Just thought those with the stock RSAs might find this exciting:

Continental ExtremeContact DWS

 

^ thanks for the info!

 

Nice to see they are finally offering this.

 

That will be my choice also. It surprised me how much lighter they are then the Pilots. I have no complaints about the stock tires, although I've read nothing but complaints about them and they are rated very low on the Tirerack survey. Whenever I need new tires I go to the survey section on Tirerack.com and make my decision there. It used to be that Summer tires were the best choice for owner's that didn't drive in snow and ice, since they preformed better in dry and wet conditions. Now it seems that a lot of the ultra preforming all season tires do the job just as well.

 

A lot of folks say the DWS is soft in the sidewall. That's why I've considered the new Yokohama KY580, the Kumho Ecsta 4X, or the General G-MAX AS-03.

This thread really ought to be over in Wheels and Tires...

 

I'm still on the fence about the DWS'. We put them on the wife's car and she sliced through one of the sidewalls. There wasnt much material there when I took a close look at the flapping gash, I couldnt even distinguish any sort of ply or belting, it looked 100% rubber. Even when we bought them I was a little concerned about how thin the sidewalls are.

They have gotten loud and have some vibration after 2 years of use. Traction in the three dry, snow and rain categories is amazing.

 

The stock goodyears suck, puhlease!

 

I have 17" DWS on my wrx and i'm already on my second set. They're great, relatively quiet, extremely good all weather traction, and last but not least, inexpensive. I'd buy them again for my wrx.

 

I have the Bridgestone RE970AS and like them much better than the 960s. The sidewall is very stiff and it sticks like glue.

 

I'm kind of a noob so bear with me...

Can I put the 18" Continental DWS's on my factory g37x rims?

Also, I have heard the Continental DWS's help address tramlining that our cars are notorious for - however - I also have a set of Michelin Primacy MXM4's which were supposed to help too, but I saw no difference. Anybody know if the C-DWS's helped much in that area and how they might compare to my MXM4's?

 

I am not sure about the tramlining, at least not on my car. Your stock 18" size is 225-50/18, which is not available with the DWS. But you could run 24-45/18. It's a bit wider but has almost the same ratio.

 

I'm not doing it now (the cars are brand new!) - but this tire will definitely be in the running when my wife's car needs tires - and it would be nice if they were avail in the sizes necessary for my S when it needs tires.

I have them on my daughter's '06 Mazda3 (with 18" MazdaSpeed wheels). Traction is amazing in all weather conditions (well - no idea how they handle in the snow as we have had none in DFW area since she got those tires about a year ago). You can now toss that little car around with ease. Also - lighter by a couple of pounds compared to the RE050's that were on those rims...

 

no tramlining with either the oem dunlops or the much superior bridgestone 760s I have now. Not a model-wide problem I don't think.