So i needed tires again, badly.
the HTR Z 3s were cooked. they are a really good tire by the way, got about 15k out of them.

so i started shopping and i found 2 new tires in the 18' staggered sizes of

235/50 18 and 255/45 18

the extremecontact dws
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....emeContact+DWS


and the extremecontact dw
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....remeContact+DW


they are very new so there isn't much info on them.
but they are from continental.

so i thought about this for all of about 30 seconds, the googled them and found 1-2 good reviews done on them, one was by edmonds.

so i got a set of the DWS's 780 shipped from TR.com

i went with the all seasons because
i want to see if i can get more then 14,000 miles out of a set of tires because new tires every season costs alot and i don't need race car performance.
but i do drive like an idiot a lot, so we will see.
continental gives you 60 days to try these tires, and you can return them if you don't like them and haven't burnt them out.
so in 50 days, if i don't like them ill get the new DW summer tires and try those.

also if these all season are decent in the snow, i won't have to do the summer winter flop twice a year.

im a firm believer that you don't "NEED" awd in the snow. if you know how to drive, rwd is just fine, you just can't be an idiot when its snowing out.
sure awd can go some places that rwd can't, but thats what running starts and momentum is for

so wish me luck with the new tires.
they should be at my house next week some time and ill have them mounted next weekend.
ill post back my opinions

 

Keep us posted. Continental makes good tires. Break them in first.
Good luck.

 

Lachayim!

Update when you've gotten a chance to test em out

 

I like that. LOL

Review would be good once you have some experience with these.

 

Let us know what you think if you get the Continentals. I've never heard good things about that company but won't knock anyone for getting any.

 

they are suppose to get here on june 2ed.

which is kinda bad because i know im getting new tires so i am spinning my old ones a lot, ha

ill post back when i get them mounted, then after brake in

 

so the tires came today

first impressions: COOOL

party cuz i like all new things for my car and party because the tires have a cool looking tread pattern.

first thing i noticed was the chamfered edges on the tread block. the edge of each tread is cut at a 45 degree angle. it is supost to help maintain the contact patch under heavy conering. the idea seems like it will work, but we will see. (will post some close up pics)

next thing i noticed when i grabed one to pick up was the side wall was kinda soft. the bead was stiff but the inch or so of side wall between the bead and the tread seamed a little over flexable. at first i thought it might be a disapointment. saying "wtf" to my self, i walked over and grabed a re050a, the side wall seemed a slight bit stiffer, but not by much at all, it was hard to notice a difference. i also compaired them to my w300 snow tires. the snows actually had a softer sidewall then the DWS's. so that made me feel better.

so of to the tire shop to get these bitches mounted.

ill post back with some actual factual results, i have a decibel meter so i will post readings from the re050a, HTRz 3, and DWS at different speeds. i also have drag time slips so i can compare the 60 foot times for traction comparison. (means i have to go to the drag track again, shucks)

+ ill give you my almighty but dyno results.


stay tuned

 

what was your opinion of the Sumitomos?

I'm thinking about getting them as a track tire on my extra set of wheels

 

similar to the re050a's
they have a nice crisp steering response.
I got a little more tread life out of them, ~6k more
noise was a little lower, not much tho
(re050a's got about 86 decibels and HTRs were around 83 on the same road @ 40 mph, windows up radio and air off)

their limit on a dry road was about 95% of what the re050a's were
they don't sound off like an all season tire does when you reach that limit, but they do have a skidding sound that is different and a little louder then the 050a the 050a's seemed to be VERY quiet when ur sideways.

did not notice a difference in wet traction. (tho i don't push it quite as hard in the rain as compared to dry)

loved the 50% off compared to the re050a's price
i think you will be happy with them as a low cost track tire.

i would have got them again, but i want a tire that lasted longer then one summer with my idiot drive style.

 

mm err edit:
i also have drag slip results for the 050a's and HTR's

i have 11 for the RE and 8 slips for the htr so ill give u my averages.
2 of the RE times slips are way out in left field cuz the car was still new to me and i was learning to launch it.

but (removing to 2 crazy ones) the 60ft average for both sets of tires was 1.94(RE) and 1.99(HTR) so traction is very close. i run 28 PSI on the drag way

so the quick answer is, the HTRs and RE050a are very similar, except on the bleeding edge of performance where the RE's pass the HTRs, but just barely.

 

These are the Sumitomo's I'm considering when my time comes. In this test they beat the RE050A's
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...ay.jsp?ttid=93

 

id base ur judgment on the tire rack results rather then mine.

they have tested many more tires then me, and also their test is much more scientific.

one thing is i don't have the pole position tires, i just have the RE050A. not sure if that makes a difference.

but like i said, and tire rack said, you will be happy with the Sumitomo's

 

close up pic of the chamfered edges.

you can also see the tread in the groves, thats to stop snow from sliding around in the grove to create snow on snow traction.


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...fd&id=50204115

 

Off topic, but you brought it up. I used to live in the North, and I drove AWD Audi cars for 15 years. If AWD on costs a bit more and adds 200 pounds it's a great deal. Just try to get a running start when you're trying to back out of a parking spot, or when you hit a red light on an upward sloping street. There are plenty of times when you need acceleration to avoid an accident, and on slippery roads that can only happen with AWD. If I moved North, I'd trade without hesitation.

 

i agree. in some situations, awd is better, hands down. you can't even compare awd/rwd in some situations.

but i don't need it, and i live in NH.
my rwd 6mt, with the correct snow tires, gets me every where i need to go.
i have been in situations where awd would have helped, i would have been able to just hammer it and go where i pointed the wheels.
i have been on roads where the snow is deeper then the front bumper ground clearance. rwd got me thru it all.

i picked 6mt over awd.

if they had 6mt and awd, i would have got that, because as u said, its a deal.