heard anything bad about those tires, and the feedback is good.

 

Are the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tires notorious for getting much louder over time? I still have a lot of tread left, but in the last few weeks I'm hearing something that almost sounds like snow tires. I was worried that it might be bearings or some other mechanical issue, but could it just be the tires?

 

This was my concern as well, which is why I had the tech ride with me.

I used to run Michelin S2 Pole Position tires on a 3000GT VR4, and those tires definitely got louder as they aged. In fact, some of the Michelin tires have different materials at different levels within the tire. And it makes sense that if a tire has a longer rated tread life that it is gonna have to have either a lot of material to wear away or a harder material that resists wear over time. The harder material is gonna cause noise.

I would not be surprised if the Dunlops like other longer wearing tires get louder with age.