What tires did you replace your stock Conti's with???

engineered2win said:

I just replaced my OE ContiProContact's at 36k miles with a set of Bridgestone RE970AS and they have been a big improvement. I have noticed a drop in fuel economy compared with the junk LRR tires, but I think its mostly due to a combination of winter diesel, low temps, and varying road conditions.

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Hmm, the ContiProContacts are LRR, eh? I've been getting lower mileage lately, so I hope you're right about the cold/winter....

The Potenzas are quieter and smoother on the highway, have stiffer sidewalls for better turn in, offer a ton more grip in the rain, and are adequate in the snow. You can feel the increased grip and stiffer sidewalls, while managing to be less jarring than the ProContacts when you hit a pothole. We got 8" last week and I couldn't even get out of my parking space at work, so the ProContact's had to go. I had to drive about 7 hours the day after I got my Bridgestones in 2-4" of snow and they were so much more confident in snow and slush.

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This all sounds perfect, though. I'd like a more sporty tire, so I'll keep this one on my short list for replacements. Judging by the tread, I probably won't need it for a while.

Went with Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season Plus after racking up ~58k miles on the OEM Contis. Very pleased thus far.

i64w2gohome said:

Went with Pirelli P7 Cinturato All Season Plus after racking up ~58k miles on the OEM Contis. Very pleased thus far.

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I have the same tires in our garage atm. The stock tires have 51k miles and look like they have another 5-6k easily, on them. We are going to Atlanta, GA, next weekend, so I think I'm going to get them changed out so we have new tires for our trip.

Tires

Went 19,000km on Stock Hankooks (205-55-16). Hated every minute of these tires. Now I am going on a road trip to L.A. and I got rid of them this week and replaced them with Michelin Primacy MXV4.

Never in my life have I ever switched tires before wearing them out.
The new tires are much quieter and a much better ride. (1 week of driving)

Curtis Tire gave me 160$ for the Hankooks at 75% remaining and with the 70$ rebate my total with taxes/install was 560$CAD.

It feels like I have a new car!!

Can't wait till my contis wear out! Just took off the studded snow tires and don't see a huge difference in road noise. Hateful things!

putting some Primacy's on this weekend - can't wait!

just under 30k on the Contis, and they're at 3/32 left... guess I tend to drive with authority!
was never impressed with em, but what can you really expect from OEM rubber?

Smashed Ixnay said:

I have the same tires in our garage atm. The stock tires have 51k miles and look like they have another 5-6k easily, on them. We are going to Atlanta, GA, next weekend, so I think I'm going to get them changed out so we have new tires for our trip.

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The Pirellis seem especially good (and quieter) on the highway. Not seeing a mileage penalty, but so many factors have/could have changed (air temps, fuel, and the tires themselves) I may never be certain.

I too was disappointed with the Toyo Proxes all season tires I had on my 300zx when we lived in Ohio. Spun out on the least amount of wetness.

Here in Austin, I just got a set of the Hankook Ventus V12 EVO and really like them. Good ride and handling along with being quiet which are all desirable features for a Z which rides a bit rough anyway. The noise level is especially appreciated with the Hankooks. If I can get the same deal from Discount Tire, I would definitely put these on our JSW when we need a set.

TDIAustin said:

I too was disappointed with the Toyo Proxes all season tires I had on my 300zx when we lived in Ohio. Spun out on the least amount of wetness.

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Was this in response to my previous complaint about Toyo Proxies? I made that complaint quite a while ago.

I put continental DWS on mine about 3k miles ago. they replaced the oem contripro contacts. The DWS are definitely quieter and smoother riding. However while they feel slightly less planted due to the rounded sidewalls, they are just as grippy as the contiprocontacts were. I can still take corners just as aggressivly you just have to get used to the feeling first then confidence will build.

Well, I started with Hankooks but replaced them with Bridgestone Ecopias. Very quiet tire and improved mileage by a couple of mpg. Ecopias are lrr and partially recycled material. Got them at Costco.

hotpocketdeath said:

Was this in response to my previous complaint about Toyo Proxies? I made that complaint quite a while ago.

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Well, a couple of complaints about the Toyos sparked my comment, yours being one of them. I was sort of skipping through the pages, looking for relevant comments. The Toyo and Hankook comments caught my eye so I thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

I also agree with those folks that say you can't really expect too much from OEM as their cost to VW may be the most plausible reason for being on the car.

i64w2gohome said:

The Pirellis seem especially good (and quieter) on the highway. Not seeing a mileage penalty, but so many factors have/could have changed (air temps, fuel, and the tires themselves) I may never be certain.

