New top tire challenger? Pirelli Cinturato

[Ilya]

Many of us have sworn by the Continental ExtremeContact DW/DWS tires for a long time. I've had like 3 sets. But as I was shopping for tires today (still not ready to pull the trigger), these new tires came up.

HOLY SMOKES!

The ratings on this tire and the scores TireRack gave it are freakin out of this world. If I wasn't going to a dedicated summer/winter set, these would be my next purchase. Hell, they might be my winter set.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... eason+Plus

[The00Dustin]

These are Grand Touring tires where the ExtremeContact DWS tires are Ultra High Performance. I've been thinking about going to Grand Touring tires because they do have better user ratings on Tire Rack and seemed to work so much better for me in the past, but then they weren't on RWD cars with so much power and weight, either. It's also possible that the users rating the Grand Touring tires are easier on the ratings than the users rating Ultra High Performance tires, because there probably isn't much of a cross-section there when it comes to expectations and attitudes. That having been said, I'm probably going with dedicated summer/winter tires, too, until I get rid of the M45, at which point I stop driving RWD since I only have a daily driver and never a summer only car.

[Larz]

Pirelli does make an ultra high performance all-season tire as well (P-zero series) but they are not rated as well as other brands in that same group. It's interesting that the drivers at Tire Rack always make note of the DWS as 'not as connected to the road - slower steering response than others - less grip in dry conditions'. After the praises from members who are actually using these tires, it would not keep me from buying them. After all, these are only opinions and include drivers of ho-hum sedans and minivans with different suspension than our M's. They also pooed my Ventus S1noble2 in wet traction and I can honestly say that is completely inaccurate, as these tires literally saved me in panic stops and unexpected steering maneuvers under pouring rain more than once. Plus, Tire Rack uses BM 3 series for these tests, a far cry from our M's, and on a track, not normal road conditions.
I also agree with Dustin that for your car (weight, horsepower, etc) a grand touring tire might not provide the handling that you are accustomed to from the higher level performance group.

[Ilya]

I don't really look at grand-touring vs high-performance. I had Michelin Primacy MXM4's which I believe were classified as Grand Touring and they didn't seem to perform any less than the DWS's. I went back to the DWS's because of availability at the time that I was ordering (was having other work done and the shop had them).

Right now, I plan to get the Ventus S1 Noble2 tires for my 20" summer wheels and then transition my current 19's to run Dunlop SP winter wheels as a dedicated set. But I might switch out the Dunlops for these new Pirelli's...

[DS2009m35x]

2009 M35X.
Last fall I went with the P7 Cinturatos after extensive research esp Tirerack. My driving style these days is more Grand touring than performance so I made the tradeoff in hopes of better winter traction and longevity with these tires than other offerings. I was impressed with the traction in snow this past winter the few times I drove in snow in Ct. (I usually telecommute when a storm hits). The swinger for me will be how long they last. Am happy overall with acceptable (for me)noise, hydroplaning, response, reduced tramlining, snow, etc. I haven't used the DWS so I have no direct comparison, however.

[DS2009m35x]

BTW my other current and past cars have dedicated summer/winter tires on alloys/wheels. Takes me 1/2hr to change over in the garage.