What is a Continental ExtremeContact DWS?

[The00Dustin]

I have these tires, I've had them for 45,000 miles, and they were great, but I can't get them anymore because they were apparently discontinued. If I buy them now, I'll get something else that has the same name. Michelin used to have a "Pilot Sport A/S." When they discontinued it, they named the replacement "Pilot Sport A/S Plus" to distinguish it as something different and better (which it truly was). Why couldn't Continental do this? The only reason I know the old tire was discontinued is because it is on closeout at Tire Rack with only 2 left in stock. The new tire is, of course, backordered, just like the previous generation I have was even before I ordered them a couple years ago. TireRack doesn't even distinguish between the two in their surveys (and why would they when survey takers would get them confused anyway?). I don't like this, and as such, I am leaning toward buying the "Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position" (which is clearly a different tire than the RE960AS) if I can get it, since it is the top of the charts now at Tire Rack, it is probably just as likely to be good as the new Continental in spite of it's lower number of surveyed miles. Anyway, here is the old tire's info from Tire Rack:

Size, Service Description, Load Rating:
245/45ZR18
96Y SL
UTQG: 540 A A
Max Load: 1565 Lbs
Max Inflation: 51 PSI
Tread Depth: 11/32
Weight: 24 Lbs
Country of Origin: MX, US, PT

And here is the new tire's info from TireRack:
Size, Service Description, Load Rating:
245/45ZR18
100Y XL
UTQG: None
Tread Depth: 11/32
Weight: 24 Lbs
Country of Origin: MX, CZ

Note that I didn't include any other specs, because the new tire doesn't have them to compare. Seriously, what is it?

[Boonies]

Continental DWS is a great tire, I have them on my wife's Audi A6. I wanted a tire with a higher load rating on my Audi S8 so I went for a set of Bridgestone Potenza 970 AS pole position tires. I sold the S8 recently and moved the tires to the M45 and am still happy with them. The road noise in the M45 is louder, but I think that is due to the lack of sound deadening...

[myother45isalesbaer]

I recently put a set of DWS tires on my M45. So far I have been very happy with them. I am just waiting to see how they do in the winter. Buying tires is subject depending on the type of driving you do and weather you may encounter in my OP. I'd recommend this tire based on my personal experience with them so far.

[The00Dustin]

The point of my post was that I'm pretty sure I can't get the tires you put on, I'm pretty sure I'll get different tires with the same name. As such, I have nothing other than Continental's good name to go on regarding whether they improved them or are pulling a bait and switch. I ran the tires you put on for the last 45,000 miles. I don't know if they're good in snow because we didn't have enough to speak of last year, but that's beside the point.

[antzrus]

I'm not sure I understand what this thread is about. Are you saying that the original DWS has been discontinued and Continental is substituting another tire with the same name? Or that the tire has been upgraded to the DWS 2.0 but it still maintains the same name? Or what..?

[The00Dustin]

I'm not sure I understand what this thread is about. Are you saying that the original DWS has been discontinued and Continental is substituting another tire with the same name? Or that the tire has been upgraded to the DWS 2.0 but it still maintains the same name? Or what..?

Yes, exactly one of those. I don't know which. I think people have a right to know what they are buying, and right now, you can't know what you are buying if you get an ExtremeContact DWS.

To be fair, they have a very similar (possibly identical) tread pattern (at least according to pictures on tire rack). It could just be a compound change due to supply issues from the compounding plant that burnt overseas (I don't remember the details on this, but I know it happened some time ago), but in that case, it could still just as easily be a downgrade as an upgrade.

[donnieb83]

I purchased a new set of 19" Conti Extreme Contact DWS through my Infiniti deal June 2012 for my M45 Sport and love them! I waited about a week and paid a little more for them to be ordered, but ecstatic with my decision.

[antzrus]

I'm not sure I understand what this thread is about. Are you saying that the original DWS has been discontinued and Continental is substituting another tire with the same name? Or that the tire has been upgraded to the DWS 2.0 but it still maintains the same name? Or what..?

