OEM tires....My experience.

[4wheeldog]

Lots of folks hate the OEM Continentals. I now have 25k on mine. I just rotated them yesterday. They appear to have a little less than half their life left. I now rotate every 10k, (I originally did it every 5k) and they look nearly identical, all around. I measured circumferance, and all were within 1/8th"........Which is the limit of accuracy, when done with a tape measure.
Anyway, they all seem to still be in good balance. They have never been rebalanced. The car rides and handles smoothly, so no indication of a tire going egg shaped. All in all, they seem just fine. I expect to be shopping for new ones in another 20k, so I will most likely only need to rotate these one more time. Car was purchased new the end of last March. I leave for a 5k trip in less then 2 weeks. So, by the time a year rolls around, I should have 35k on the tires. I will check in and give my continued experience then.

[deantchi]

have you driven them in various road conditions? gravel, snow, rain, etc... how did they hold up?

[AltaBrig]

At 36k I have one eggsh tire that is balding/curbing on 1/3 off the outside circumference on the said tire. Lots of mixed - summer hot asphault, off-road, poor condition paved, heavy snow, ice, etc. I hope to get 10k but 5K would be super. Started rotations at 10k and have gone about 5k between rotations since.

Already shopping different tires for the next set of meats.

[wildan2]

We have 34,000 on a 2010 Outback with good performance and no problems other than a nail in the drivers rear.Rotated at every 10,000 miles.Exspect to get at least another 15000.

[scoobydoo2]

...some have said they are too soft and make the ride mushy but I have found them to a good tire so far. My take on it is that you will never find the perfect tire and looking at tires is kinda like art...quite subjective. There are crappy tires out there but you get what you pay for.

Consumer reports is a good place to start.

[Nickshu]

I found that increasing tire pressure to 36/34 made a big difference in the "mushy" feel of the stock contis. If this makes them wear out faster I don't care b/c they are crummy anyhow.

[statueim]

Running at 32 psi all around. Currently at 68,000 miles and I plan to get a couple thousand more out them when I switch back from my snow tires this spring.

Definitely considering them for the next set on the car as well.

[mpnret]

I think the OEM Continentals initially got a bad rap because so many people had famous shaker issue and they were looking for somewhere to place the blame. I had over 30k on them when I traded in my 2010 OB. Rotated every 10K. Great tires, I would get them again. In fact I did get them again. They came on my 2013.

[kpk02]

My experience hasn't been so great. My main complaints are that they have high level of road noise and poor absorption of bumps. I've tried changing the pressure but only found it to help marginally. Strangely, I found that the handle better on wet roads than dry. They aren't the worst OEM tires I've experienced by any stretch but I get frustrated by having mediocre tires after spending so much on a new vehicle.

I did initially think that they were at least okay.. until I put my winter tires on. I found the winter tires to have significantly better ride, noise, and handling characteristics than the OEM Continentals. That shouldn't happen. I also realize just how much more difficult it was to maintain a straight line with the OEM compared to the winter tires.

Whether I stick with the OEMs come spring or replace them will entirely depend on available funds.

[subiesailor]

I replaced ours at 40,000 miles they shook like a wet dog would not hold balance beyond about 9000 miles and required excessive weight change each time they were balanced. One tire could no longer be rotated due to being so out of round it would shake the steering wheel something wicked if it was put on the front end this started happening around 25,000 miles.

Increase tire pressure to 34-36 caused them to howl and scream like a stuck pig on our canyon road which has tight switch backs even at low speeds. Over all they are just poorly made tires regardless of how you try to paint them.

I have about 1800 miles on the BFG Touring Tires very big difference regarding tire quality they hold balance - stiffer side walls have resulted in slightly sharper handling better cornering the treads are similar to the Continentals mileage has been dead on similar though I suspect these tires might have slightly lower rolling resistance another few thousand miles and a road trip or two will give me a better idea if mileage has increased some with these tires.

No way Am I ever putting the continentals back on this car or any of my other cars. they are more or less just poorly made cheap tires.