Conti DWS update

I now have a full annual cycle and 8K miles on these tires. Because I live in Texas in the winter/spring and the mountains of New Mexico in the summer/fall I do a lot of wet weather driving for someone in the desert southwest. The Conti's are hands down one of the best wet tires I have ever driven, as confidence inspiring in the wet as the original Bridgestones

were in the dry. I only get a little ice/snow experience but I would rate them pretty good there but likely not good enough to remove the need for snow tires for folks living in areas where they are needed. In the dry they are not as good as original equipment but still good enough for my needs, however they would likely fall short for someone looking for ultimate dry performance, stick with Bridgestones for that. These tires seem to have softer sidewalls than the OE and require extra pressure to get the same "feel" to the car, I ran the OE at 35psi and the Conti's at 40psi. They are wearing well and one real side benefit I have noticed is these tires do a first class job of protecting your expensive wheels from curb rash. Overall I give these tires a price/performance rating of A- for All Weather High Performance and if wet weather is your top priority they may be A+ and the tire that sets the standard to beat.

Everything has some downside and it has stunned me that these tires have about a 1 1/2 mpg penalty over OE.....now I know why Subie chose that particular Bridgestone tire!