Yes, exactly one of those. I don't know which. I think people have a right to know what they are buying, and right now, you can't know what you are buying if you get an ExtremeContact DWS.

To be fair, they have a very similar (possibly identical) tread pattern (at least according to pictures on tire rack). It could just be a compound change due to supply issues from the compounding plant that burnt overseas (I don't remember the details on this, but I know it happened some time ago), but in that case, it could still just as easily be a downgrade as an upgrade.

Could you post a link that includes any documented facts about what you fear? I just talked personally with a fellow from Conti Tire. I asked him about any differences in the DWS from inception to now; new tread pattern and/or new content formulation. He stated very clearly : "No," three times to me.

[The00Dustin]

Could you post a link that includes any documented facts about what you fear? I just talked personally with a fellow from Conti Tire. I asked him about any differences in the DWS from inception to now; new tread pattern and/or new content formulation. He stated very clearly : "No," three times to me.

Actually, I can't, Tire Rack sold the last two of the old ones since my OP, so there is no longer something for me to screenshot. You can go see what I'm talking about on Tire Rack, though... Choose 2006 -> Infiniti -> M45 Luxury -> Tires, deselect all brands, select Continental, deselect all winter tires, deselect all summer tires, deselect all all-seasontires, select Ultra High Performance All-Season Tires, you will only see one. If you had done this when I originally posted, you would have seen two, both called "Continental ExtremeContact DWS". One would have been "closeout, only 2 remaining" and the other would have been "new, backordered." As I stated in my OP, the original had a "96 Y SL" service description and a "540 A A" UTQG rating. The new tire, which you can still see, says "* New" above the picture (when searching this way, not when looking at the page for the tire), and has (in the search and on the tire page) the following key differences: a "100Y" service description, and a "Pending" UTQG rating.

[antzrus]

Could you post a link that includes any documented facts about what you fear? I just talked personally with a fellow from Conti Tire. I asked him about any differences in the DWS from inception to now; new tread pattern and/or new content formulation. He stated very clearly : "No," three times to me.

Actually, I can't, Tire Rack sold the last two of the old ones since my OP, so there is no longer something for me to screenshot. You can go see what I'm talking about on Tire Rack, though... Choose 2006 -> Infiniti -> M45 Luxury -> Tires, deselect all brands, select Continental, deselect all winter tires, deselect all summer tires, deselect all all-seasontires, select Ultra High Performance All-Season Tires, you will only see one. If you had done this when I originally posted, you would have seen two, both called "Continental ExtremeContact DWS". One would have been "closeout, only 2 remaining" and the other would have been "new, backordered." As I stated in my OP, the original had a "96 Y SL" service description and a "540 A A" UTQG rating. The new tire, which you can still see, says "* New" above the picture (when searching this way, not when looking at the page for the tire), and has (in the search and on the tire page) the following key differences: a "100Y" service description, and a "Pending" UTQG rating.

Some kind of conspiracy..?

[myother45isalesbaer]

Not to offend, but why are you so concerned if there is a new and old DWS. What difference does it make and why are you so concerned about it?

[Ilya]

Not to offend, but why are you so concerned if there is a new and old DWS. What difference does it make and why are you so concerned about it?

This. I guess I don't understand the point of this thread.

They obviously improved upon something...or maybe Tirerack changed their system and thus the part number associated with it which is why they offer a 'new' version. Happens quite a bit in the IT world.

[njjuliano]

Because of this:

... but in that case, it could still just as easily be a downgrade as an upgrade.

I understand the concern. If he was happy with the old version, he wants that version, or an upgrade. It doesnt seem clear, from what OP states.

