Tires Pirelli or Continental
Purchased four new Continental PureContact Tire 215/55R16XL 97H from Walmart in Yorktown for $107 each - installed on OEM 16x7 Catalunya wheels at 109242 miles.
Yup, OEM size on the Bristols. I was honestly just going to get the conti's again as the mileage I got out them was enough reason for me to buy. Then I found the P7s on sale and paid less for them than I would have the conti's. I was also curious to see if the low rolling resistance made any difference. I think it's a slight improvement, but the sound (I mean lack of) you can't compare.
I've been driving on the Pirelli P7 Cinturato's for 18k miles and have nothing but good things to say. There has been little to near visible wear to date and they grip, ride and handle so much better than the OEM Conti Pro contacts that I had...and I really liked them, got 71k miles out of em! The greatest difference so far seems to be the amount of road noise. The P7s are so much quieter it's not funny!
I've had P7's on my about to depart 2013 SEL for about 8 months. Really happy with them dry and wet. Amazing improvement over the crappy OEM Hankooks.
Change the stock tires. Trust me. Noise difference is night and day. I have no idea what Subaru was thinking with those particular Yokos. I mean, just read the reviews:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Yokohama&tireModel=AVID+S34D
I changed mine to some new high quality Pirelli's not even 1k miles after I got the car and holy cow what a difference in traction/stopping-power and noise. Had to do so out of my own pocket since the dealer didn't get convinced by my explanation of the poor tire choice Subaru made. Anyhow it was worth it, I feel a lot safer on the road now and every bump is smoothed out very pleasantly.
Had the OEM Bridgestones until ~28k miles. They were ok, squirrly in wet especially as they aged, not great in snow. Replaced with Continental PureContact w/EcoPlus. Had them until about 70k miles. Great tires, handled everything better than OEM and one of the best wet tires I have ever owned. Good in snow and a solid dry handler as well. Still had 5/32 but decided to get rid of them now and get use out of a new set through the winter and for the next 2 years of ownership until I plan on parting ways with the car. Now have had the Pirelli Cinturato P7 for a few months and 4k miles. I would rate them more or less equal with the PureContacts when they were new but I would give a slight edge to the PureContacts all around, they seemed slightly more sporty while not giving up much up in ride quality. They are both quiet and good performance grand touring tires that fit the character of the stock Passat very well. Very similar tires with the P7 having what seems to me to be a slightly softer sidewall compared to the 2 previous tires where those did not show any squatting in the sidewall around 32-34 psi. If I was to do it again I would buy the Continental PureContacts. I just liked them a little more than the Pirellis but you really can't go wrong with either. I am certainly not upset I tried the P7s and still think it is a nice tire.
On my past cars I put about 50k miles on the old DWS and also about 30k on the DW and have always been happy with them. Saying that I ordered the DWS06 in size 255/35/19 the first couple weeks they were out and there no reviews yet. I knew that it would more than likely be a better tire than the old DWS which I was a happy with. I have already put about 20k miles on the tires and they have been great in the rainy Florida weather and so far have really shown no wear at all.
I had the previous generation Extreme Contact DWS tires on my previous car and liked them very much. I thought they were pretty good in the snow, especially for a high performance tire. The OEM Conti's on my Passat (it turns out) were good too...handled ok, wore well, but were getting a little noisy.
Bought 2012 TDI sport with 18" wheels new at dealer 2 months ago. Vehicle sat on dealer lot for 5 months or so. Test drove vehicle, steering wheel shook enough to see it at any speed over 50 mph. THIS was probably from flat spots on tires from sitting, we bought vehicle and dealer agreed to put new tires on and replaced with exact same Pirelli's that vehicle was equipped with.
My car came with the P-Zeros from the factory and they are the worst tires I've ever owned.
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