Tires Continental or Kumho
I actually have the Kuhmos on my 530, and I've been pretty happy with them. Very quiet and seem to grip well. Just my two cents.
I liked the continental race king as a fast rolling trail tire, and if you were ok with something a little heavier duty, maxxis high roller 2s are a good choice for the front.
Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06. Fantastic all-around tire.
Conti DWS 06. Fantastic tire, helluva bang for the buck. Grippy, communicative, great in rain or dry, quiet, rides great. Running those on both my Passat, and on the wife unit's Fusion.
I am running Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 in size 235/40ZR18 95Y X on 18" Omanyt (18"x7.5" ET51 5x112) R32 rims. My speedometer off by a few - I usually cruise at 74 MPH actual speed (GPS) while my speedo and cruise is set for 77 MPH.
My continentals are hands down the best tires I ever bought. They ride better than other tires with two to three times the side wall height. They also are the best handling tire I've ever driven on. Would highly recommend.
I have had the Continental DW tires for between 25-30k miles. I have nothing but high praise for my DW's. Great wet and dry grip, not very loud, I've got nearly 30k miles on them and they still have plenty of tread left... I would guess another 10k. Predictable as well. I've literally tried to break them loose in rain while driving my CC, and it's very hard to do so. I've even slammed on the brakes in medium rain to try to slide from 35-40mph, and they just gripped to a stop. I love them... my wife even appreciates how quiet they are. I will point out though that most of my driving is pretty calm...It's rare that I really push them, but I have, and they were great. I'll be buying the Conti's when I get my new R in a few weeks. Edit: Let me also point out that I use mine year round. Even in the winter they've been great. I live near Nashville, TN...not much snow, but plenty of below freezing air.
I have run both .the Continental and Michelin you mention. I think the Continentals last longer and can take more abuse--at least they did on my STI
I had Kuhmos on both of my MK1 coupes (summer tires, never tried all seasons). They were quiet and comfortable until they weren't. Seemed to be a cliff you go over with them wear-wise. They were great, then very quickly you would get the noise/pounding "change me" stuff. But for the price they were hard to beat. Switched to the PSS on my MKII based on this forum. The Contis were out of stock and I couldn't wait, but they were also a possibility. Ran the PSS tires one season and they were very nice. Still had good performance in both wet and dry compared to the Kuhmos. Can't give you longevity since I traded that buggy in on my present TTS which came stock with Toyos, but I could have made at least one more season on them.
As for tires, I'd absolutely recommend against getting Conti DW's. I got them to replace Michelin PSS' mainly because they were cheaper and I thought the drop off in performance wouldn't be as significant as the price difference but it is...Very significant. For a chill family car, DW's are great..for any kind of performance driving, they just aren't good enough. Traction is ok but the sidewalls are very soft and I could feel them rolling and giving away at the track.
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