Emailed tire rack customer service and they sent a replacement tire for free. I had the new tire mounted and tire rack will have UPS pick up the defective tire this week. No out of pocket on my part.

Now that I feel confident that my car won't shoot off the road, I was able to drive it aggressively and WOW. They were nothing short of amazing in terms of grip. I haven't had the front push at all or the rear slide either. Totally neutral. Im sure I'll get some wet weather driving here soon.

 

thats great to hear! You'll love them even more in the wet! My S has never felt so sure footed in the rain as it was in the dry.

 

I know this quote is a few months old, but with 225/255 DW's, I had the exact same experience. The car was definitely squirmy on the interestate, it was almost spooky.

I have about 6,000 miles on these tires now, and they have definitely improved with age. I would consider buying them again (though the sidewalls are pretty soft), but I would advise anyone who does get these tires to take it easy for the first 1K or so until the tires are a bit worn in.

 

update:

Took these out on a small track about 2 months ago and they held up just fine, very forgiving and you can tell when the tires are beginning to lose their grip, they do increase in squeal as you push the tires harder so you know what the tires are doing, after 6k miles the tires still look great even with -2.5 degrees of camber. The tires are wearing pretty evenly and havent chunked the shoulder treads due to abuse. They still ride as quiet as they first did and I do notice the sidewall flex that some have commented on but its definitely not a downside (atleast to me) even with 32psi cold in the tires I was getting even wear on the shoulders of the tires which I thought was not excessive, during hard cornering it definitely didnt roll onto the sidewall. To me they're the perfect daily driver tire, very affordable, good performance in both the dry and wet, soaks up bumps well and they dont produce a humming noise on the highway. to continental for producing a high quality tire.

 

update:
I was finally able to attend a full on legit track event hosted by extremespeed on July 7, 2012. It was at Streets of willow Clockwise with the bowl. I had about 38psi HOT in the tires and they still handled very predictably. Now that I have a better idea of how these tires react, I can now confirm that these definitely have more grip than re050 but found myself outdriving them as the day went on as I became used to their grip. After about 20 minutes/9 laps or so they were still predictable but they definitely tend to get more greasy after about 2-3 laps of hard cornering. I had a total of 4 sessions with about 33-36laps. Up to now they still ride just as quiet as when I first purchased them and the 4 hour drive back home confirmed that. There is very MINIMAL road noise and even with the softop road drone is virtually non existent. My daily driver with all season bridgestone grid g019 hum more at freeway speeds than these. At my current camber settings (Rear -2.5, Front -1.8) wear was restricted to the outer shoulder and shows that the sidewalls are very soft, the chassis would take a slightly little bit longer to react to steering inputs, but it was nothing drastic or annoying, it was very easy to get used to.

My overall impression of this tire?? Its a very well made tire for city driving, but when it comes to high performance driving the grip and response is lacking. Almost zero road noise at city/highway speeds, they need very little heat to get to full grip abilities, takes torrential downpours like a champ and even handles ok at the track(for a tire in its class). At under $500 out the door shipped for a full set, these are a great buy for the average enthusiast. The downsides? If you are looking for absolutely all out grip, it is your best bet to look at the Hankook RS3's, Dunlop star specs, and bridgestone RE11's etc. I did find myself wanting more grip at the track when I knew that a more aggressive street tire would have been up to the task. Again the main reason I wanted these tires was that I wanted consistent performance with little drop off as the tires aged and racked up miles. The star specs/rs3's were just a little too much for my weekend duties and felt that I would heat cycle them to death before I would be able to use them to their full abilities. Would I purchase these again? Maybe, but after the track day, the track bug has bit! So if dunlop releases their Dunlop star spec Z2 by the end of the fourth quarter it looks like Ill be going that route. Perhaps Ill toss the Z2's on a spare set of wheels for track only events, and keep the continentals for weekend duties?? We shall see....so it pretty much boils down to what you will be using your vehicle for, if it is a 95% weekend cruiser, daily driver that sees canyons and spirited driving then you should consider these. If you track your vehicle regularly or drive aggressively you WILL find yourself wanting a more aggressive tire, just dont expect to have all the lasting qualities and civilized road manner of the continental DW if you decide to choose a tire in the Extreme performance category.


I lost the rear end twice and ended up in the dirt

 

Hey all....I bought a full set of Conti DWS $600 installed on a 07 SilverStone at a local garage. 4 months & 5000 miles of DD(no autox)New England(Boston)weather and roads later I have no complaints.