Just wanted to circle back in case anyone wanted an opinion the Continental DWS's. I have about 250-350 miles on the tires so far.

Today we had 6 inches of snow in PA, with about 2 inches of slushy stuff on the roads at rush hour. The tires performed very well. Definitely an improvement on the Yokohama's that I had on before. I'd like to test them out on some fresh packed snow (but hopefully not this year, I've seen enough snow already).

I would say if you have reasonable expectations, say trying to get to work with 3-4 inches of snow on the ground, these tires should be fine.

 

I bought the Envigors when they were just released onto the market.. I guess they suck. I didn't want the DWS because I heard the sidewalls are weak and collapse when you take tight turns (IE, makes your car feel gay).

Anyways, this thread is now irrelevant to me.. I'm moving to SoCal or Arizona this summer. Later.

 

Blizzaks on mine. VSA only goes off very rarely compared to all seasons (pole positions). It's night and day dude.

 

My car's been in Ithaca with snow (20%+ grades with rain/snow/slush); I drove 200 miles in heavy snow (3-4 inches on floor with snow coming down) in the NE blizzard of 2007; and recently drove through both post-christmas blizzard of 2010, and drove from ny to vermont for a ski trip while it was snowing pretty hard. Luckily, I've made every trip without getting stuck even when faced with steep hills and snow on the floor.

Here's what helped: I use RE960 Pole Position Potenzas on all 4 wheels. The OEM ones will not be able to handle the snow, let alone rain sometimes. The Poles are great all seasons, but they're no way dedicated snow tires so this is a lesson on more snow driving technique than anything.

1. Stopping - a car will not stop in snow regardless of how good the car's traction control is. This is very much subject to how fast you're going, steepness of the road, and your tires. More or less, you want to assume that you'll get drifting 2x the distance you think you actually are.

2. Car set up - if theres snow on the road, especially if its all snow, kill the traction control and use shift-tronic gearing. The idea is you always want consistent power to your wheels, no sudden drops and no sudden punches of gas.The mentality you want to have when driving is snow is "maintaining momentum." When your car stops fully, its always a challenge to start it up. With VSA on, the cars going to cut power from the wheels unexpectedly and when you don't want it to. In situations where the snow is heavy, my wheels are always spinning to A) maintain heat to the tires and B) to prevent stopping permanently.

3. Downhill - lightly tap brakes, constantly check you can steer where you want.

4. Uphill - if you know you're going uphill, try to give yourself a good start if its safe. I'd reckon its better to be going "too fast" up a hill than not have enough power (again, don't do this if its not safe to have a running head start i.e. stop sign right before hill...). Then when you're on the hill, keep it in a gear and a have your rpms around 3-4K at all times. You won't get sudden loss in power and you'll have the wheels spinning you up the hill.

 

1. I don't think TC plays a part when slowing/stopping down. That's all ABS, which actually stretches out your braking distance in snow.

2. Agree with turning VSA off in the snow, since it just becomes a hindrance. As far as coming to a complete stop and going again, don't think it's very hard unless you're driving through more than 6 inches of unplowed snow, but even then you can rock it out.

3. Downhill, engine braking is your friend, which is why it's useful to use the manumatic function, as you mentioned.

 

So what size are those Blizzaks? Despite the nominal size, the treadwidth across the range is sooooo narrow that I can't help but wonder how the car corners in the wet or dry (I know, we're talking snow tires here, but there isn't always snow on the road).

 

Snow tires! I'm from Wisconsin-trust me! LOL I use Bridgestone Blizzaks and they work wonders. We get 6 feet plus us here...

 

Oh yeah, and I got my snow tires in the 16" size to save money and put them on black steelies so I don't ruin my rims. The smaller tire size seems to help too since they are also 60's.

 

Well, I live in Flagstaff, AZ where it has snowed probably 10 of the last 15-20 days and I've not had any trouble with traction. Heck, I even have four tires that are sitting at 4/32 tread. I never turn off my traction control either. Must be your driving, or you have some bad all season tires.

 

when i drive my tsx in raleigh, nc i usually never take vsa off. the ecu does a very good job of judginh power to slip ratio for me and the conditions. i have the Envigors since i had my other tires and they discontinued those and replaced it with those. the abs always kicks on since we have a sensitive abs sysem which is bad when i autocross sometimes but good for me in snow. and when i take vsa off i feel i get no traction and just spin the tires. vsa does its job very well in snow for what the car is.

 

Its all that Torque...thats it OP

 

I've just retired my DWS tires, for good, after about 25,000 miles. Tread depth is down a uniform 4/32" to 5/32" on all four tires. Poking around with a metal probe, it looks like the still very visible "S" will remain for another 2/32". Unfortunately, these tires now have no wet traction: they hydroplane, skid around corners, hard to start, brake poorly - there's no way I'm leaving them on to drive in the snow. Actually, I've never used them in snow.

 

not much mileage on those DWS tires. I have Yokohama tires that were measured 2 days ago. They were all measured at 4-5 with 58,000 miles

 

Discount Tire warranties DWS's for 50,000. Guess at 25,000 with 4/32, you'd get a about a 35-40% pro-rate or so...that's why I go with a place that offers a mileage warranty on them.

 

Its unfortunate that you are having such poor luck with your conti dws. It seems quite a few forum members have had positive experiences with them (myself included). The are a decent tire for an all season. A significant improvement over stock at the very least.

Ive driven on numerous TO streets through the winter months with these tires and have had none of the issues you have had. Thats certainly not to say that you arent having those issues. I do find it odd though that you are not going to use them in the snow based on the 0 snow experience you have on them. In many instances the wet performance of a tire can not be used reliably as a measure of its winter/snow performance.

 

Portland got snow for the first time this year. I spent 30min and probably 20 attempts just trying to get my car into the garage. With VSA on, i would give 3/4 throttle and let the ECU decide how much power to deliver. Then it was just a matter of steering the beast. I would get just a little further up my driveway each time before sliding back down. Of course, I could have shoveled a small path, but where is the fun in that?

I love my car, but this is the one scenerio where I miss my Legacy. Winter tires would have helped tremendously, not to mention letting some of the 40psi out of my tires, but I can't be bothered for how infrequently we get snow.

Yes. ABS is meant to maintain some steering control when drivers jam the brakes too agressively.

I have found VSA to be extremely beneficial in the snow. I'm very experienced driving non-vsa equipped vehicles in the snow and could not drive my TSX into my garage without turning VSA on. The computer simply reacts faster to the loss in traction and limits power way more efficiently than I can.

3. Downhill, engine braking is your friend, which is why it's useful to use the manumatic function, as you mentioned.[/QUOTE]

Engine braking will place greater traction demands on the front tires, which will limit steering ability. I suggest using only the brakes and steering as needed.

 

Some vids of my failures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhCJw...ature=youtu.be

 

For the first 6 months that I had the DWS, the car was sliding all over the road, with massive understeer and squealing everywhere...I must have scrapped off some rubber. Moderately hard launches in 1st, and shifts into second resulted in a lot of useless wheelspin. The difference between dry cornering grip with the Yoko S4 and DWS was like day and night.

I played with air pressure, but 40psi really only made the ride more abrupt over tar strips, and I let some air out. The dealer said everything was fine with the shocks, but did an alignment, which only helped a little. Eventually, I installed A-spec struts and a Progress RSB, and the handling became predictable again.