93 replies to this topic

[novawagonmaster]

I ran 30" tires on the back (with 28" on the front) just to knock the highway RPM down when I was running a 4.10 gear. No ABS/ESP issues to report. You guys are talking about a smaller difference than I was running.

[TimeWaitsFNM]

That extra sidewall is a big +1 on those 295's. Mine are 295 30 and it's like driving on rubber bands if I matt it anywhere under 50mph. I've got about 5k on mine and am already tire shopping.

[runner2go]

Conti's but I am biased since I work for the company. But seriously the Extreme DWS is a great all around tire. Ran thru two sets on my old SRT Grand Cherokee.

Off Topic:

I've been waiting forever to find someone who works for Conti....So Dude

wtf is up with the Continental Conti-Seal tires the factory put on Chrysler 300c's back in 2009 (maybe longer... hope not)

From personal experience I can tell you... they ride decent, good fuel mileage, good in rain.... but suck dick in the snow, despite M+S rating.  In fact it should be illegal to sell those fuckers outside of the Southern States.... they should even be off limits to any state where it has snowed once in the last 100 years (just to be safe). My wife got caught in the snow one time with them... barely made it out of the flat school parking lot... then drove home on the wet roads... and could not get traction on the unplowed less than 1/2" of snow in our driveway... even when I tried with a good runny off the street... prick slid all over the place.  Bought snow tires the next weekend!!!  Local dealer arrogant prick... said and I quote "Nobody tries to drive on those tires in the snow aroud here... you should have bought snow tires on day one".  Response was "Why are they put on the car and listed as all season if everyone already knows they are 3-season only tires?" ... ended there....

Rant Off 

 

 

 

Back on Topic

I have 275/40 all the way around on 9" SRT repo's with 20mm offset on my wifes 300c... handles great and still rides pretty darn good (but mpg dropped like a stone)  The 275 are pretty tight up front... but not to the ball joint bolt... that is still a 1/2" away.  However the inside of the tire is but a few c-hairs from the curved portion of the upper part of the knuckle. 

Note pic is deceiving... a pack of matches will not fit through there.  (open or closed)

So it's kind of helpful to pick a 275 tire that others have already used up front... It sounds like your 3 choices will all work... but I doubt the 275/40 BFG Comp-2 I have would... the tread width is the same as all the others... but they have a pretty healthy cross section and would likely scrape the front knuckle.

 

On my Challenger I have 8.5 with 20 offset and 10" with 18 offset out back...

275's fit it in the back, and at CF4 I saw several cars with 315/35 on the same rims that also fit... be it pretty tight.

[Yellow Jacket]

For a street tire I think they hook pretty damn well. I don't think there is much out there that will compare with them for an all around performance street tire. I had BFG KDW's on the car before and the Conti's blow them away hands down!
I'm running 245/45/20 on 8.5" rims in front & 295/40/20 on 10" rims in the rear, there ain't much room left for anything bigger on the rear.

 

Kenny, do you ever drive your car in snow? I'm wondering if the Conti Extreme DW would be better for me than the DWS, since I never drive my car in the snow?

[nolimits76]

Off Topic:

I've been waiting forever to find someone who works for Conti....So Dude

wtf is up with the Continental Conti-Seal tires the factory put on Chrysler 300c's back in 2009 (maybe longer... hope not)

From personal experience I can tell you... they ride decent, good fuel mileage, good in rain.... but suck dick in the snow, despite M+S rating.  In fact it should be illegal to sell those fuckers outside of the Southern States.... they should even be off limits to any state where it has snowed once in the last 100 years (just to be safe). My wife got caught in the snow one time with them... barely made it out of the flat school parking lot... then drove home on the wet roads... and could not get traction on the unplowed less than 1/2" of snow in our driveway... even when I tried with a good runny off the street... prick slid all over the place.  Bought snow tires the next weekend!!!  Local dealer arrogant prick... said and I quote "Nobody tries to drive on those tires in the snow aroud here... you should have bought snow tires on day one".  Response was "Why are they put on the car and listed as all season if everyone already knows they are 3-season only tires?" ... ended there....

