kaetamer

I think I get it. Replace the RF tires for the Mchelin PilotSports (A/S) and I'll love the ride, handling, etc.

Looking at the ratings from the TireRack, the Continentals get better ratings and are cheaper.

What am I missing?

Thanks.

dseag2

I can't personally answer your question, but I'm sure if you speak to someone at TireRack they will be able to explain the difference. They told me the Michelin Pilot Sports were better suited to this car and my particular locale. I've also seen that other owners are very happy with theirs. That was enough for me.

Sam Khoury

I put on Sumitomo HTR+ (ultra high performance all season tire) instead of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S on my 18" wheels and I'm very happy with them so far. Here's a link to TireRack's test of the Sumitomo HTR+ against the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/sumi_htr_plus.jsp

Just to give you an idea of the cost difference in the 2 tires in the size I needed 245/40R18. On TireRack, the Sumitomos are $118/tire and the Michelin's are $247. The Continental ContiExtremeContact in that same size are $141.

Maybe Brandon from TireRack can give an idea when TireRack is going to publish test results of the Continental's.

sc400atl

i would stay away from continental. continental and general tire are one and the same. general tire has had all kinds of recalls over the years. the last known one that i can recall was the continental contisporttrac tire that belonged on the expedition and the navigator. a few years back when the general/continental workers went on strike, the strike workers advised ford not to purchase the tires, something about safety, and wanting ford to support them. could have been just spilled milk over their issues they had.the general tire that went on the ford taurus a few years back had major problems. i think it is generally known in the industry not to purchase continental/general.

if you need all season high performance, look at yokohama avs dbs2 with a rating of 320 AA FOR $167, and yokohama avs es100 for $159 all from tire rack with a 280 AA rating for a high performance non all season tire. i recently purchased the avs es100 in a 245-40-18 and 265-35-18 and they ride very well. the avs dbs2 has a $75 crutchfield gift certificate that comes along with it as a bonus.

this is just my opinion. if you are set on continental, then i can not talk you out of it. this is alot different than wheels. everyone talks about not buying a certain wheel, but no one has any proof that the wheel is any good, except to say that they are knockoffs. tires you hear alot more about. continental is original equipment on some mercedes, and some other european auto's,but so are alot of other brands also. ask brandon at tire rack and look at the board and see if TOP 5 TIRES.GOOD LUCK WITH ANY PURCHASE YOU MAKE !!!!!

Brandon@TR

Both tires are very good. The Michelin Pilot Sport AS is the best performance A/S tire on the market and the best performance A/S that has ever been manufactured. Keep in mind we are talking about a performance A/S tire though. This is NOT a max performance summer tire. No AS tire is going to have as much performance as even the bottom on my max list or any max performance tire for that matter. That said the Pilot A/S does have excellent performance AND some light snow and ice traction. The Continental is not as good in every category save one. The Continental will have better snow and ice traction. we recently tested some of the new performance A/S tires and we tested some others last year. I will be publishing a new post called the top 5 ultra high performance A/S tires. In this I will actually place the Continental as 3rd best behind the Yoko AVS DBS2. Look for this new sticky soon as it seems there is a lot of interest here in this category. Hope this helps.

Sam Khoury

Brandon, now you've got me curious. Where does the Sumitomos HTR+ rank in that list?

Benjamin T

iTrader: (2)

i know this is old but i'm bored and thought i should contribute...

the contiextreme contacts have really good ice/snow traction for an a/s! almost as good as some dedicated snow tires i've been on (michelin arctic alpin for example). great wet weather performance in terms of not aquaplaning.

downsides... i didn't find braking performance that good. also, the sidewalls are a little soft, regardless of tire pressure, so it has a tendency to roll over in hard cornering and is a bit bouncy.

also, if appearance is a factor, the tread pattern isn't that nice to look at, and the sidewall graphics aren't any better. i've had many comments asking me if they were snow tires, or even some sort of truck tire!

Lexusfreak

My Michelin Pilot Sport A/S were fantastic tires, but damn were they expensive!! No experence with the conti's personally.....what is the exact tire size you need? Perhaps there is even a better & less expensive choice out there such as the Falken Ziex ZE-512 among others.

http://www.falkentire.com/tires_512.htm

Benjamin T

iTrader: (2)

i seem to the the only one who hates the ze-512 on this planet... no traction in light snow and was a skate on ice

this was on a 02 subaru wrx.

Lexusfreak

Have to disagree with you on that one bigtime. Very suprising your having trouble with a Subi How fast are you going? lol

Benjamin T

iTrader: (2)

not very fast because of the lack of traction... could not build up any momentum and was afraid to go faster than a crawl because i knew the tires would not stop for me

this was rutted snow that turned to slush and then froze overnight, with a new layer of fresh snow on top... i guess 4" in depth total. being in northwest canada i had to deal with hills as well.

i think it only snowed 3 times last winter but that one day i was out there in the thick of it was enough for me.

Lexusfreak

Bummer

My wife, nor I have ever had a problem in bad weather, including freezing rain with the Falken's. A while back they actually came in first place in a consumer reports review of 20ish all season tires. Falkens blew away all the others including snow traction & especially wet weather & rain performance.

Benjamin T

iTrader: (2)

i read that CR article as well... i don't know what to say. all i have is real-life experience, and i can say the contis performed much better under similar conditions.

Lexusfreak

I've heard mixed views on the Conti's personally.

SoCalSC4

Our local customers with Mercedes SL and CLS' models (running aftermarket wheels) are complaining about the ride of the Contis and switching to Michelins. The ultra-low profile of the tires has something to do with it- we are talking about 255/30-20 + 305/25-20- but when they switch to Michelins the complaining stops.

Conti offers unique sizes and reasonable pricing if you are willing to sacrifice some ride quality.