Tires Continental or PHANTOM
Honestly for the price, I prefer Continentals. Similar ride quality to Goodyear but at a lower cost.
The Continental DWS series tires are very popular with this car. I've been running them for around 3 years now and have zero complaints. They are excellent in the rain.
If you're interested in a good cheap winter tire the new Continental VikingContact 7's are super cheap on tire rack. I just got a set of four for $700 from Tire Rack and they handle great so far and are just as quiet (actually more so) than the stock 19's I had on before. Highly recommend them.
I ordered the Continental PureContact LS. Reasonable prices (I think they were 240 a piece with installation, tax, and balance from Discount Tire). No noticeable impact to rod noise or range. Supposed to be very good in all weather conditions and have a 70k mile warranty. Very smooth ride and definitely notice better handling in rain and the light snow we’ve had here.
Picked up some Conti Viking 7's from the dealer $1100 with steelies (tax included) for our GSW. The car is a beast with these new tires. So much traction!
I got a set of Continental Winter Contact SI from Canadian Tire. Pretty good tires imo.
I had them on my G. I liked them. They had great grip but were really comfortable. Only downside was a lack of steering feel, which I think was partly the car too. For a street car, soft sidewalls are good IMO.
I put these on my GTI before I sold it. Really liked the tire. It is more forgiving of cold morning temperatures than most other summers. I used it year-round in southern TN (never drove the car in the snow).
I did switch out the stock rubber to DWS06 @ the 12k mark and lost a little on the responsiveness on the onset. Now, as the tires have warn, it has gotten a little better, but still not as nice as the stock rubber. Hope this helps.
I certainly hope they've improved them since '99, because mine were definitely Craptinentals. It was like driving on roller skates.
Write your review
Help others - share your experience with this part.