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

anrima said:

Thanks for all the great feedback! My contis are finally starting to give out at 26k, I've noticed a big break down in performance and a significant increase in road noise!

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Yup, I've been there and replaced it at 25k miles with brand new 235/45/17 Michelin Pilot Sport AS3.

Tore up a sidewall on a stone curb in the mountains. Just replaced the OEM Continental ProContact with a couple of Continental PureContact from tirebuyer.com on the front axle of the 2013 Golf TDI. I'll get back with impressions when we get to ride a while...

I'm looking at the newer Michelin Premier A/S tires, and also considering changing size from my stock 225/45/17.

Thinking either 215/50/17 or 225/50/17. I'd love to hear of more experiences running either of those sizes on the 17" Portos. Thanks!

Michelin tires.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=417064

So im looking at the Michelin defender 225/50/17

has any one ran these yet?


Opinions? hit something in the road, blew one of the side walls out.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...&tireModel=Defender&partnum=25TR7DEF&i1_Qty=2

I decided to go with the Michelin Pilot A/S 3 in stock size. Have only been driving on them for three days, but it is a definite improvement.

Got 33k out of the original Contis, and wanted to get them switched out before Winter.

Michelins have been grabbing the road in the rain and also feel more secure at higher speeds (70+ mph) than the Contis did. They are also soaking up road imperfections better, without losing too much communication in the steering.

I think the Contis are ideal on perfect roads, though here in PA, we certainly do not enjoy that luxury. So... the Michelins are doing the trick so far!

WagenFan said:

I decided to go with the Michelin Pilot A/S 3 in stock size. Have only been driving on them for three days, but it is a definite improvement.

Got 33k out of the original Contis, and wanted to get them switched out before Winter.

Michelins have been grabbing the road in the rain and also feel more secure at higher speeds (70+ mph) than the Contis did. They are also soaking up road imperfections better, without losing too much communication in the steering.

I think the Contis are ideal on perfect roads, though here in PA, we certainly do not enjoy that luxury. So... the Michelins are doing the trick so far!

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Yup! Gotta love the AS3! They are great in rain and it can handle 300+Lbs/FT of Torque on my car without a wheelspin!

I have been thinking about the Nokian WR-GR. It is an "all weather" reported to be good in snow, but also able to be used year round. It might be a good choice for Rhode Island where it does snow, but there is not snow on the roads for long periods of time. My two concerns are treadlife and noise.

Defenders came in today.

euro2fast4u said:

Defenders came in today.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-.../uGdbJjK9Aic/w647-h863-no/20141028_134540.jpg

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Interested to see how they work for you

Got them installed last night. Only went with two and were installed on the rear (non repairable tire caused me to purchase tires sooner then i wanted, another 2 will be installed around January)

Seems quieter, however the only flaw right now is due to the different diameters of the front and rear, TC gets thrown on during turning and acceleration.

Main visual difference is the Contis had a flat side wall with the rim, the defenders have a more rounded look. defenders fill the rear tire well a little better. Very difficult to notice the difference in tire sizes.

I have Defenders too for all 4.. good results.. gained few MPGs out of it and much smoother ride.

The Pilot A/S 3s are the best compromise out there right now. I specify compromise because thats exactly what it is. They provide excellent grip, ride compliance, and wearability. They will never be the perfect tire for any specific situation, but they are a damn good solution for your average daily encounters.

Just put a set of Continental DWS's on the '11 JSW, replacing the OEM Hankooks.
Only had them on a couple of days, but I notice a marked reduction in road noise. It's starting to snow out there, so I'll see what the winter handling brings in a few weeks.

I just replaced the stock conti's at 46,000 miles with Michelin Primacy MXM4's from Costco and so far I really like them. The Costco tire techs did a good job mounting an balancing as well. Handled some pretty heavy rain earlier in the week like the car was glued to the ground. I liked the OEM conti's and don't really notice a huge difference between the two. Payed the car off this week, 19 months early so my wife and I are free from car payments for a while hopefully.

Severn Wes said:

I just replaced the stock conti's at 46,000 miles with Michelin Primacy MXM4's from Costco and so far I really like them. The Costco tire techs did a good job mounting an balancing as well. Handled some pretty heavy rain earlier in the week like the car was glued to the ground. I liked the OEM conti's and don't really notice a huge difference between the two. Payed the car off this week, 19 months early so my wife and I are free from car payments for a while hopefully.