[The00Dustin]

I want to know what has changed, and why they couldn't change the name accordingly. It drives me nuts when this happens in the IT world too, TVs are the worst, maybe you'll get IPS, maybe you won't, but you'll pay for it either way. My concern is that this could be deceptive, it's not fair to assume they improved something anymore than it is to assume that they ruined something. I planned on buying these tires again knowing what I'd get and now I don't know what I'll get. It wasn't just a coding change, the Service Description is different, that's significant. Yes, it looks better, but ratings are notoriously useless, and I HAD experience that WAS useful. Regarding the possibility that TireRack changed something and screwed up the Service Description, well, then TireRack REALLY screwed up, because they also lost the UTQG rating. I'm convinced this is a different tire. If it really isn't, then it got re-rated due to an audit, which may very well imply deceptive practice, and the question then becomes who is being deceptive. It could be Continental (telling TireRack the new tires are different when they aren't or silently updating their specifications so that can be inferred later), it could be TireRack (selling the old tires with the wrong rating even though they now know it's wrong). So either the tire has changed or some company is being deceptive. Either way, people have the right to know something is up. I mean, everyone praises this tire, and it has been pretty good for me, but people have a right to know they might not be getting the tire that earned all of this praise. THAT is the point of this thread. I was simply providing this information for those who might care.

[antzrus]

In court, they employ the best psychological/psychiatric experts they've got to predict the possibility that someone might reoffend. There are countless psychological testing procedures normed on thousands of folks over the decades that are used to help in this process.

The results at this moment in history and probably for the future?

The best predictor of future human behavior is past human behavior.

A (the old Conti ExtremeContact-an excellent tire) + B (the new Conti Extreme Contact DWS-an excellent tire)= C (the next Conti Extreme Contact {if such is even the case}-an excellent tire)...


Have some faith in humanity-until you learn different (called the school of hard knocks) with the repetitive actual facts to back it up rather than; "I wonder" in such a negative frame of thought process.

[gavnator]

I put a set of DWS' on my M before I moved to GA. I've got 3000 on them. Tires are outstanding!! Quiet and great ride!!

[The00Dustin]

Have some faith in humanity-until you learn different (called the school of hard knocks) with the repetitive actual facts to back it up rather than; "I wonder" in such a negative frame of thought process.

I've had enough hard knocks, and would rather be informed than faithful. Mercedes made great cars for years, now people act like the reliability of BMW and Mercedes are on the same, very low, level. Yes, one could blame Daimler, but that doesn't change the fact that past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

[antzrus]

Have some faith in humanity-until you learn different (called the school of hard knocks) with the repetitive actual facts to back it up rather than; "I wonder" in such a negative frame of thought process.

I've had enough hard knocks, and would rather be informed than faithful. Mercedes made great cars for years, now people act like the reliability of BMW and Mercedes are on the same, very low, level. Yes, one could blame Daimler, but that doesn't change the fact that past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

"...past performance is not a guarantee of future results."

Right you are-there are no guarantees with human behavior (''cept death & taxes), past performance is just the best predictor.

Most scientists go with the best predictor, and then it's the school of hard knocks if that fails. Both BMW & Mercedes are legend over decades for their frequency of repair. You must be rather young to not have witnessed their decline over the years and being forewarned. Their machines sure are pretty though.

Back in the early 1970's when I first began driving around on my R/75/5/6 BMW motorcycles, Continental was the tire that came stock and it was a winner. Into the early '80's I continued with Conti. I never had a problem with them-nor did I ever suffer a flat or blowout.

I had to give up the bike in 1987 because my wife didn't want our oldest (10 yrs old) getting too interested and I had just come off my third contact with a car driver turning right in front of me (and I had one of those blinking head lights too!). Thereafter I just thought of Conti's as motorcycle tires.

The clincher for me was then in '07 when I put a set of ExtremeContacts on my new (for me) M, and the RSA whining like a jet and the heavy tramlining disappeared completely! After about 35k The DWS followed suit. Until I hear repeatedly that something has drastically changed for the bad, not some possible typos, or a new 2.0 that no one has really proved exists but does and is a total flop, am I going to diss the current crop of DWS's. I mean show me the repeated negative concrete proof re this particular tire that you fear so fervently.

Oh yeah, I have absolutely no financial nor personal relationship with Conti. I just love the DWS, period!

