I bought my Crossfire used with a matched set of Continental ExtremeContact DW Tuned. They were out of date (produced in 2011), but they had better than half tread left so I decided to be cheap and see if I could get a few months out of them. So here is a review on out of date, 1/2 worn out tires. Maybe a waste of time, but in case someone would like to know.



Dry: I am actually very impressed how well these handled on dry roads, I tried very hard to get these to break loose exiting corners without much success. I was also impressed on overall grip in turns and how well the sidewalls held up on hard cornering. From when I started driving with these until I changed them I did not notice any loss of traction on dry roads.

Rain: On wet roads although adequate (no worse than many passenger vehicles) - these did not inspire enough confidence to try pushing them. I did manage to get sideways one rainy evening without really attempting to. I had hydroplaning issues last month, but at that point I would estimate I was down to about 4/32" in the rear, so it probably would not have mattered what I had on the back at that point.

Snow/Ice: I got caught in freezing rain at work last winter with these tires (got to love Texas weather). I didn't think I would make it the 12 miles home. I aired down the tires to probably 15 psi added 50lbs of weight in the back and still could not get it to move on a 1 degree uphill slant. Of course every driver sliding into the ditches around me did not help with the stop/start - but this is by far the worst "ice" drive I have ever done. Finally disabled the traction control and didn't touch the gas most of the way, just controlled speed with the clutch and made it home safely.

Overall: Drove 5000 miles on these tires over 8 months. The rear tires were shot (worn out in the centers, probably 2/32" on the shoulders), fronts probably still had 5/32" left. I would be tempted to buy these if my Crossfire were a dedicated summer vehicle, but for my needs I will have to go with an all season tire. Having nothing to compare these to I do not know how they would compare as far as sound, but I didn't think the road noise was that severe.

Just put on Discount Tire's Continental ControlContact Sport AS, stock sizes with a Y speed rating. I will update once I get some use out of these. It was raining heavily when I drove home and I did not have hydroplaning problems.



*EDIT*
Well... First impressions are not good with these new tires. Maybe I am being over critical, but definitely not as much grip as even the old worn tires, softer around corners as well (can feel sidewall give that was not present before). Lastly, road noise is way up. My experience has always been road noise is less when tires are new, so I am a little nervous how loud these could potentially be.

One plus so far, it is a softer ride on more severe bumps.

We will see. Maybe grip will improve after I wear through the initial layer of rubber. If not, I will probably look into buying a dedicated set of summer and winter tires.

Thanks,
Ryan