Continental ExtremeContact DW 06 Plus vs Michelin PS A/S 4
 

Getting ready to replace my stock tires for an Performance All Season Tire. Came across some testing done by Tirerack which included Potenzas and Hypertrack which less desirable results from the latter two.



Testing Graph here:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=280


Continental Price and Warranty: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...omCompare1=yes


Michelin Price and Warranty: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...omCompare1=yes


From what I can see, all around, the Continentals are slightly better than the Michelins. With the latter shinning in wet conditions, when it comes to steering characteristics, and handling balance. If you live in a state with constant rain periods, it would be a good choice to opt for the Michelins. But at least where I live, where rain is not that common, winters are mostly dry cold air, and summers are just hot and humid, the Continentals are looking like a viable choice.



When it comes to Warranty, according to TireRack, the Continentals have the upper hand.
Continental : 6 Years or 50,000 miles
Michelin: 6 years or 45,000 miles



Manufacturer's road hazard warranty.
Continental: 1 Year / first 2/32" of wear (1)
Michelin: None


Price (In time of writing)
Continental: $139.99
Michelin: $161.15



Looks like I'll be going with the Continentals. I also remember in another thread with a poll some people mentioning the Continentals being somewhat underrated, considering their all around performance for the price.

Edit: If you shop at Costco, the Michelin A/S 4 is way cheaper at $565.92 with installation included.



Ordering the Continentals, which are not available at Costco, comes to $583.44, without installation.



Im going to have to look for a local shop that sells Continentals and is able to offer a good deal on the Tire/Installation.

FWIW, on older revisions of both tires on my previous vehicle, the Michelins were FAR superior in pretty much every area vs the Continentals.

Grip (dry and wet), tread noise, howling around corners, and worst of all, tread life were ALL worse with the Continentals. For a tire with an expected tread life of 70,000 km, the Continentals were down to the wear bars for me in only 18,000 km, and that's with zero burnouts, rotations every 6,000 km, and only putting about 9,000 km per year on the car.

To be fair, my driving pattern doesn't lend itself well to long life - predominantly short drives with little time for tire warmup, and pushing fairly hard through most corners wherever I can. My previous car was set up to be thrown into corners hard and just grip-and-rip, and I made the most of it...LOL.

The Michelins (Pilot Sport AS/3's) lasted THREE TIMES as many km's before needing replacement, and performed MUCH better in every area.

I've tried Pirelli P-Zero All Season's since, and the only advantages to those over the Michelin's are slightly less road noise (or at least a less intrusive frequency), a more comfortable ride and a little lighter weight. Ultimate grip feels about the same as the Michelin, but they're much less responsive. Too early to say for treadwear so far, as I've only had them on for about 8,000 km, but they're nowhere near half done like the Continentals would have been.

All that said, I'll be going back to Michelin's (Pilot Sport All Season 4's) for my next set. ;)

Conti's are known for poor wear.

Probably one of the only people currently who’s had both dws 6+ and mps a/s 4. Havnt/didnt have either long enough to speak on wear. But comfort, noise, performance dry/wet etc… they are almost identical. When I was shopping in my tire size the dws 6+ was about 20% cheaper which to me makes it a no brainer option as it’s overall performance is easily just as good, potentially slightly better. Really can’t go wrong with either. I also had mps a/s 3+ at one point. The new 4s are a a good bit better, never had the dws 06 but from my research it appears the 06+ made massive improvements to bridge the gap or even surpass the gold standard mps a/s 4.

I currently have the PSAS4s on my Focus ST... clearly a different car but I do know the tires well.

I'm a fan of them. First and foremost, I like the way they feel- specifically, they made the steering lighter and more natural. The ST has a real quick, almost elastic feeling steering rack (its very quick to return to center, almost unnaturally so) and the Michelins really eliminated that. I came from very squishy Pirelli PZero All Seasons and very firm and fast Goodyear Asymmetric 2 Summer tires and I found the Michelins to be a nice middle ground with again, a very natural feeling to them.

Acceleration and braking grip is as good as you'll find on an all season and really rival some summer rubber. Lateral grip is where you'll see summer tires pull ahead but for street driving, you need to really push the Michelins hard to hit the limit and even then, they're forgiving.

The Michelins are GREAT in the wet. Probably the best tires I've ever had in the rain. They're also usable in the snow. Obviously not ideal but they can handle some.

Noise is good. They've gotten quieter with some miles (at about 6k now) and on a lot of pavements, they're very quiet. A few grades can make them sing but it's not terrible.

Ride quality is good. Sidewall is on the softer side but nothing like a Pirelli. Run them at the higher end of your recommended pressure and they'll be good. Drop em a few lbs and you'll feel them get a little squishy.

Good tire. About as good as you'll find for an all season. My girlfriend has the DWS06 Plus on her Mazda 3 and while they've been good- it's hard for me to do a direct comparison to the Michelins just because the cars feel so different. The Conti's feel a little softer though part of that could just be the car.

I think after all, I'll go with the Michelins, can't beat the price from Costco anywhere else, BJs wholesale carries Continentals, but no DW 06s. I could hold off for a little and wait for BJs to restock their selection, but I don't want to wait too long once we really start getting rained and snowed on.