Quote:
Originally Posted by venturaII
Interesting...I'm looking for a replacement for my 225/50 Ecsta XS (on 12.5 lb 16x7s). I've had the Conti DW on a different, much heavier rwd car (255/40-17) and thought they were great in that application, but overall I like the XS better (performance-wise...the DW clearly are better in the wet, and in noise/comfort). Do you autocross/track your car at all? I'm just curious to hear your feedback on why you like the DW better than the XS..
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Did you match tire tread width to wheel rim width? Reasons I went with a 205/45-17 tire are manyfold - low cost, lighter than stock, gearing/acceleration advantage, drop in CG, and direct match in tread width for a 7.5" wheel. Match the tread width to wheel width, especially on a softer sidewall tire, and you maximize its responsiveness, minimizing the input lag.
The DW rides much better than the Kumho XS, and as previously post mentioned, is a much more planted tire in all situations. I only ran the XS once on track when first got the FR-S in 2012 (one month after getting the car) and it felt good with them on track. Have not tracked or autocrossed since, but did run the XS on the street for daily driver tire until they needed to be replaced with about 8-9k miles on them...down to the wear bars and basically slicks with 2 small grooves at that point. Went back to the stock Primacy HP tires, which I also liked better than the XS for daily driving, wore them down to slicks in about 20k miles. Going from stock to DW was yet another upgrade - dry grip level like the XS, but with better ride quality than the Primacy HP, and wet grip and performance beyond what both could ever do. For a daily driver summer tire, the Maximum Performance Summer category is where it's at, and the DW should be the comparison benchmark. Just make sure to match the tread width with the rim width.