Rant Off 

 

 

 

Back on Topic

I have 275/40 all the way around on 9" SRT repo's with 20mm offset on my wifes 300c... handles great and still rides pretty darn good (but mpg dropped like a stone)  The 275 are pretty tight up front... but not to the ball joint bolt... that is still a 1/2" away.  However the inside of the tire is but a few c-hairs from the curved portion of the upper part of the knuckle. 

Note pic is deceiving... a pack of matches will not fit through there.  (open or closed)

So it's kind of helpful to pick a 275 tire that others have already used up front... It sounds like your 3 choices will all work... but I doubt the 275/40 BFG Comp-2 I have would... the tread width is the same as all the others... but they have a pretty healthy cross section and would likely scrape the front knuckle.

 

On my Challenger I have 8.5 with 20 offset and 10" with 18 offset out back...

275's fit it in the back, and at CF4 I saw several cars with 315/35 on the same rims that also fit... be it pretty tight.

 

Haha, on the off topic subject...keep in mind TA340 mentioned he works in a different department than tires.  

 

In regards to the other stuff, thanks for that clarification.  I bought a Challenger with a Hemi so I'm not overly concerned with gas mileage, but think I will stick with the 245's to save a few MPG's and not risk the fitment issue.  Sounds very tight, although doable.  The fronts won't make or break me.

[blk09rt6sp]

I'm running conti 275 45ZR18 extreme contact dw on all 4 corners on 8.5" rims.  I have basically the exact same clearance as shown above on the front, but have not had any issues with rubbing.  The steering definitely feels a bit heavier with the 275's on the front, but there is virtually no understeer.  The car is nicely planted in fast corners and it just turns.  I've also lowered mine and have a strut tower brace as well which both help I'm sure, but there was a big difference on cornering between the 235 and 275's up front.

They hook significantly better than the stock michelins as well - but that was expected. 

[TA340]

Off Topic:
I've been waiting forever to find someone who works for Conti....So Dude
wtf is up with the Continental Conti-Seal tires the factory put on Chrysler 300c's back in 2009 (maybe longer... hope not)
From personal experience I can tell you... they ride decent, good fuel mileage, good in rain.... but suck dick in the snow, despite M+S rating. In fact it should be illegal to sell those fuckers outside of the Southern States.... they should even be off limits to any state where it has snowed once in the last 100 years (just to be safe). My wife got caught in the snow one time with them... barely made it out of the flat school parking lot... then drove home on the wet roads... and could not get traction on the unplowed less than 1/2" of snow in our driveway... even when I tried with a good runny off the street... prick slid all over the place. Bought snow tires the next weekend!!! Local dealer arrogant prick... said and I quote "Nobody tries to drive on those tires in the snow aroud here... you should have bought snow tires on day one". Response was "Why are they put on the car and listed as all season if everyone already knows they are 3-season only tires?" ... ended there....
Rant Off

Seriously bud?!?! Been waiting all this time to bitch eh?

First off I do not work in the tire group. I head up the Hydraulic Brake System Business Unit so if you have any questions about brake systems I can help you out (and you don't have to wait forever to complain). The ESP on the Challenger is made by Conti and all the brakes on the non SRT Grand Cherokees are Conti's as well just to name a few Chrysler platforms with our products.

But I looked into your tire because I was curious. You did not say exactly what tire but I believe it is a Conti ProContact Contiseal. This is an all season tire but it is only for very light snow conditions (which is what M&S specifies). You did not say how deep the snow was but sounds like you get more than a 1/2" based on the comments from your dealership rep and different snow types (wet / dry / icy) make a big difference in the tires tractive capabilities as well.

