I've got a set of conti's sitting in the garage still packaged. I've been thinking about putting them on in a week or so...but after reading these reports, I'm seriously thinking about sending them back to tirerack. I started having my doubts as soon as they came in. The tread is what caught my eye first. It doesn't look like it'll bite into snow or ice at all! Looks more like an aggressive all season tire geared more towards the dry. The tirerack survey ratings for "snow traction" look to be vastly over-rated for this tire.

I dont plan on driving on snow covered roads every day, but there will be occasions where I make trips to upstate maine, and I dont think these tires will be safe enough now.

I'm leanings towards the Nokian's now. Why mess around?

 

Where did you find those? Or are you talking about the Nokian WR.

 

what are you guys gettin' for prices on the nokians? they sound great, but i'm assuming $200+/tire?

 

went out for about 30 miles today and my 2nd opinion is better then my first. I'm not sure the contis are the problem...

my new theory:
boost is bad

fun in the snow, but the rush of power in the cool dense air can easily break the tires loose. I am just going to have to be far more carful as I drive in the winter. My roommate has the same Contis on his WRX, and I am curious to see how they work on a car with less power... he is back in town tonight, should be interesting.

 

tri,,,,, ur just stupid the conti preform underfull in the snow

 

wow, I feel silly now.... thanks for putting me in my place.

 

lol! i'm hoping i could contact zak or dave at discount tires to see if there are any sets left. i really need them, and why not a better time than now? hehe

 

I have a dealer in Milwaukee for Haka's called Greer. For unstudded Haka 2's in 225/45 17 I was quoted 195.

 

Let it snow alright!

I'm glad I didn't store my car this winter. I was out and about visiting every wide open parking lot I could find from High School, Shopping area to Industrial parking lot. Fresh snow to used snow... I'm all over it.

Here's my review on the Continental Contiextreme tires on 17" Enkie wheels.

The tires performed well... not the best but it does the job for the money. With a 1(poor) thru 5(great) rating... I give it a 4 overall.

It's an all season tire so I don't expected it to perform like a winter tire but it does it's job well in the Snow. Even in area where there's a deep pocket of snow from snow drift... it plows through it.

On fresh or compacted snow covered road… the car move with authority. I did notice slip from a stop and go when I’m on very compacted snow cover road where it looks like ice. If I just let the car roll a bit and give it a bit gas, it moves flawlessly.

My STi tend to be rear happy... The answer was because DCCD was set to Auto f35/r65... Even in manual f35/r65 split the rear still sway as I gas it from a stop.

To fix the problem... I start from the button of the DCCD control which is 35/65 split and work my way up to 50/50 lock. There are 6 settings up till lock 50/50… I’ve only try the 50/50 3 times and with those 3 settings… I was on very icy road and it runs fine. I gradually scroll the DCCD control up a notch at a time at per stop and go. I notice that the car doesn't slip and move well once I put the DCCD to 4 or 5 setting, just a tad below the 50/50 lock which is 6.

I was out with my brother's (DeZaVu) EVO yesterday and it was all over the road. Brake… whaaaa… what brake? ABS was working over time. He was too lazy to acquire a set of winter / all season tires. He’s currently running the stock tires on his EVO… even a Geo Metro out cornered him LOL.

As of current his EVO is garaged until he buys a set of tires this week or next week.

trigeek37... you should ask my brother (DeZaVu) how the Conti performs on my STi. He's amaze at how well it worked.

Like I said before... No tire is going to be perfect when you're on ice. You'll slide no matter what but, getting a good set that will allow you more manueverbility is what we're all looking for. The Conti are great for the price... I'm not disappointed.

I won't buy the Conti again because I'd like to know how other tires compare.

I'm setting up a test drive with a buddy of mine who has the new Nokian NW installed on his wife's Impreza. If the Nokian really impress me... ya never know.

Vic

 

My Pilot Alpins performed just dandy today - no slippage on the corners, just have to watch the distance to the cars in front - too much ice underneath and ABS was working overtime.

 

I strapped on Blizzak LM-22's. Had my first driving in the snow over the weekend. Haulz azz!!!

 

I've also been out playing in the snow with my new conti's. I found them to be about what I expected; an acceptable winter tire that doesn't cost alot. I agree with yosmiley's rating of 4 on a 1 to 5 scale.

On different note, my Carbotech Bobcat brake pads don't mix with MN DoT's de-icing methods! The Bobcats have tapered edges that roll under with the rotors direction of travel, rather than having a straight edge. The roll-under traps all the sand and salt, then grinds it into the rotor. It's really nasty - after about 10 minutes of "brown slush" roads I could feel the rotors grinding every time I touched the brake pedal. Very nasty.

 

I had a set of Continental Extreme's installed on Friday morning. It was snowing all day and we had about two inches accumulate on the roads. I have to say, my impressions about the snow performance are very positive. On both the road and a high school parking lot excursion, I was very impressed. I mean, it's not a snow tire, so I wasn't expecting one. But, it seems to me that it's an all-season tire with a strong leaning towards foul weather (the opposite of what someone else said above, who felt it was more of a dry weather bias).
I'm so happy with these things, I think I'll recommend them to any friends in similar situations. I bet with the treadwear rating of 400, they'll probably last the lifetime of the vehicle (if I'm only driving them 4-5 months per year). Plus, Discount Tire will swap my old Advans back and forth for free each year.

The biggest impact to me has been getting rid of that gawd aweful resonance noise of the Advans (@<20mph). For summer, I can live with it, but in winter slop where you have to drive slow anyway, it's nice to have a quiet car.

The only thing that's bad about them is the loss of dry traction. The EVO understeers around most corners now, a lot. But hey, it's an all-season tire. The grip is still better than I was expecting.
Overall, especially considering price, I'd rate it a 4.5/5. Heck, maybe even a 5/5.