About a month ago, I replaced the rear tires with new Continental Extreme Contact DWS. (The Dunlops on the front still had too much tread to replace.) The handling of the car changed immediately, dramatically and not in a good way. At highway speeds, the steering felt light and the car felt like it was drifting. I thought it was something that would work itself out in time but it didn't. Yesterday I bit the bullet and replaced the Continentals and the Dunlops with a set of Hankook Ventus 12 EVOs. I had good luck with them on my old XK8 and figured that would solve the handling issue. It did. The car once again feel solid. Interestingly, the guy at the tire place told me that he put the same Continentals on his wife's car and had the same problem. Has anybody here had issues with the Continentals?

 

I had the Extreme Contact on my VDP and liked them. Not as performance as you probably wanted, but had a plush ride. I have Pilot Sport AS on the XK and am on the fence whether I like them. They don't grip in hard cornering as much as I would've thought.

 

Lots of possibility there, but I think you made a few errors along the way.

First is mixing not only names, but compounds... (You didnt say which Dunlops you left up front). I never recommended this on an every day driver. As you found out, the consequences can be alarming if not disastrous. Pro drivers will vary compounds to alter the handling characteristics while most street cars don't take well to arbitrary swaps like this.

Second, the DWS and V12 are not even in the same category of tire design, so of course they are going to respond differently. The DW would have been the closer comparison.

BTW. Florida should not require an all-season tire in the first place. Many grasp the A/S thinking "Dry vs Wet Vs Snow", when it should be more closely related "Above freezing vs Below freezing". A quality summer tire will almost always outperform an A/S in dry or wet conditions.

The DWS is an highly respected tire here in the chilly north as a good winter tire.

Vince

 

The solution could have been as easy as putting the same conti's in front as well.

Or, shifting the conti's to the front to get a feel for their effect.

 

I've got Conti Extreme Contact DWs on my car. Note not DWS. I'm quiet happy with them. The only problem is a vague on center feel but I think that is my fault. I had the car aligned with the old worn tires and not the new as yet.

FWIW Some people in FL go for the DWSs as they are reputed to run quieter.

 

Not to mention that some people have a need to be able to handle at least minimal snow when they drive out of state.

 

It's not as simple as that.

The all season or full winter tire in recent technology will have more drainage and micro-siping.

That would be an advantage in torrential downpours at speed, and where the pavement temperature has fallen. Maybe not freezing, but colder than say 50*F.

If the rain is both heavy, and it is also cold, there is a good chance that the all season or full winter is going to be more confidence inspiring.

The full winter may be noisy, but the performance will still be good.

 

I have DWS on my XK and love them. I have a really good relationship with my tyre guy and he told me do not mix another tyre with these it will not end well because they have mixed treed patterns.

 

Yup, mixing tread patterns is not recommended.

 

I won't go in to too much detail but I can say that my eperience with the Conti's was far better than it was with the Hankooks - they were a total nightmare from day one. The Conti's worked well on my 08 535i but sometimes the same tires provide different feel when mounted on different cars.

 

I know this is an old thread, and I apologize for its resurrection with my reply.... but I was hoping some of the original posters to this thread that have/had the DWS might chime in on their long term experience.

I am looking at the DWS and the new Pirelli P7 Cinturato for my 1997 XJR.

Both have excellent reviews, and their "sweet spot", but for me the big difference is in the warrantee mileage.

The DWS has a 50k mile warrantee/rating, but I was wondering what real world mileage owners were getting out of the DWS.

As I drive 20-25k miles a year, I'd like to avoid a tire I'd have to replace annually.

Also any other long term ownership of the DWS feedback is much appreciated.

.

 

I have the Contis on my 07 XK. The tires are very good in all weather conditions. Prefer them to Hankooks ...not even close.

 

Interesting and timely thread as I ordered a set of DWS Continentals yesterday for my 08 XK. I go back and forth from Lake Tahoe to the Bay Area and have the DWS tires on my Land Rover. This is not the total reason for my selection decision, however I have been quite satisfied with their overall performance.

I'll be sure to report on the experience as soon as they are installed...

 

Curious, what kind of mileage are you getting out of the DWS on the Land Rover?

 

I bought my set of Conti DWS two years ago and have put 14,000 miles on them. I still think they are the quietest, most comfortable tires I have ever had on a car. They also look great.

I don't track the XK and drive it gently, as a GT, in all weather conditions, including light snow.

 

I have about 10K on them so far and there's plenty of tread remaining. We have two Land Rovers, a Sport and Full Fat. In spite of the DWS snow ratings, I have separate winter tires, Blizzak's for both.

 

I had the Continental (20") tires installed on Tuesday and put 200 freeway miles on them yesterday. As expected, they make less noise than the Hankook's and the quality of the ride seems to have improved. Because they are 20" I have set a reasonable expectation as to both comfort and noise. As we all know, there isn't much sidewall on these tires to absorb road shock and road noise.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with my all season choice especially considering that half of the year we live in the Lake Tahoe area.

 

I have Contis DWS on the 09 and Hankooks on the 10, definitely like the ride of the Contis better

 

I recently replaced my worn out Conti DWS tires on my Mercedes SUV at 30,000 miles. Continential allowed a 30% discount on my new Conti DWS tires.

 

Couldn't agree more.
Cheers.