I have 05 sedan sport rims on my 05X, and the selection in the 235 size is poor. So I plan on going to 245/45/18. I want a high performance all-season. I have the stock summer Goodyear NCT's now. They have a little life left but snow has already fallen once so they need off. The ContiExtremeContacts are on sale at TireRack. So the Avons 550 AS are off my list since they are now more expensive and some owners have reported issues.

Anyone have them? Experiences? Noise, grip? I dont realy like the way the sidewall looks but I can live with it. The unidirectional tread is also annoying when it comes time to rotate, but thats probabally why they get better raings then the ProContacts allseasons. The AWD gives a great advantage in the winter but I still need a tire with some snow rating.

To be honest the Goodyears have performed great this summer. So I want a tire that is close to their quality in the summer, and still want to drive with confidence in the cold (thats why I got the AWD). The original 17" did a good gob last winter in Chicago. But I already sold them so no 2 sets of wheels for me. I dont want to cheap out (given up on used tires), but I am not spending a fortune either.

 

Looking at the surveys and road tests of both Conti and Avons on TireRack the Avons seem to edge out the Contis in total numbers as well as the road test. Not a real slam dunk, but enough to justify a little more money. Not aware of any serious issues.
I understand the Yoko Avids are a good alternative too.

 

I have the ContiExtremeContact on my Grand Prix GTP. Depends what you are looking for in a tire. I originally got those for my other car, (which I use as my daily driver), because it got pretty good scores for snow traction, for being a performance tire.

Those tires replaced a set of Yokohama AVS db tires. The only catch to my review, is that the size of the tire I needed only came in a V-rating for the contis, but all the other tires I had were z-rated, so take this with a grain of salt. (I'm pretty sure that the sizes the G needs, the contis are Z-rated)

Dry-Traction:
The Contis seemed to have slightly worse handling ability at the limits as the yokos they replaced, because the steering response is not as crisp, but I think this might be the V-rating coming into play, because of the sidewall stiffness. (And boy are those sidewalls ugly). However, I've never gotten my yokos to squeel on a turn, but I have gotten the Contis to squeel, albeit slightly.

Wet-Traction... They seemed to resist hydroplaning a little worse than the yokos when new, but the yokos hydroplaned pretty easily after 20,000 miles or so, wheras I have about 30k miles on my Contis, and they perform the same as when I first got them.

Snow-Traction. The best handling All-Season tire I've ever used in the snow. I rescued my wife when her POS michelin Pilot MXM4 left her standed. I was able to ascend the hill to our house in the 8" of snow we had at the time. I even slammed on the brakes a few times in the snow by our house, and the ABS didn't even engage that often, wheras they would always engage like crazy with other tires I've used.

For that car, I'm happy with the Contis, but I'm not going to put them on my G35, because I probably won't drive my G35 in the snow if it gets that bad, so I don't want to compromise too much on performance. I was going to get Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S, but after reading more reviews on tirerack, I'm either going to go with Avons or Bridgestones RE960AS. I convinced my friend to get the Avons on his WRX, so hopefully I can get a feel for how the performance is on those tires.

FWIW, I got 40,000 miles on my Yoko AVS db tires, and I'm at 30k miles on my Contis, with prob enough tread to last me to 40k miles.

 

i have the contis on my maxima.great tire for the money

 

I am happy with the Avons, but fortunately don't have to deal with snow to find out if that might be a problem.
I was initially very interested in the 960AS but there seems to be so little info out there on them. I liked the 400 treadwear rating, but if they are not that great in other areas (they do cost a lot more!) I would be stuck with them longer.. LOL

I don't think we did bad with any of our choices up to this point.

 

Thanks to all for the reports. Still think I will go with the conti over the Avons at this point. If they wern't on sale it would be diffrent. I have to decide in the next 2 days so I will let you know what I got and my experience.

 

i;ve only had the contis for about 700mi. so far so good, quiet and grippy. it's not as stiff as the oem pilots i had before but those are summer perf. my contis did good in the rain too. i dont know what ugly sidewalls you guys are talking about, tires are tires, they're all rubber and black. after you put tire shine on them, you can't tell the diff between other tires from 5ft away.

the 3 tirerack ppl i talked to said the avons and contis are comparable in all aspects but the contis edge the avons in snow/cold weather.

 

I'm going to be replacing all 4 of the Pilot MXM4 on my wife's TL with the Bridgestone RE960AS real soon, so I'll let you guys know how they are. I'd get avons on her car, but I'm anxious to know how good this tire is, and I can't resist the 40,000 mile warranty, especially considering my Pilot Sport A/S are balding at only half that, and I don't want to have to spend $600 for a pair of tires every 20,000 miles. (stupid 275 width tires )

If I don't like those tires, I'll get something else for my G

 

Well they arrived today (24 hrs later). The sidewalls feel super soft and thin. Hopefully is just because they are not mounted and pressureless. I will let everyone know next week after they are mounted.

 

First driving impressions. Ride is a bit softer then the NCT's. Considering the crappy roads I take to work I dont really mind. Wet and dry traction in good. By the weekend I can probabally test the ice and slush grip. On hard conering think their is a little bit more flex. Seems like I get more body roll. Sport sway bars would help a lot. So I think its a good compromise for an all-season. I do not think I would have lasted long on snow with the Goodyears and already decided not to deal with 2 sets of wheels with the AWD.

Did I mention that the shop that mounted them F***ed up the paint on most of the rims. Eventhough I put a special note warning them of the tight clearances on the lugnuts. So they are going to have a "wheel paint guy" fix the marks. I talked with him but dont think he can just touch them up and I wont notice. I have not agreed that his "fix" will be satasfactory yet, but I told them they can try. I dont expect them (wouln't happen anyway) to completely refinish 5 used wheels (yes they even scratched the now future spare). But this sucks.