Continental tires for mpgs

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
Another vote for General Altimax RT 43 tires. Good prices for a good tire.
Bought mine about 3 years ago installed, balanced with tax about US $ 575.00 ( Cdn $ 800.00) for a set of 4 tires. I chose a tire with a higher sidewall for a more cushioned ride 235x55x18R


I saw this tire buying guide and that is why I chose the General tire RT 43 all season tire.
 

roadlust

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2004
Location
Yakima, Washington
TDI
2003 golf gl reflex silver (sold) 2013 TDI 2 door Golf Blue Graphite Metallic 6MT Premium Package.
I replaced the Pirelli Cinturato P7 (that had half their tread left but were weather checked) with Toyos Extensa AS11 because they were the least expensive tires I could find, $100 each.

I have owned 2 different MKVI golfs and have only experienced the stock continental tires that came on the cars.

The Pirelli's were quieter than the continental's, handling seemed the same. The Toyo tires are as quiet at the Pirelli's but much improved handling. The condition of the Pirelli's could be a factor in handling.


I will report back on fuel economy after a few tanks of fuel.
 

Rocket

New member
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Location
Everett, WA
TDI
2014 Jetta TDI
Thxs for the input, so reading from your reply it seems when you make a comparison on continentals you bring Generals to the mix and in between the lines im gathering continentals may not be such a great brand after all, or i may be wrong analyzing your comment.

I forgot about tire size 15 and 17

The reference you make to General being a bad brand is no different than a Chevy fan saying Ford is garbage, its a matter of opinion and nothing more.

And here is my opinion:
I personally have always bought (for winter) General Altimax Arctic tires after the first time I tried them. I have also run Michelin X-ice, and Bridgestone blizzaks, (which I currently have for two other cars) neither are any better than the Generals when it comes to value and performance.

As for Continental, they came on my Jetta, and they will not be replaced by any Continental offering when they are due. They are inferior in many ways in comparison to other brands I run (seasonal tires), most notably being the atrocious road noise they exhibit.
 

ToxicDoc

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Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Location
Virginia, US
TDI
2001 Jetta, S7, .216
Is there any good source for objective tire comparison for this? All I find are "reviews" - "these are really good tires you should buy them" without actual data.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
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Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
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'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Is there any good source for objective tire comparison for this? All I find are "reviews" - "these are really good tires you should buy them" without actual data.
Best I think you can do is look at tires that Tire Rack has reviewed, and look at their data. However, I think they're biased to not dislike any tires, since they are invested in selling everything. It might give you a comparative basis, however. It's helpful to see, for example, what tires perform better in rain or snow, or ride better. Wear data is based on the projections, so that doesn't really matter.

I find the big deal with a lot of lower cost tires is they can get very loud as they wear. For example, I think Bridgestone Ecopias are great tires, but they do get noisy. Almost all Kumho tires do, in my experience.
 

ToxicDoc

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Location
Virginia, US
TDI
2001 Jetta, S7, .216
Tire Rack was what I was thinking when I wrote that the "reviews" are useless. There's no data other than some feedback from a purchaser who does no testing. I was hoping some independent tester looked at things like actual traction (e.g. turning circle), actual mileage wear, etc, but I'm sure that's incredibly expensive to do well.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
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Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I'm talking about Tire Rack tests, not customer reviews. I agee most of the reviews are usless.
 

CRJjockey

Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2016
Location
Just North of South Florida
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI 5-speed, 2003 Golf TDI 5-speed
Got these yesterday from Tire Rack:


They're offering a $50 gift card with purchase of a set and with that credit they cost $300 with tax and shipping. Pretty good deal.

Altimax RT43. I know Russe11 says the sidewalls are soft, but I like them a lot. Have them on two TDIs now, these are going on the Mercedes, which surprisingly wears the same size tire as a MKIV TDI with 15" wheels.

Just recently picked up a set of the Altimax RT43's too, what pressure's does everyone generally run these at ?
 

eddie_1

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2004
Location
Hannover, Germany formerly Toronto & NY
TDI
Jetta Wagon 2003 TDI tuned to 170HP, A6 Wagon 2008 TDI 2.7L tuned to 340HP
The General Altimax One is a good deal in Germany and sold as a Conti tire.
The General Altimax Sport is also sold.
There is also another brand call Barum which is quite popular because it is also a Conti.
The Barum and General are a couple of ways folks try to get a Conti tire for a lower price here. I've tried the above Summer General Altimax One on my A6 C6 and the Barum Winters on the ALH Jetta and compared to Winter Contis on the A6 C6 and they are all solid on the Autobahn, also at high speed. I tried Dunlop and Nokian and others in the past, not an exhaustive list, but i also feel Conti based stuff one can't go wrong.
 

Loafing

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Location
Hamilton
TDI
09 Mexican Jet
I have run Contis on many vehicles but had 2 tires on Golf develop bulges (separate occasions @ about 80,000 & 100000km) with a good 1/8" tread left above the wear markers. Of course, you have to replace 2 at a time. At the given mileage, the tires owed me nothing but the failure mode is worrisome (but neither case associated with flat tire). I wonder whether there was a manufacturing defect involved??? I inflate the tires hard (45psi) & wear pattern is fine and uniform, no rundown in centre & run at marked road speeds.
 

