Replacement Tires
 

Hi All-

About a month ago, I purchased a '12 XK convertible (32K miles). Love the car! I need new tires on the front (the rears were replaced semi-recently and are in good shape).

On the tire rack website, I see a variety of options, mainly from the $160-$220 range, but with tread wear ratings (utqg) ranging from about 220 on the OE Pirelli P-Zero to 560 on Continental's (and 500 on Michelin Pilot's). All the tires are rated 4-stars (or better). The Jag is currently wearing Dunlop's. My question is, can I intelligently select the high-wear rated tires without losing material performance/handling? I live in Florida and will never encounter snow.

Thanks in advance!

Continental DWS Extreme Contact would be my choice.

I have a newer 2015 Corvette C7 and replaced the OEM Michelins with the DWS and the ride is smooth, quieter and the thread pattern is excellent for Florida driving, similar to New Mexico, only you have more rain.

..

Tires have been discussed in many threads and with many opinions. You would need to determine how you want to drive the the car. All of the tires listed will perform well and some will perform better. Also some are smoother and quieter while others will give you a more firm ride . Wear is another factor as the fronts should last maybe twice as long as the rears. Next is what size wheel do you have (19's , 20's). The other consideration is mixing the fronts and rears. Now for me and some others I use my car (2012 XKR convert) for cruising and weekend trips. At 10K miles I got an un-repairable flat on a rear OEM Dunlop. I replaced both of them with Conti DWS tires. I noticed a considerable difference in the ride and noise . I also replaced the fronts after a few thousand miles with Conti DWS 06 after I got an alignment done. The results have been perfect for me. Ride quality in all categories have been improved and trips are enjoyable. I don't track the car and the performance of these tires are more than sufficient even if you do a little spirited driving . So I would suggest you listen to others when they respond and see what fits your driving style. Oh by the way I don't drive in the snow but do drive in the rain but Conti doesn't make a DW tire. Enjoy the ride

If you're not to particular to get a nice razor sports car feel, the Continentals have a softer quieter build. Its a trade off not of peak grip quite, but response time. There will be a little more wander.

I went from Hancook Ventus V12 Evo 2's or whatever they were called, to the Continental DW(Not DWS). The soft compound grip is absolutely amazing, but the tire construction trades crispness for less booming and a quieter ride. For a daily, its worth it. For running twisty roads, its not.

Tires dry out with time, on a car not driven regularly, I do not see a reason to go with the harder compound tire. I'd want to replace the tire before I ran out of tread.

The ultimate in performance will be Michelin's, but they have a bad reputation to get rid of with tires falling apart in far too short of time. Maybe their current generation has fixed the issues, but its unknown to me. They're fantastic while they last.:icon_naughty:

What is the difference (in ride, etc.) between the DW and DWS? The DWS is about $20 more but has a 65% higher tread life rating.

Most of my driving is not going to be spirited/performance.

Thanks- Tire Rack has both DW and DWS for Continental. I'm glad you had a good experience.

The Conti DWS is an excellent all around tire. It handles everything I can throw at them while retaining a very good ride (comfort). For the price, I say they are a no brainer. I think the new DWS is now the DWS 06...supposedly an improvement over the previous generation DWS. I absolutely love the DWS on the XK in particular.

I have not had both to know. The DW has a less compromised tread for dry/wet . The DWS has additional cuts to help it bite into slush, but this does not help it in dry or wet conditions, and perhaps causes a little more noise.

The DW has two solid bands in the center without tread pattern. I have not yet had a really cold morning to see how much the compound hates it. I got them just as the weather was warming up this year. Tread wear rating, and possibly grip at lower temperatures are the shortfalls of the DW. I do not really care about tire replacement cycle so long as I make it past a year, two years is nice. I'm on 7 months and 7K miles so far.

Just my opinion, but... the Continentals (Extreme Contact DWS 06). Period.
As to the question of which, apologies if I'm pointing out the obvious to all reading, but... the "S" is snow. DW = Dry/Wet DWS = Dry/Wet/Snow, so more all-season by design. Not sure if a DW is available on this particualr tire; I've got the DWS.
Having said that (and given that you're in Orlando)... I recently swapped out the original Dunlops on my car. Fronts still had some life, but I wasn't happy with them, so I got a whole new set, and after lots (LOTS) of reading the Contis seemed closest to what I wanted.
Amazingly smoother, quieter, more comfortable. It's like I have a new car. Went out on a winding highway (the Angeles Crest highway, my proving ground here in LA), and they were great. I can't recommend them enough.
If it makes a difference, this is my daily driver, so I'm looking at about 14K a year on the tires, and I've got 20" wheels. Might track the car but haven't yet, so that's not a priority.

I think based on the forum and the expected treadwear the Continental's appear to be the choice.

Thanks to everyone for their comments!

That's the conclusion I came to as well, and have a set waiting to be mounted in 2 weeks (on 20" wheels that are going in for refinishing next week).
Hope we like them!

I have been very disappointed with the Conti DWS 06 tires on the XKR. I traded the original Dunlops after reading all the positive reviews on the DWS.

Grip is far inferior to the Dunlops and the sidewall is much softer, resulting in mushy handling and a definite loss of precision in the steering. After putting them on the car and doing the normal break-in procedures, I thought that something was wrong with the car. As I started pushing it harder through the tight, winding roads of my local canyons I kept noticing the traction control light flashing on all the time. The tires were loosing traction at speeds that even the old Dunlops were gripping just fine.

Yes, the ride quality had improved, except... I had to raise tire pressures to nearly 40 psi to regain some precision in the steering by stiffening up the sidewalls by the higher pressures. So, what I gained in ride improvements, I lost it back to the higher pressures. I would not purchase these tires again for any performance driving.

I currently have Potenza's on mine. I'm satisfied with them. Conveying your thoughts about tires is about as easy as describing what shade of red you prefer.

I've also had Pilots on an SV8 - didn't like them. Handled OK, not great. I'm hearing impaired and I thought they were too loud.

On this forum, Conti's seem to get the most up votes.

Ha! Perfectly put.

Been digging the Pirelli P-Zero Nero's on my last two cars. Great performance and doesn't break the bank.

It seems your experience is exactly what the summary of Conti users have been . All of the post that I have seen talk to quiet , smooth and comfortable ride. None discussed performance as the main criteria. It has always been abut the ride and usually because the owners enjoyed either cruising or long drives. Other then being to old to challenge the twisties I would have not selected the Conti's if I were looking for performance. Then again maybe there aren't enough folks who are driving these cars that have performance tire recommendations. Maybe others with these needs could chime in here and give the form their feedback.

My two cents: Most Floridians will never experience a winding road other than freeway cloverleafs. Even the worst handling tire will handle quite well for the average driver. There are two factors I think are really important for Floridians: tire noise (which no one likes) and anti-hydroplaning. Florida can experience tropical downpours that really flood; and one needs the best rain tire out there to handle the unexpected.
TireRack is an excellent site for reviews; and it doesn't cost anything to talk with one of their sales reps.

Bridgestone has some amazing rain tires like the S0* Pole Positions.