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I just got my P7's installed today. I'm unsure if I like the look of the car now. The tires are a little 'beefier,' but I don't know if that's a good thing. For now it's new tires and I already paid for them, so I'm just going to deal with them, lol. The old MXM4's had 53,866 miles on them. I probably could have gotten another 2-3k out of them, but I wasn't going to have time the next couple of weeks since I'll be out of town for work during the week. I figured I'd get it done now so my wife has good tires to drive around on. So far the ride has been pleasant and they are quiet, so they have my approval so far.

i finally replaced my stock Contis last week (right before Memorial Day trip)

Continental ExtremeContact DWS is what i went with.
installed at 74,850 miles
Original Conti's lasted 58,650 miles
Winter General Arctics 16,200 milles (have plenty of life left)

so far i put about 1,500+ miles on new DWS (did camping trip to Zion and Bryce Canyons)
i really like the look of DWS, look very aggressive, and they do grip/ hold very well in corners and high speed. (but to be fair ContI's Pro did ok as well, its rare that i drive it so hard as to notice significant difference)
MPG's, most of those 1,500 miles so far have been 95% highway / slower backroads driving, but car was loaded with gear and 2 adults. so far i have not seen MPG drop at all, will report after at least 10 fill ups. but so far im impressed (as i was initially excpecting a drop in economy due to tire being high performance)
DWS is much quieter vs ContiPro's that came of, but they are still new so i wouldnt expect anything less, ill report after 10,00 or 20,000 miles if noise picks up.

DiscountTire / AmericanTire had ran special Memorial Day promotion
so on DWS's ill be getting $100 gift card to Adidas (useless to me personally, but whatever)
and also 100 or 75 kickback from Discounttire for buying a set. ( not sure which one it is yet)

Dealer found a nail in one of my stock Conti's. Apparently the nail is right next to an existing patch, so they can't plug it. Got the car with 38k miles, I've put on 4k and definitely hear the road noise. I was planning on replacing the whole set with the Michelin Primacy MXM4 225/17's - but was planning to wait until the fall. Anyone want to unload one of their continentals?

Picked up a used Conti for $35 to tide me over until I buy a new set of the Michelin MXM4 225/45/17. Can't wait to replace my stock continentals, but I'm not in a rush. Would love to get the wear out of them before I replacer.

I've read & searched the threads a few times, but nobody seems to be talking much about the tire rating. The stock conti's are rated as 225/45/17 91H.

1) DiscountTireDirect.com is selling the Michelin Primacy MXM4 225/45R17 91H BSW for $171.00/$684.00 w/free shipping & a $100.00 prepaid discount card.
+84.00 for replacement certificates
+12.00 for valve stems
$782.00 for the add ons.

2) Amazon.com is selling Michelin Primacy MXM4 Radial Tire - 225/45R17 91H for $181.00/$724.00 w/Prime Shipping

3) DiscountedTireDirect.com is selling Michelin Tires PRIMACY MXM4 225/45R17 91W for 657.85 w/shipping

4) TireRack.com is selling the 225/45R17 91H Michelin Primacy MXM4 Blackwall
for 2011 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI With Rubber Valve Stems for $160.00/$640.00. w/shipping $687.62

5) TireRack.com is also selling the 225/45R17 91W Michelin Primacy MXM4 Blackwall
for 2011 Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen TDI With Rubber Valve Stems for $181.00/$724.00. w/shipping $76x.xx

I'm curious to know if anyone prefers the 91H over the 91W or vice versa. Also lots of post talked about TireRack.com being great for research but cheaper prices could be found elsewhere. DiscountTireDirect.com seems to be the cheapest. Any thoughts?

If you're at 42k, that's pretty good for the Contis. I replaced them sooner than that because I was just tired of the noise. Much prefer my MXM4's. Michelins have always done me well.

I've ordered snow tires with wheels from Tirerack. But when it just comes to replacing just tires, I always go local. My local Tire Centers, Inc. uses Tirerack for their prices. Michelin has sales every now and then for a $75 rebate when you get a set of 4. Local shops like TCI also give lifetime rotations and balancing.

