Tires Continental or GT Radial

The DWS06 (mine with about 4K miles) were impressive going up and down snow covered back roads with up to a 12% grade. I had to try if I wanted to break traction except for one time when I braked too hard at a downhill stop sign. Hopefully I'll never need the socks but they don't take up much space so I'll leave them in the back for the winter.

I've got 19" Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 tires, which (for all season) are rated very well for snow, and also carry snow socks in case extra traction is required (lowered so any sort of chain is out of the question). I've seen many people say that all seasons are the jack of all trades master of none, but they're certainly going to be worlds better than a summer tire. I understand they're not going to be as amazing as a dedicated snow tire, but for the few trips over the mountains to Tahoe that I'm going to make, they should suffice just fine. I drove into some collected snow off the side of the road last year (intentionally, wanted a picture of the R in the snow :laugh: ) and had no problem what so ever getting out. There were other cars parked there as well, an SUV looked like it was spinning a bit of tire trying to get out, so I felt pretty confident that my tires worked well enough.

Tires seem to be wearing fine. The ride is a lot like the A3 I replaced (18\" wheels on a Golf platform). I expect similar wear as my Audi.

Continental wintercontact si is damn good value for money and outperforms blizzaks. I use them on my rwd car and there great. Definitely recommend them.

When it's time to replace my all seasons, I will likely be going with Nokian WRG. I had older generation Conti DWS on my gti and while they were great, the snow traction was only on the first 10k miles of tread. I hear the current Continental DWS 06 are better.

No complaints from the lo pro Continentals so far.

I live in Vancouver as well, and went up to Whistler/Squamish/Cypress in the snow last winter with my R equipped with my "winter" setup of Conti DWS 06 and it was more than fine. She handled it like a champ.

The continental tires ride real quite for their size.

So I have 2800km on mine, mixed city and highway. I have just under 9/32 on the front and just over 9/32 in the rear. These again are the continental 5P new they have 10/32.

My biggest complaint about the Conti DWS's is their softer sidewall. I prefer a stiffer sidewall for a better turn-in. Other than that, I have heard good things about the Conti's.