Now I will tell you what my German colleagues say about us Americans. They for the life of them cannot figure out why we use an all season tire in the US (I tell them it is because we are a bunch of lazy fucks). An all season tire for all intense purposes does nothing well. That's why it is not the best tire in the snow nor the best handling tire nor the best stopping distance tire, etc etc. I read a number of reviews on line about this tire and some people love it and others hate it. I can read reviews on most other tires and get similar results. You said you like the fuel mileage, the ride, and rain traction (so the tire does some things well...good). I put a similar Conti on my Mom's CTS and I have driven it in the rain and snow and I cannot say that it performed so terrible and she is 75 so she is not the best driver.

Your dealers recommendation was a good one. If you want to have good snow performance on a rear wheel drive car get a tire more suited to winter conditions (like our European friends).

Back on topic...........Conti DWS Extremes are excellent tires and I have not heard any negative comments on this tire (and this is not really even a true performance tire when you look at the wear rating as an example, ie.. hard!)

Rebuttal rant over.

[novawagonmaster]

Lazy fucks for sure, but you forgot to add cheap fucks!
Kills me when someone comes in the shop with a brand new car the first time they drive it in the snow and they say the tires suck. 95% of them would rather waste money on a "better" set of all season tires as opposed to investing in a proper set of winter tires. Doesn't matter if its a $30k car or a $50k car. Same shit.

[runner2go]

Seriously bud?!?! Been waiting all this time to bitch eh?

First off I do not work in the tire group. I head up the Hydraulic Brake System Business Unit so if you have any questions about brake systems I can help you out (and you don't have to wait forever to complain). The ESP on the Challenger is made by Conti and all the brakes on the non SRT Grand Cherokees are Conti's as well just to name a few Chrysler platforms with our products.

But I looked into your tire because I was curious. You did not say exactly what tire but I believe it is a Conti ProContact Contiseal. This is an all season tire but it is only for very light snow conditions (which is what M&S specifies). You did not say how deep the snow was but sounds like you get more than a 1/2" based on the comments from your dealership rep and different snow types (wet / dry / icy) make a big difference in the tires tractive capabilities as well.

Now I will tell you what my German colleagues say about us Americans. They for the life of them cannot figure out why we use an all season tire in the US (I tell them it is because we are a bunch of lazy fucks). An all season tire for all intense purposes does nothing well. That's why it is not the best tire in the snow nor the best handling tire nor the best stopping distance tire, etc etc. I read a number of reviews on line about this tire and some people love it and others hate it. I can read reviews on most other tires and get similar results. You said you like the fuel mileage, the ride, and rain traction (so the tire does some things well...good). I put a similar Conti on my Mom's CTS and I have driven it in the rain and snow and I cannot say that it performed so terrible and she is 75 so she is not the best driver.

Your dealers recommendation was a good one. If you want to have good snow performance on a rear wheel drive car get a tire more suited to winter conditions (like our European friends).

Back on topic...........Conti DWS Extremes are excellent tires and I have not heard any negative comments on this tire (and this is not really even a true performance tire when you look at the wear rating as an example, ie.. hard!)

Rebuttal rant over.

 

You do realize that was just general "company" ball busting.. and not personal, right

 

And we never planned to intentionally drive the car in the snow period.... that's what the 4x4 Ram and beater Alero are for.

 

However... M&S should be able to get your ass back home in very light snow...

Snow I was talking about was a dusting... 1/2' I stated in our driveway was generous... likely closer to 1/4"  The roads themselves were just wet as there was not enough snow on the road to accumulate with traffic. And that was what had me torq'ed off about it.  So I went out bought 4 Wnterforce tires "JUST IN CASE is snows after the wife leaves for work"  It the 3 winters that followed it has been driven home in light snow maybe 5 times. (she drive the truck most of the winter, as originally planned).  So basically the snow tires were a waste of money...  but because the stock tires suck, they were required just on the off chance it snowed whilst away, and we wanted to return home alive.

 

As to the exact tire model... I don't know.  I took them off and put them in trash bags to keep the mice from sticking to the sticky stuff on the inside, and then put them in a storage locker.  Where they will stay until we trade in the car... then they are going back on it. (less then 5000 miles on them)

 

Counter-Rebuttal rant concluded.... 

