09 Macadamia Cab, PDK, Sport Chrono, 19" wheels. Chicago. Nickname - The Turd

I've read a lot about different winter tires and thought I would pass my own experience. I bought The Turdlet last May and currently have a little over 12k mile. Obviously this is my daily driver.

Previously I had a Boxster S and had used Avon Tech 550 winter tires with great success but they did not have them in the right sized for the Turd. Spent a lot of time on the Tire Rack site and eventually chose the Continental Extreme Contact DWS as the winter shoes. The summer tires are 19" Michelin and they are deadly in cold and snow.

We have been getting steady smaller dumps of snow in Chicago and have run the gamut of temperatures. To date the Continentals have exceeded my expectations. Grip in show and slush is very good, very predictable. Grip in rain or wet with cold temps is outstanding. Tire is quiet and much less harsh than the Michelins, although I suspect this is due to the tires being 40 series on 18" rims versus the summer 30 series on 19" rims.

Not much in the way of spirited driving but to date have only noticed a bit of 'squishiness' when accelerating hard out of a corner. Would not recommend these as a track tire, but they seem to be a good compromise and most importantly, they allow me to enjoy the Turd year round. May evn use them for some long distance trips next summer as they should wear much better than the Michelins and have the better ride. We shall see.

Just my impressions, for what they are worth.

Merry Christmas to all.

 

Considering I'm in the market for all seasons, thank you for sharing.

 

For an all season the Contis have performed flawless in the snow. The Extreme Contact is about the best performance all-season we have for snow traction. Glad you like them.

 

Tirerack did a great job and the tires were delivered and installed flawlessly.

 

It's not often you hear "performance" and "all season" used in the same sentence...particularly snow performance

Glad to hear they're working out for you, what other tires did you consider?

 

I have the Bridgestone 960 PP in stock sizes. Yes, they have more compliant sidewalls and have shown pretty good traction all the way down to 15 deg. I've only driven on cleared roads and they didn't have a lot of grip on ice - although I don't think anything does. They are pretty quiet at highway speeds, but howl terribly at 40 mph.
Depends how you drive, but during the summer I found them a joke. If you think they are "soft" on acceleration, I'm not sure you've tried them on corners. My car understeered badly, then leaned on the rears and oversteered. I switched to the turbo rims and the RE050A's and the handling improved incredibly. It was night and day. If you just cruise and never drive the twisties or off ramps at double the posted speed, maybe the all seasons will work. Otherwise, you're missing out on a ton of performance not switching back to summer tires.

 

Michelins will go back on in the spring. As I said, I might - might - pout these back on if I am doing a long distance trip. Otherwise they are for winter only, and in the Midwest you take it easy in the winter.