I'm not sure why anyone would want W-rated tires in the states. Maybe if you hit the Autobahn. Tirerack says 'W' rating is for 'exotic sports cars.'
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=35
H'll do you to 130mph, and your JSW TDI won't even get to that speed, despite the fact your speedometer shows 140. Maybe you could hit that coming down the backside of the continental divide or something....

Good advice, thanks for the link @frugality!

Michelin MXM4 225/45/R17 H91 are the ones for me. I've looked around local, and the prices are closer to $720 to $800 installed. my VW dealer quoted me $install of 18 per tire. I may go with TireRack and get them installed.

One other question, I saw Rubber or Metal Stems on TireRack.com. I'm assuming that I need rubber stems as the TPMS sensors are built onto the stock VW rims. I'm going to keep my Portos for now, though I finally understand why so many people keep summer & winter tires.

Just slapped them on today Cooper Zeon RS3-A, priced them up for a bit under $600 out the door. the drive up the freeway home was noticeably quieter, Roadtrip to Waterwerks in North Bend this weekend we will see how they go, 30 Day trial, told me if I am not totally happy he will knock off a bit off the MXM4's so they are only 100 bucks more..

Lot of all seasons here.

Running ExtremeContact DW. Handles great.

Tuesday was a great day... I was able to get rid of the stock Contis and go with some Michelin Primacy MXV4 on my wifes gasser Golf.

What a huge diff... Contis had a little bit of life at 30k but they had become very noisy and harsh.

I did 400 miles on the Michelin tires yesterday and boy it was a worthwhile change.

We had 42k miles on the Conti's on our trade in 2011 JSW and they had more miles left in them for sure and ours didn't seem loud. I would be tempted to put summer rubber on (we are in PHX, AZ) but since my car has summer rubber, we need at least one to head up north in AZ (Flagstaff and such) in colder times of year.

I'm still on my OEM Continental at 52k but I'm going to install fresh new MXM4's this Saturday!

How do the MXM4's compare in terms of fuel economy to the conti's?

Replaced my stock Conti's at 50K with the Pirelli Cinturato P7 Plus in the slightly larger 225/50R17 size and just got back from a 2,000 mile trip. Couldn't be happier with them. They seemed to be quite a bit quieter than the Conti's and handled very well (though driving was on basically dry pavement).

Due to the larger diameter, based on my calculations, my speedometer is off around 4 mph at 65 miles per hour (actual speed with the larger tires was around 69 mph).

MPG seemed to be largely unaffected - on the readout my usual 40 mpg dropped to about 38 mpg but that converts to essentially the same fuel economy when you take the larger tire diameter into account.

BGR Alex said:

How do the MXM4's compare in terms of fuel economy to the conti's?

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I saw no difference in fuel consumption when I changed from Contis to MXM4s. What I did notice was the incredible stability of the Michelins in torrential rain.

there was a flash storm monday am coming up 95 in jersey and boy the contis were shaking. one more month and i'll be switching to the mxm4s from tirerack.

has anyone bothered to get the road hazard option on their order from tirerack?

I love the Primacy MXM4 tires and will get them again, but they aren't magic in the rain. I was still doing some hydroplaning in the pouring rain yesterday. It rains like crazy around here now! This is the rainiest summer I remember in my lifetime. And when it rains, it pours like I haven't seen before! It rained almost 7-inches yesterday morning! That's insane! My wider 235 tires probably also don't help with hydroplaning. I suspect it's a little like snow, skinnier tires might be better in the pouring rain.

I guess I should add that after the last tire rotation the remaining tread was measured at just 6 mm rear and 7 mm front. I don't like to run to the last little bit of tread, so I suspect I won't make the full tread life prediction for the tires. They have a 6 Years / 55,000 Miles Treadlife Warranty, but I won't make that. Well, maybe if I run to 2 mm, but I'm not likely going that low. Actually, since I'm not running dedicated snow tires, I might be tempted to bail out early and get new tires this winter. It's especially nice to have new tires in the winter.

I just ordered a set of primacy mxm4's last night. Thanks for the review.

After a day with the Coopers that I installed a few months ago, I hated them. I had the tire shop put on my Stock Conti's back on, (full refund) drove them till today when I had a cord go in the drivers front. Heavily weighed going with the Michellin's but after a few minutes of banter and a heck of a deal $650 OTD I am now running the Continental EC DWS, holy cow what a difference!!!! So much quieter (not as much as I would like) but handles awesome and we finally got some much needed rain today and it was a bit slick out, never spun a tire and even horsing around I only got to break traction once.