 

PS: Brakes work just fine 

 

Pic of evil POS tire attached.... Might recognize the tread pattern.

 Conti-Seal.JPG   100.15KB   13 downloads

 

Ok back to regularly scheduled programming....  (My bad)

Carry on...

 

 

Edit novawagonmaster

No cheap fuck here ... I have real snows for our other car and truck.

We just never planned to drive that car in the snow... no reason too do so. But didn't plan to store it all winter either.

[TA340]

I know, just busting your balls back.

[rdrdr90]

I didn't really have much choice with the time frame I was faced with, so I now have 4 Motivo's on my car.

One thing I can say immediately is, they are MUCH quieter than the F1's ever were.

[Plumkrazy]

ive read the motivos are better than my invos and love the invo's  dont drive the car in the snow, I have 2 sets of tires for the other cars  studded and summer.. tires last 2x as long and work better in the environments anyway.. so whats the diff... 

600 for a set of tires is a smoking deal though..

[Speedy]

Good topic for me.  My rear Invos are almost toast.  I'll likely get the rest of this driving season out of them and they'll be showing cord.  I think I got 10K on them.  Fronts are still good.

 

Mine are 295/35R20.  I've always felt the 295/35 is a bit too thin of a tire to fit the profile of the Challenger and a 295/40 would look much more proportioned but I'm anal like that.  The Invos have a 260 tread wear rating and AA traction, but I can spin them at will in 3rd rolling in to the throttle so they don't hook well for me.  Makes me wonder how the A traction rating of the Conti DWS will fair?

[novawagonmaster]

The test to determine the "A traction rating" is achieved by stopping in a straight line from a predetermined speed on a wet surface.

 

Has nothing to do with dry performance, and nothing to do with snow performance. In reality, it has become almost worthless because there is so much misinformation available on tires. Don't even get me started on the UTQG treadwear number!

[Mopar408]

^^Jon- Is there any info you can share that would help folks determine "what" is a good tire?  Most of the time the best indicator is experience.

[Speedy]

The test to determine the "A traction rating" is achieved by stopping in a straight line from a predetermined speed on a wet surface.

 

Has nothing to do with dry performance, and nothing to do with snow performance. In reality, it has become almost worthless because there is so much misinformation available on tires. Don't even get me started on the UTQG treadwear number!

 

I figured you were gonna say that.

[novawagonmaster]

^^Jon- Is there any info you can share that would help folks determine "what" is a good tire?  Most of the time the best indicator is experience.

 

The tires most people buy are a compromise between traction (in varied conditions), ride quality (regarding both noise and what you can feel), and price.

 

In a perfect world, you could buy a 20" radial tire that would...

hold a 1.20 60' launch...

never get stuck in mud, sand, or snow...

corner at 1.5g's...

not hydroplane in 6" of standing water at 150 mph...

last for 100,000 miles...

transmit absolutely no road noise...

"ride like a Cadillac"...

 

You get the idea.

Drag slicks, Mud tires, Winter tires... not much compromise involved with those tires, and they do their designated jobs very well. But when you ask one of these tires to perform outside of their intended arena, they perform at a miserable level.

 

This is where you need to decide what is most important to you.

 

So in my experience, what will be a "good" tire for me, will suck for the next guy, and vice-versa.

 

Finally, some know what would be best for them, but they won't get off the money to buy the best.

 

For 60%, I would recommend the Conti DWS.

For 10%, I would recommend BFG Sport Comps.

For 10%, I would recommend Hankooks.

For 10%, I would recommend Nittos.

For 10 %, I would recommend Michelins.

For 10%, I would recommend Mickey Thompsons.

For 0%, I would recommend Goodyears. I wouldn't put them on my worst enemy's car!

 

Hey, if Lou Ferrigno can give 110%, so can I.

[curbfeeler]

That actually helps narrow the field a bit.  About all I knew for certain when the time came to buy new tires is that I wouldn't be buying Goodyears.