MAXRPM

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Joined
May 7, 2008
Location
US
TDI
00 Jetta and 99.5 Golf, 2015 Passat TDI,BMW 2
After reading the horror stories about continentals i went ahead and bought a set of 4 toyo tires for passat they are great and quiet, according to the salesman and supposedly tire expert. ?? I was shopping for Generals and I brought up the Toyos to the pic, he claimed Toyos are made with better rubber and made overall as better quality tire, and the price was better, so far toyo tires have great grip on the road and are super quiet, im impressed with the tires so far, im waiting for a raining season to put them to the test
 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
Not exactly about tires, but too many people look for miracle cures for better mileage. Tires, additives etc, The most important part is driving habits for mileage!
 

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
I just want to add one more thing, if you insist on those stupid 30, 35 or 40 side walls you will never have a good smooth ride. Maybe on an Interstate, but anywhere where your tire can cushion a lot of bumps those crappy skinny sidewalls suck!
 

NewTdi

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jan 15, 2004
Location
NorCal
TDI
2003 Bora, Reflex Silver
After reading the horror stories about continentals i went ahead and bought a set of 4 toyo tires for passat they are great and quiet, according to the salesman and supposedly tire expert. ?? I was shopping for Generals and I brought up the Toyos to the pic, he claimed Toyos are made with better rubber and made overall as better quality tire, and the price was better, so far toyo tires have great grip on the road and are super quiet, im impressed with the tires so far, im waiting for a raining season to put them to the test
How are you liking the tires? I am just reaching 80k miles on my Bridgestore Tuaranza Quietrack and there is still about 5k miles left before changing them out. Maybe the Toyo’s could go onto my 16” BBS rims which need tires badly. Looking forward to your feedback.
 

Reddogg12

Active member
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Dec 24, 2019
Location
Delaware
TDI
1998 Vw Beetle TDI 259,000 miles 2006 Jetta TDI, 2012 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Duramax
I have continentals on my TDI Beetle and TDI Jetta. The Jetta handles good with them in the rain but the Beetle doesn't. I think it may be the weight difference of the vehicle but I'm not positive. I have not had the cars long enough to make a good call. My first set of tires on both cars since buying the cars..
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Regarding the RT43s mentioned above: Continental-General has recently started making those in Asia (Thailand), and as with many other tires before them, the quality-as-new has tanked dramatically. :( We went through the exact same thing some years back with the Uniroyal Tiger Paw Touring, which was a similar price-point USA-made model that was a good tire for the time.

Not all the RT43s so far have been cursed like this, but I suspect going forward more and more of them will. This pisses me off.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
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South of Boston
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'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
That's interesting. And I just recommended those to a co-worker. I have a set sitting in my garage unmounted that I bought last Spring because they were offering a rebate and, well, I like buying tires. I'll have to check and see where they were made.
 

MAXRPM

Veteran Member
Joined
May 7, 2008
Location
US
TDI
00 Jetta and 99.5 Golf, 2015 Passat TDI,BMW 2
I have like 15k on the toyos and they still got a lot of meat, very quiet tires and they grab very nice in the rain, I like them a lot, I can't compare them to the RT43 tires cause I've never had them on my cars.
 

Rapid Transit

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Location
SF Bay Area
TDI
03 4dr Golf GLS
I bought the General RT43’s two years ago on line for $34 each delivered (195/65R15). I just looked in the garage and found these were made in Asia. Soft compound but high mileage. 40k miles before I removed them (still plenty of safe tread left) for 16” wheels and Conti DWS06 tires in 215/55R16. The Generals handled poorly and gave me little feel for the road (originally thought suspension worn out was cause). Plugged four punctures in the 40k miles. I got my money’s worth but found them to be just utilitarian. Happy, happy with the upgrade.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
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Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Rapid Transit, interesting how people's experiences vary. I agree the RT43s aren't performance tires, but TDIs aren't performance cars. :) So I'm OK with that. I've found them to be great in the rain and, surprisingly, snow. I got caught in a snow squall in NH on Sunday with these tires on my Golf and it felt solid and stable, even though those particular tires have close to 50K on them. Way better than the Michelins that were OE on these cars.

I don't think I've had a flat tire in 10 years. And the last one was a brand new Michelin. Go figure.
 

TX Smoke

Member
Joined
May 4, 2017
Location
Kingsland TX
TDI
2003 Beetle
I put some General G-Max AS-O3’s on the wife’s diesel Cruze last fall and they have been wonderful. They are really sticky and have some stiff sidewall’s, but it’s a huge improvement over the Chinese crap they sold her last time she had tires put on. They are considerably lighter than what she had so the mileage has improved and she doesn’t beat on them so they should make it close to the 40000 mile rating. They were about half the price of the Michelin’s that we were going to get and great at making evasive maneuvers to avoid the deer.

I will probably try a set on the Beetle when the time comes.
 

joyjoy22

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Location
Florida
TDI
2015 Volkswagen Beetle
Continental tires have decent reviews online. I really love the ExtremeContact model because it is very efficient on the road. I got my own with a 25% off on 4wheelonline.
 

Dobie

New member
Joined
Jan 11, 2021
Location
Illinois
TDI
2013 wagon
I have kenda tires on my tdi wagon 225/45r17. I hear they are good for the price but before I buy new tires I’m looking for opinions. I read here not to go with 45 height and get something with a little more luxurious ride lol but seriously I would like a tire that handles good feels good on the road. The kenda’s are noisy on the highway..... Any comments?!?
 
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