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I had those same tires on my last car ('06 accord) and liked them quite a bit!! They are more of a 3 1/2 seasons though. They did better then I thought they would when they were new considering the tread design. It goes without saying just take it easy when it snows and when roads freeze. Treat them as all seasons and not snow tires.

Severn Wes said:

I just replaced the stock conti's at 46,000 miles with Michelin Primacy MXM4's from Costco and so far I really like them. The Costco tire techs did a good job mounting an balancing as well. Handled some pretty heavy rain earlier in the week like the car was glued to the ground. I liked the OEM conti's and don't really notice a huge difference between the two. Payed the car off this week, 19 months early so my wife and I are free from car payments for a while hopefully.

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You will love the MXM4's. Ours 2010 Jetta TDI came with them, but we replaced them with some P7's. I can say I'm not impressed with the P7's and miss the MXM4's. The next set of tires will be MXM4's again.

Ok
I dont own TDI but Golf MK VI 2.5 instead and my 17s continental tires ( I have wheels from TDI installed at the time of purchase of car) are done at around 35000 miles with virtually no threat left and winter pretty much already here in Illinois
So after spending almost 2 days researching for a new set (225/45/17) I have narrowed it down to Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3, Continental ExtremeContact DWS or....General G-Max AS-03.
With a newborn we have I'm trying not to go too crazy with spending and because of that i keep coming back to Generals G-Max AS-03 for my MKVI that I'm the only one driving.
My understanding through research is that I can't go wrong with the first two (Michelin and Continental) and wouldn't not have an issue getting either those but....General G-Max AS-03 at $94 a piece at TireRack looks appealing.
No swapping to winter tires for the season so need them to be able to perform decently during all 4 seasons.
Anybody using Generals on their Golf that could chime in about overall performance of these? They are cheap compared to others but how good/decent are they at the same time?
Thanks for help in advance.

dronek75 said:

No swapping to winter tires for the season so need them to be able to perform decently during all 4 seasons.
Anybody using Generals on their Golf that could chime in about overall performance of these? They are cheap compared to others but how good/decent are they at the same time?
Thanks for help in advance.

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Check out the continental purecontacts... They are the tires that I have been running with since April. I hear winter traction is very good. Their tread should also last a bit longer than all the tires you are looking at. Looks like 70,000 is what you can expect from the purecontacts. I personally went with the V rated to get stiffer sidewalls. They are surprisingly quiet and comfortable.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...tireModel=PureContact+with+EcoPlus+Technology


The as3 from Michelin aren't that good for winter from what I've read. But they have the best 3 1/2 season traction bar none.

The extreme contact DWS is the best for true four season traction. But treadlife is not that good. Most who get them report around 35-50k miles.

I actually purchased a set of Continental Pure Contacts today. My original tires lasted a little over 49,000 miles. I put about 30 miles on them today and they rode nice and smooth. We'll see how these tires do.

My OEM ContiProContact's on my 2012 Sportwagen w/ 17 inch wheels have just over 33K miles on them. They are really close to the tread markers. At this time of year living in northern IL I'm very inclined to buy new tires. I've read through this thread, and the beginning several pages turned out to be very confusing until I searched to the end and found dronek75's comment. I also have the 225/45/17, and to-date (11/23) that size doesn't even show up on Continental's datasheet for the ContiProContact.

Additionally, I have a ConsumerReports membership. And I feel like I should have trusted CR more than wasting time reading through these forums. Don't take me wrong, I've found lots of useful information here.

So ConsumerReports says the best performance all season tire (H/V speed rating) tires with both an overall score of 70 are:

Michelin Primacy MXV4 (H speed rating, $138/tire)
Continental PureContact (V speed rating, $145/tire)

The basic difference is that the Conti's get 1 better ranking for wet braking and hydroplaning and the Michelin's get 1 ranking better for snow traction. The Michelin's get a better ranking for creature comforts too though (ride comfort, noise, rolling resistance). But CR reports them both to have the same tread life.

Consumer Reports recommends the Michelin Primacy and the Continental PureContact in both the H and V speed ratings though. I've only pointed out the difference in the tops scores.

