Pulled the trigger on tires -Continental DW's.

[SC BOSS]

I have decided on 4-5 track events this year. (Road Atlanta in june, Barber in july, Hastings, NE in Sept, VIR in october, and Road Atlanta again in november to cap it off). I had been looking at the BFG G-Force Sport Comp 2's and the Michelin Pilot Super Sports. I am using a set of the ford racing Laguna seca wheels as my track wheels and wanted to retain the stock tire size. I couldn't find the stock size tires in either of the Michelin or BFG's that i wanted... They were all on 'national backorder' with no forcasted date of when they'd be in.

Since my first track event this season is in June, i needed to secure some tires.. I decided to pull the trigger on the Continental ExtremeContact DW's.. For the price and the reviews i'd read, they seem to be decent track tires for the price... I could've gone with the Michelin Pilot Sport 2's, but they were almost $1800/set and supposedly not as good as the Michelin Super Sports (in both wear and grip).. if i was going to spend that i would've gotten some Hoosiers.. however, since the track events are rain or shine, i think the Continentals will prove themselves decent if i have to track in the rain on one or two occasions..

Anyways, i'll post up some reviews after i track them at Road Atlanta.

Anybody have experience with these on the track?

Luke

 

[racered302]

My instructor had DW's on his Boss and said they were as good as the Pirrelli's. That has me thinking about these tires as an alternative also

 

[PeteInCT]

My instructor had DW's on his Boss and said they were as good as the Pirrelli's. That has me thinking about these tires as an alternative also

They are as good as the Pirellis but that is setting the bar very low. The PSS's are a very superior tire. If ivwould have known i would have suggrsted NT-05's. You will get decent wear but watch the grip and sidewall rollover. You may have to sacrifice some grip and keep them a little more inflated than you may want to to manage the sidewalls.

 

[LostPony]

I am Racered's instructor. I hear a lot of bitching about the lack of grip in the Pirellis and I think it is hogwash. Like any street tire, you have to treat them with respect and allow them to warm up. Going hard from the word go is just going to result in frustration.

As to the Conti, I like 'em. They are plenty grippy, but the part I really like is the smooth breakaway characteristics of the tire. In this respect they are superior to the Pirelli in my opinion. They give lots of both audible and tactile feedback, even in the wet. If you drive hamfisted in the wet, you won't like them. Be smooth and progressive with your inputs and they will perform great in wet conditions. On the street they seem to be pretty quiet, hard to say with 7/8' baffles in my side pipes. Smooth riding, and plenty of grip.

I too considered the Michelins, but like you I thought the price too high, and I would rather put the $700 I saved by going to the Conti to a set of track specific tires. Plus it supports my favorite race series sponsor!

 

[DGRacing]

I am Racered's instructor. I hear a lot of bitching about the lack of grip in the Pirellis and I think it is hogwash. Like any street tire, you have to treat them with respect and allow them to warm up. Going hard from the word go is just going to result in frustration.

As to the Conti, I like 'em. They are plenty grippy, but the part I really like is the smooth breakaway characteristics of the tire. In this respect they are superior to the Pirelli in my opinion. They give lots of both audible and tactile feedback, even in the wet. If you drive hamfisted in the wet, you won't like them. Be smooth and progressive with your inputs and they will perform great in wet conditions. On the street they seem to be pretty quiet, hard to say with 7/8' baffles in my side pipes. Smooth riding, and plenty of grip.

I too considered the Michelins, but like you I thought the price too high, and I would rather put the $700 I saved by going to the Conti to a set of track specific tires. Plus it supports my favorite race series sponsor!

Amen to this. Ive been pushing this point vis-a-vis the pirellis here for a long time, but the meme is hard to dislodge.

 

[pufferfish]

I know this thread was started about the DW's, which I have no experience with. But since the pirellis were discussed and I do have experience with those, I will make a brief comment. They were a reasonably grippy tire, but they wore down entirely too quickly. For that reason, I will never put another set on my car.

 

[VoodooBoss]

I know this thread was started about the DW's, which I have no experience with. But since the pirellis were discussed and I do have experience with those, I will make a brief comment. They were a reasonably grippy tire, but they wore down entirely too quickly. For that reason, I will never put another set on my car.

Do you mean cording or loss of grip? My stock Pirelli's still have rubber on them but after six track days their grip has diminished significantly. I'm about to toss them and finally mount my PSS tires.

 

[LostPony]

I got 21,000 out of my Pirellis, with a few track days thrown in. I didn't do a bunch of track time in them, but enough to get to know them. The rears wore very even, but the fronts showed the heavy left side bias my home track puts on a car. Outer edge of D-side wore out, inner edge of P-side as well.

Back to the DW, they are wearing really well, and after a session they are stickier to the touch than the Pirelli tire was. The tread blocks show little signs of shift, and the sidewalls are don't seem to flex much. I have a pic of my car on track, that I don't know how to load, that shows how little it flexes in turns.

I wrote a review for TireRack that was positive for these tires and will likely use them again.

 

[VoodooBoss]

I got 21,000 out of my Pirellis, with a few track days thrown in. I didn't do a bunch of track time in them, but enough to get to know them. The rears wore very even, but the fronts showed the heavy left side bias my home track puts on a car. Outer edge of D-side wore out, inner edge of P-side as well.

Back to the DW, they are wearing really well, and after a session they are stickier to the touch than the Pirelli tire was. The tread blocks show little signs of shift, and the sidewalls are don't seem to flex much. I have a pic of my car on track, that I don't know how to load, that shows how little it flexes in turns.

I wrote a review for TireRack that was positive for these tires and will likely use them again.

Read this:

https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=212.0

 

[PJWANNABE]

Do you mean cording or loss of grip? My stock Pirelli's still have rubber on them but after six track days their grip has diminished significantly. I'm about to toss them and finally mount my PSS tires.

I was surprised how much grip the P Zeros still had with 2- 4/32 tread on them. I wouldn't trust them on a track day but they were still OK for the street (just had to take it easy on the gas pedal). I bought a set of used Conti DW from a friend and have been driving them on street and track since November and I like them so far. Treadwear seems to be good.