WWW

Well last week I noticed a bubble in one of the stock tires for my TL-S. Instead of spending $200 to replace one, I decided to replace all 4 with the ContiExtreme tires since they were rated so highly by Tirerack.

When I was driving out of Discount Tire yesterday, it was pouring outside so it was a great opportunity for me to try out the tires. First impression wass the grip was MUCH better than stock. I accelerated out of a turn pretty aggresively without the VSA kicking in. Breaking is improved as well.

Today it was sunny so the drive to work gave me a good chance to test it out in dry weather. In term of road noise, it comparable to the stock tires. Then again, I didn't upgrade the tires for noise reduction. I wanted more grip. Chirping the front tires is not as easy anymore. It took a little bit more effort. Now when I step on the gas, it grips and go. I took a tight 90 degree turn at about 30 mph and the tires held their ground very nicely. Acclerating out of the turn, I did notice a little understeer. Had it been stock tires, the understeer would occur as soon as I go into the turn and I can forget about accelerating out. So I'm very happy with the performance in dry weather.

The look of the tires is very aggresive. On the side wall, there are these markers that indicate the tire rotation (since they are uni-directional) that made them look too busy for my taste. Looking from behind, the threads appeared much more like a high performance tires compared to the Michelins.

All in all, I'm very impress with these tires for the first two days. Can't wait to try them out in the snow when old man winter returns.

CBS

Work like a charm in snow!

roboTL3

I just replaced my original Michelin tires today with the ContiExtremeContact on my '00 TL w/stock rims (225/55 16).

I agree, they stick like crazy compared to the Michelins. Acceleration is much better, I can actually feel torque steer instead of the TCS kicking in. They don't squeal around corners - although they do groan a little in hard cornering when I feel the understeer. Also, when going over bumps in corners, they don't slip and "bang" like the Michelins. They have a very comfortable ride.

I was hoping that they would be a little more responsive. They are on par or slightly better than the Michelins, which isn't saying much. They don't seem to hug corners as if on rails, but they definitely stick. I don't know if this is a limitation of the tires or the car.

With a 64%/36% F/R weight distribution, I don't know that there is any way to get out of understeer.

Overall, I like them so far, and at $78 each at TireRack they are a steal.

WWW

Yeah, I did notice that going over bumps are not as harsh with the Continetals. One more thing, if the car sits overnight, the tires tend to have a flat spot in the morning. It'll take about half a mile of driving to round it out again.

roboTL3

Flat spot? I noticed that this am around 30 mph or so - I thought maybe the installer didn't do a good job of balancing, but it went away.

I do hear a different "tone" of road noise with the contis. Also, I can hear them "groan" as I come to a stop at moderate braking. Nothing unpleasant or noticable if your not listening for it, however.

Question: At what pressure are you running yours? The installer had them at 37.5 PSI, and I deflated to 32 PSI per mfg spec. However, they are a wider tire, so I'm not sure if I did the right thing. The correct answers may be different for us as you have a TL-S and I believe are running on a 17 in rim, while I have a 16... Any insight?

Thanks,
Rob

WWW

Yeah, initally I thought it was a balancing problem too when I felt the steering wheel vibrate when I first got up to speed. But then when I'm doing 85 on the expressway and the car was running smooth, I knew it wasn't a balancing problem.

I'm running on 225/45/17 with 35 psi on all wheels.