Tires Nexen or Continental

I can recommend the tires that I use and have been happy with for a while now, the Continental DWS. It's the best all season tire I've used so far, and the one that has work best in the snow

you don't need studs, continental extreme contact dws are the best tires for chasing snow around colorado in an awd car.

I've been running 18" Conti Pure Contacts for about 8k miles now. Initially, I didn't love the tire but they handled good so I decided to keep them. Recently had them rebalanced and rotated which that made a difference. Ride is firmer than Michelin's or OEM Contis but this is one of the best handling tire I've owned on any of my cars. Hydroplaning resistance and snow traction for an all season tire is excellent.

I have had Conti DW performance summer tires on my TDI for over a year, now, and run them between 40 - 41 psi. For me, that is a good compromise between handling and comfort, and gives the added benefits of longer tire life and better fuel economy. Note, however, that the standard sport suspension on the US TDI, while about equal in handling to the GTI on real roads, is a bit softer and more forgiving on bad roads. Also, 16" wheels help and are better suited to the chassis than 17" wheels.

four tires (Continental DW)

If its the tires its time to invest in some Continental DWS

Too late, I already got them installed and went with the Nexens. So far so good. Very smooth ride and no noise whatsoever!

I replaced the OE tires with Continental DWS tires and they've been pretty solid. I've got 35k on them at this point and they have good tread remaining. However, I took my car in for rotation recently and they informed me the tires were cupping really badly.

They were replaced with 205/65 X 15 Continentals on VW alloys (15X7) and after 15,000km still look like new, but they are noisy.

I know the OP has already purchased tires, but I figured I'd share my experience with the Conti DWS's. The (soon to be) wife had them on her MKIV Jetta (225/45/R17) and they were SUPER soft. Really caused a lot of bounce in the car.