[The00Dustin]

I didn't diss the current crop, I said I want to know what's different and want people to know they could be different. The tread pattern looks the same, so they are probably still quiet, and I love that about them. When I posted my review, I even pointed out that they were significantly quieter than the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. I work for a plastic molding company, and I know that changes in plastics can be outside of plastic product manufacturers controls, so there may not have been any intentional change by Continental, and that might be why there wasn't an intentional upgraded name. Thing is, false advertising is illegal, so it would be bad for them to say they improved it when they didn't. Question is, why on earth would they not advertise it if they had improved it? That having been said, even if they didn't change anything by choice, if something has changed, past performance is no guarantee of future results for the tire model either. Is it Continental? Yes. Do they have a great record? Yes. I'm not arguing any of that, but I personally found the Pilot Sport A/S Plus to be a slightly better tire to begin with, and I assume I would still know what I'm getting with it, but don't want the noise.

OT RE: Your motorcycle, my grandfather owned an R600 with an R900 engine in it, and it had a sidecar on it. He always liked it, but he is a Harley rider through and through, so he traded it on a 99 HD Springer when he couldn't kickstart his 71 HD SuperGlide anymore (he bought the 71 HD SuperGlide new in 71, and it is the focus of a motorcycle club we are in, so he couldn't give it up even though it was far from his first bike and has nearl 100K miles on it). Then when he couldn't hold up the Springer anymore, he sold it to my brother and bought an 01 HD SuperGlide. My family took three motorcycles from IN to TX and back when I was 13, and I'm the oldest of 3. My grandfather has been in assisted living for two years, and he still rode with the club in August. Point is, I'm a fan of motorcycles, and I say shame on your wife, but I hate those blinking headlights. I believe they are a dangerous distraction to other drivers more than they are a safety feature to bikers. Maybe I'm a traffic safety extremist or anti or something, though, because I also hate stoplights and believe they only sometimes make roads safer for drivers who are dangerous to begin with.

[antzrus]

OK-I'll let the Conti issue rest. I'm just going to sit it out and see what the future may bring as possibly you and others report on their performance.

Thanks for the personal stuff about you and motorcycles; kool! But did you have to mention he is your grandfather and he's now in assisted living. I mean you really know how to make a guy feel really old...

Oh yeah, those blinking lights are irritating and a distraction. But isn't that the point?

[The00Dustin]

I mean you really know how to make a guy feel really old...

To be fair, he's 65...

Kidding... NOW you feel old.

He's 86, and he's only in assisted living because his mind is going, not because he couldn't otherwise take care of himself.

[antzrus]

Oh geez! A number of folks herein would certify my mind has already got up and gone-my wife too!

Yes, in the high '80's about 50% are losing it. Lucky me-I've got nuthin' left to lose...

[antzrus]

Check this post out. Word that the DWS as we know it has been discontinued..?

Re: NEED Tires
by KGBhoy » 25 Oct 2012 06:33

So the time finally came to replace my tires (on both M35x and Acura TL). Decided to go with the DWS since reading the reviews anywhere convinced me that tire is the best.

Got a very good deal from Discount Tire. Only for them to call me back and say that Continental discontinued them and are going to sell a new similar tire, which is not yet available. DWS are not in stock basically.

They are offering me the Yokohama YK580 for the same price, but I am not convinced that should work for me. What is the second best tire for the M that doesn't break the $220 price?KGBhoy

[KGBhoy]

I was going to post here, but figured this thread has gone off track

[antzrus]

Anyone got any verified word that the current DWS has been discontinued in lieu of a DWS 2.0 ? Or is this just another internet rumor?

[KGBhoy]

So the guy at Discount Tire explained this in a little more detail. They are discontinuing the existing DWS with the current speed rating, and are releasing a newer DWS with a different speed rating in January. Currently, he wasn't able to get a DWS in 245/45/18 size anywhere near Denver, CO. The DWS is still listed on the Continental website, so it seems to be a makeover.

[EniGmA1987]

They are discontinuing the existing DWS with the current speed rating, and are releasing a newer DWS with a different speed rating in January.

So.... we can drive even faster?