Conti ExtremeContact DWS - Quick Review

[Aragorn]

I'm going to break one of my own rules about not reviewing a tire before I've gotten some real miles on it (which I consider 10k +). We always run dedicated snows in the winter, but the weather in Denver has been so hot lately that I swapped them out for our Conti DWS A/S tires early. This morning's snow fall gave us our first opportunity to drive these in snow.

I can confirm that these do pretty well for a so-called "ultra-high performance all-season" in the slick, consistent with the test results seen on Tire Rack and elsewhere. On my 10 mile commute this morning over hilly terrain in a mix of sleet and snow with patchy ice on the roads, they only lost grip very momentarily once. Braking, lateral traction in corners and forward traction with AWD were all quite satisfactory, although not up to dedicated snow tire standards, of course.

Compared to our Pirelli P Zero Nero A/S, for example, these are far superior in the slick. I consider the Pirelli's borderline dangerous in the snow - I once parked my GTi on my inclined driveway, closed the door, and watched the car slide into the street with them. Mind you, I was walking around on the driveway just fine at the time so it wasn't that slick. Not an "all-season" unless you're only counting to '3'.

A few words on the DWS in the dry and wet: first impressions are that they offer very good grip, run quiet, and offer a comfortable ride when new. They do have a soft sidewall, which for a DD like ours is a good thing, but anyone looking for more performance in the corners will be disappointed with the turn in response. Here, the Pirelli's have the edge, no question, but they ride harshly by comparison. To be fair, our Pirelli's are a 45 profile and the DWS are a 50.

One other note: do not confuse these with the similarly named ExtremeContact DW tires without the 'S'. That tire is a true summer tire with no ambitions around driving through light snow.

My 2 cents, and again, these are early findings. Hope this helps someone,

-b

[divenut1]

Your assessment is spot on. I have those tires on my '08 Imprezza 5 door. Great tire for here in Texas where we see lots of dry pavement, some rain, and then some ice and snow some winters. I almost put a set on my Outback VDC but didn't want to drop a half inch in diameter...so I went more aggressive and put a set of BFG Rugged Terrains 235-55r16 on the outback.