Stay away from Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 tires

[reeves]

I have never modified my suspension or wheels. I had Michelin A/S 3 on all four tires.. my fronts are almost bald, my rears were completely bald.
For those who are familiar with Atlanta, there's several stretches on the highways (particularly I-285) that's been impacted by construction or weather, and now has broken or very rough pavement.

So I decided to replace my bald rear A/S 3 tires with these DWS 06 (because of the cheaper price of the DWS06 at the time).. and I've regretted it for the past ~1K miles of driving!
These tires are a complete FAIL for me. And by fail, I mean: (With no other changes done to the car, except the rear tire change) Almost every time I drive over areas of broken/rough pavement (curved or straight road), the nannies kick on!! Everyone knows, that feels like suddenly lifting off the gas pedal & stepping on your brakes for a split second.. But this is during normal driving at the posted speed limit on on the highway. It's annoying & intrusive, it feels unsafe, and it happens almost every time!
The only way to avoid this (over broken/rough pavement) is to turn traction control completely OFF while driving on the DWS 06 tires. But I don't want to daily drive my car that way.

I got so annoyed with the DWS 06, I switched them to the front, and put my (almost bald) A/S 3 on the rear... And not surprisingly, the nannies never turned on anymore!
Heck, with the Michelins, I can even drive a little harder/faster through those areas with rough/broken pavement, and the nannies never kick in. With the DWS 06, I have to go SLOWER than the speed limit over those same areas to avoid the nannies intervening. I'm not a tire or suspension expert, I just love driving my BRZ hard. But I can't even drive my car at normal speeds over broken/rough pavement with the DWS 06! And Atlanta has a ton of these roads.. It's a nightmare to try & predict when the Continentals will cause the traction control to blip on.

Ok, end of rant -/

On the plus side for the DWS 06, they are a few pounds lighter (thinner sidewalls?), and they ride slightly better over bumps (softer sidewalls?).
But these Continentals aren't even worth $100 if you ask me. My advice would be to stay away from these tires.. unless you live where the roads are always nicely paved.

[Icecreamtruk]

First of all, DW or DWS? You mix them in your post and title. Second, I dont know what kind of roads you have over there, but I highly doubt its worse than Montreal (google it if uncertain). Dry grip shouldnt be an issue with both tires, and you shouldnt be peeling tires in rough road conditions, just saying. But the DWS and the DW have some of the best wet grip I have ever seen on a tire. I have yet to try a street tire that is better on the rain, and that, usually, is the only time (aside from winter) where grip might be a problem on the public road. Speed limits are low enough that if you are respecting them, you could be driving on spare tires on all 4 and still be fine.

[reeves]

Originally Posted by Icecreamtruk

First of all, DW or DWS? You mix them in your post and title. Second, I dont know what kind of roads you have over there, but I highly doubt its worse than Montreal (google it if uncertain). Dry grip shouldnt be an issue with both tires, and you shouldnt be peeling tires in rough road conditions, just saying. But the DWS and the DW have some of the best wet grip I have ever seen on a tire. I have yet to try a street tire that is better on the rain, and that, usually, is the only time (aside from winter) where grip might be a problem on the public road. Speed limits are low enough that if you are respecting them, you could be driving on spare tires on all 4 and still be fine.

Thanks, fixed the title!

I'm not even trying to peel the tires, I'm just driving normally at the posted speed limit when going over these rough patches on the road... and the traction control keeps blipping on! That's why it's so infuriating driving with the DWS 06 tires! Because I have to drive SLOWER than the grandma next to me (going over rough spots) in order to keep the nannies at bay.

Again, I don't know what compound is in what tire.. and I don't know how the traction control detects what it detects.. But the combo of the DWS 06 and the 86's traction control is awful over broken/rough roads! It wasn't a one day or one week drive... I tried about 1,200 miles worth of driving before giving up on the DWS 06. I wanted them to perform well, especially because I've heard great reviews about the DWS 06... but it just didn't work out that way for me.

I have not driven the DWS 06 in the rain, so can't speak to how it performs in the wet, but I wouldn't feel safe in the rain (over broken roads) given how they've performed on dry broken roads.

[jasonojordan]

Never used these tires so please don't take this as an attack where I am trying to shift the blame from the tires. However, are you sure that you had these tires installed properly and that there were no issues due to the install? Mainly are you sure you had them on going the correct direction because they are a directional tire. That said if it is an actual issue that is surprised due in part of how well they are rated on many different cars all over the county. As well as the fact that I have used several different makes of continental tire and they have all be fabulous tires to own for their price point.

Also what tires and sizes are you running on the front of the car and also what tire size are you running on the rear of the DWS 06.

Oh and its DWS 06 there is no such thing as a DW 06. Just FYI.


Lastly here is some good info on how the traction control works and its various states of "OFF"

https://practicalmotoring.com.au/car...baru-brz-work/

[Spuds]

Tire pressures?

