Tires Hankook or Continental

That is exactly what I did. I am running 18x8.5 +45 with 235/45/18 Conti DWS06. Very happy with my decision.

I love my Contact Spike 240's in 38mm. On smooth tarmac you can hear a small ticking noise but nothing obnoxious. Rolling resistance is fine. Grip is fantastic as long as the spikes can find something hard to bite into.

A couple weeks ago I attended the endurance race and Continental was giving out used tires, so maybe.

You can't go wrong with the Continental Kryptotal Fr/Re combo. I've tried DHF/Aggressor, Assegai/Aggressor, Dissector/Aggressor, DHF/DHR2 and Assegai/DHR2 and the Kryptotals are by far my favorite combo. They offer amazing traction with inexplicably low rolling resistance.

Continentals are probably the best of the bunch but also most expensive - have heard good things about all 4 on sedans.

Had them for about 5k km. I liked it. Very good traction on dry n rain. Very quiet.

Contis VC7 were better on ice AND snow but especially road noise here in Montreal.

I bought Hankook I*cept 3 winters and they were cheaper than some others in my size, still expensive but rated way higher than the rest. God damn they’re incredible. My 340i X-drive only slips when I want it to, even here in Alberta, Canada where we get loads of black ice and also tons of slushy days.

Running Conti ExtremeContact DWS06+ on my A3. Tires have 15k mikes and have never curbed the wheels/tires. Tires have wear roughly halfway down the sidewall.

I think the ProContacts are known to be junk. I upgraded to Continental DWS. If those fail, I'm switching brands for life.