I'm more interested in knowing what you guys think about the 225/45 on 17 inch wheels though, in regards to what ConsumerReports is saying. This is basically a low profile tire. And CR doesn't stating anything about the tire size. I think the OEM ContiProContacts had a double sidewall steel belt...

So after really thinking it through I have decided to go with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 91V Speed rated.
I have figured at $502 plus shipping (TireRack) after $70 mail-in rebate they are good tires that will last a few years.
My original Continentals are shot after 35000 miles to a point where car is sitting in the driveway waiting for new tires as im nervous to drive in wet conditions and im driving wife's Honda CR-V till get new set for my MKVI.

Thanks guys

About a week ago I purchased a set of Falken Pro G4 A/S. I was on a budget but so far so good. They're pretty comparable to my the old Conti's that came on the vehicle but make the ride quieter since they're new. Car is just past the 43,000 mile point.

Jeremy43 said:

My OEM ContiProContact's on my 2012 Sportwagen w/ 17 inch wheels have just over 33K miles on them. I also have the 225/45/17, and to-date (11/23) that size doesn't even show up on Continental's datasheet for the ContiProContact.

So ConsumerReports says the best performance all season tire (H/V speed rating) tires with both an overall score of 70 are:

Michelin Primacy MXV4 (H speed rating, $138/tire)
Continental PureContact (V speed rating, $145/tire)

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So the consumer reports prices are a bit speculative/out of date. I went with Michelin Primacy MXM4's from Discount Tire in Rockford IL with an installed price of $769. I haven't gotten them yet though, because since it's an odd size tire they don't keep them in stock at the store. I got a quote from another place with an installed price of $910, so I think Discount Tire is offering descent prices.

Jeremy43 said:

So the consumer reports prices are a bit speculative/out of date. I went with Michelin Primacy MXM4's from Discount Tire in Rockford IL with an installed price of $769. I haven't gotten them yet though, because since it's an odd size tire they don't keep them in stock at the store. I got a quote from another place with an installed price of $910, so I think Discount Tire is offering descent prices.

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That's a great price! I paid $200 and change for my Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires and then extra for the installation. At one time there was a 70 rebate for the tires, but I missed it. Great job! One thing, I got slightly bigger 235/45/17 tires. Maybe they cost a bit more than the stock 225/45/17 size.

Anyway, good luck with the tires. This is my second set. On the previous set I got 58K miles.

Great to see this thread has gotten so much attention! My set of Micheling MXM4's have a little over 51,000 miles on them and still have 5/32" tread left, on all four tires.

I clipped a curb and it put a nice slice into my stock Continentals. Perhaps a good omen as the traction was becoming horrible even with only 28k on them. I would have tried to make it through winter and ended up in a ditch.

I put on the PureContacts, H rated. I've used these before on a non-VW and loved them but sold that car before seeing the full life.
They are a huge difference on the JSW in every aspect - noise, comfort, handling, traction.

MAJSW said:

I clipped a curb and it put a nice slice into my stock Continentals. Perhaps a good omen as the traction was becoming horrible even with only 28k on them. I would have tried to make it through winter and ended up in a ditch.

I put on the PureContacts, H rated. I've used these before on a non-VW and loved them but sold that car before seeing the full life.
They are a huge difference on the JSW in every aspect - noise, comfort, handling, traction.

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I have the same tires... Though I went with the V rated purecontacts. Still getting 42mpg on average

I'm looking for a tire with stock handling or near stock, with lower rolling resistance. I'm probably going to go with a 205 too. I do not want a total ECO tire, but something mid level, any suggestions? I've read through the whole thread, but no one has really spoken about any mileage increases.

I have dedicated snows, so this will only be for the summer months.

lorge1989 said:

I'm looking for a tire with stock handling or near stock, with lower rolling resistance. I'm probably going to go with a 205 too. I do not want a total ECO tire, but something mid level, any suggestions? I've read through the whole thread, but no one has really spoken about any mileage increases.
I have dedicated snows, so this will only be for the summer months.

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look into the continental purecontacts. They have as good of mpg as the stockers if not a little better. I'm averaging 42 mpg with V rated 225 45 17. Downsizing to 16" wheels will net 2-3mpg maybe a little more. Ymmv as the old saying goes...