Rolling radius specs of both tires?

TCS and VSC work off of wheel speed sensors. Likely something is throwing those off by just enough to cause problems.

Edit:. Also, you replaced an all season tire with a summer tire. What has the ambient temperature been? -- nevermind, title changed

[reeves]

Originally Posted by jasonojordan

Never used these tires so please don't take this as an attack where I am trying to shift the blame from the tires. However, are you sure that you had these tires installed properly and that there were no issues due to the install? Mainly are you sure you had them on going the correct direction because they are a directional tire. That said if it is an actual issue that is surprised due in part of how well they are rated on many different cars all over the county. As well as the fact that I have used several different makes of continental tire and they have all be fabulous tires to own for their price point.

Also what tires and sizes are you running on the front of the car and also what tire size are you running on the rear of the DWS 06.

Oh and its DWS 06 there is no such thing as a DW 06. Just FYI.


Lastly here is some good info on how the traction control works and its various states of "OFF"

https://practicalmotoring.com.au/car...baru-brz-work/

You're correct on the tire model, thanks! I've updated the title to reflect that. It's the DWS 06

I'm running 225/45/17 for both the Michelin A/S 3 and the DWS 06.

[BirdTRD]

I'd be willing to bet if all 4 tires were the same age/wear, you wouldn't have this issue, since a bald tire is going to be smaller diameter than a new one, regardless of the brand.

[jasonojordan]

Originally Posted by reeves

You're correct on the tire model, thanks! I've updated the title to reflect that. It's the DWS 06

I'm running 225/45/17 for both the Michelin A/S 3 and the DWS 06.

As others have pointed out running different tires at various points of wear on front and rear will play all kinda hopscotch with your stability control. This is likely to blame more then the tires you put on the rear.

Quick google search points out that a Continental DWS 06 in 225/45/17 has a diameter of 24.3
The Michelin A/S 3 in 225/45/17 has a diameter of 25.

These are new diameters.

[reeves]

Originally Posted by jasonojordan

Never used these tires so please don't take this as an attack where I am trying to shift the blame from the tires. However, are you sure that you had these tires installed properly and that there were no issues due to the install? Mainly are you sure you had them on going the correct direction because they are a directional tire. That said if it is an actual issue that is surprised due in part of how well they are rated on many different cars all over the county. As well as the fact that I have used several different makes of continental tire and they have all be fabulous tires to own for their price point.

Yes, I checked. The word "outside" is present on the outside sidewall of the tires. They were mounted to the rim & balanced for me, but I installed them onto my car as usual (i.e., I tightened all the lugnuts by hand with a torque wrench).

I'm surprised as anyone the DWS 06 is causing the traction control to blip like this (again, only over broken/rough pavement).

[Leonardo]

Same exact thing happened to me.


Had A/S+ Michelins all around. Replaced the rears with a cheaper A/S tire. All the nannies turned on during normal driving. VERY SCARY. I went back the next day and got MPSS on the rears. Drove normal after the change. My fronts were still at 65%.

[jasonojordan]

Originally Posted by Leonardo

Same exact thing happened to me.


Had A/S+ Michelins all around. Replaced the rears with a cheaper A/S tire. All the nannies turned on during normal driving. VERY SCARY. I went back the next day and got MPSS on the rears. Drove normal after the change. My fronts were still at 65%.

So we would agree the cause of the issue there was different front and rear tires and once you had all 4 of the same tires/wear rates car behaved as it should correct?

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by jasonojordan

So we would agree the cause of the issue there was different front and rear tires and once you had all 4 of the same tires/wear rates car behaved as it should correct?

IMHO, no.


I feel that it is the UTQG. A/S+ are 500 utqg. Nitto Motivo's are 540 utqg. MPSS are 300 utqg.


I had 225/45/17 A/S+ Michelins all around. A/S + are "high performance all seasons". I replaced the 225/45 rears with 245/40 Nitto Motivo's, a crappy all season. ( Big mistake) The car drove exactly like the OP describes. I was getting over steer like crazy!!!!


I went back the next day and replaced the Nitto with a 245/40 MPSS. Now I had a much wider tire with more grip in the back. You would think it would under steer now, but it just gripped like it should.

[venturaII]

Nothing to do with tire brand, and everything to do with the fact that you've got, effectively, two different pairs of tires on the car. At least that's what the car thinks. It's simply doing what it thinks needs to be done to correct the difference in rotational speed. Go replace all 4 tires with the cheapest, crappiest tires known to man, BUT all 4 brand new and identically sized, and your problem will stop.

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by venturaII

Nothing to do with tire brand, and everything to do with the fact that you've got, effectively, two different pairs of tires on the car. At least that's what the car thinks. It's simply doing what it thinks needs to be done to correct the difference in rotational speed. Go replace all 4 tires with the cheapest, crappiest tires known to man, BUT all 4 brand new, and your problem will stop.

So then explain how going staggered doesn't do the same thing?