All season tire or not ?

I have a 1999 C2 996 with 70,000 miles, and I am at the point of needing tires at all 4 corners. I use it for daily driving except for the winter, that is what the 924S is for. I do not track it. I am tired of buying rears every 10-13,000 miles and considering Continental Extreme Contact DWS ( Dry Wet Snow) as replacements. These have a wear rating of 540 vs 200-300 for most summer tires. Currently have Sumitomo HTR ZIIIs which I really am impressed with. My question is: Can I expect to get 20,000 miles on the rears based on the wear rating? Has anyone done what I am considering and seen a notable increase in wear life? Thanks for any input !!

My personal opinion is to stick with dedicated summer tires on a 911. That being said, I use the Continental ExtremeContact DWS as the summer tires on my Cayenne. They are a great tire - the best I've ever had on the Cayenne. They do give up a little grip compared to the OEM summer-only Continental SportContact 4x4 that came on the vehicle, but it works well as a daily driver that isn't driven too aggressively.

DGK: I switched from 18" to 17" wheels and tires for added driving comfort (a little more sidewall). I selected the Continental DWS. I balanced and rotated them side to side at 5K miles. Unlike the 18" rears (that were wearing the inside corners) these are not. But more to the point of your question, I have over 10K miles on the tires and the S is still clear on all four tires and from the looks of them, even the rear tires should go well beyond 20K miles. I understand that all season tires aren't optimal for any season, but for my purposes these are great.

I've got 6k miles on the 18" Continental DWS tires on my Carrera 4. I haven't measured the depth, but I cannot see any visible wear in the tires. By contrast, the previous Michelin Pilot Sports were showing obvious wear at 6k miles. I tend to be a Michelin guy, but I have been very impressed with the DWS and wouldn't hesitate recommending them to anyone.

i am new, but my ps2 experience is 12K on the rears. going to get two new ones as spring is upon us. they work well.

Jack of all trades, master of none...

When I first got my car I put the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S+ tires on (225/18, 265/18). The tires were great...they lasted 22,000 miles including 6 track days. Even after that the tires had plenty of tread left (got rid of them for MPSS tires because of some chunking on the left rear tire). I was very happy with them...lots of grip, smooth quiet ride, awesome in the rain, and even handled light snow/slush ok. If I didn't track my car, I would get them again.

It's easy to justify the use of summer, high performance tires during spring, summer, and fall, and then the use of winter tires during the other three months. However, some of us don't want an extra set of tires (for whatever reason, and this includes me) so I use the all season Continental Extreme DWS tires.

You'll get no argument from me that summer performance tires give the best performance for three seasons. But for the person who wants an all-season solution, the Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires are an excellent choice (and perhaps the best choice) among the array of available all-season tires. I don't think the original poster is getting the idea that Z-rated summer tires or winter tires are anything but superior for the use for which they've been made. Rather, I think his question is: "If I want to buy an all-season tire, which one should I buy?" And a more than satisfactory answer would be: "Continental Extreme Contact DSW." I have over 30,000 miles on mine, which have given good service on the Boxster. On my 911, however, I run Michelin PS2 summer performance tires and don't drive it much in the winter for that reason. I, too, am not happy with the excessive wear on the rear tires.

FWIW, I got 30K miles out of my last set of Continental DWS tires on the Cayenne. They are guaranteed for 50K miles, so I should get a discount when I replace them this spring. At 30K, they were worn pretty evenly but badly worn. I've got exposed cord on the inner edges of all four tires.

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I think an expert alignment has as much to do with tire wear as anything. Then you can probably expect the wear ratings to be a decent guide to longevity.

If you don't mind minimizing the negative camber on the rear, that will help rear tire wear as well. Handling at the limits will be affected, but you wouldn't notice it in normal street driving. But since you are considering an A/S tire, handling at the limits doesn't seem to be your priority.

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When I purchased my car it had almost new Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS, front and back. After 14k miles the rears still have approximately 5k left. I would expect similar wear from their replacement, RE970AS. I'm running these in 19 inch and am very happy with the performance considering the AS rating.

I was looking for a bit better wet weather performance on my 2000 Cab(I live in Seattle), so I switched from Extreme Contact Sports to the DWS's, and I've been quite pleased. They were much quieter, better wet grip, and seem to not be wearing at all after 4k. I'm sure they won't go 50k, but if they last 25-30k, this will be a drastic decrease in the tire budget! Speaking of, they're quite reasonably priced as well. The only negative I've noticed is the sidewalls are much softer, therefore initial turn in during spirited driving is less crisp, but only for a split second, and then they grip pretty tenaciously if not as well as the Sports. Also, avoid pot holes! Those soft sidewalls are prone to damage given the right impact.

I asked the same question last year. I put the Conti DWS tires on and have been liking them fine, with a little squishier performance (probably due to them being so new). I gave up changing from winter to summer wheels based on how I use the car. Are the DWS track and autoX tires? Probably not. Will I notice a performance drop on the street and highways? Probably not. I'm happy. I also put the Bridgestone 970AS tires on my new to me 328i coupe. So far, they are better performers than the DWS, in my 30 miles or so that I have used the car. Tighter, less squishy, slightly noisier than the Contis. I'll probably go with the 970AS for the Porsche when the DWS tires wear out (in 8 years going by how much I drive the Porsche).

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+1 on that. i used to go through rears like bagels (they go stale after 3 days). then I got adjustable lower control arms (thanks RSS) got them aligned properly, so now my tires wear evenly, no more inside wearing. Sufer161 C4S, lowered

I have "Summer" tires & wheels, but put the Conti DWS tires and 17" wheels from my 968 on the C4 for the winter. If I did not plan to Auto X this year, I must say I am tempted to leave them on all year round and sell the Bridgstones. The Conti's worked in every weather situation I have seen this winter, ride well and are quiet. I only have about 3000 mile on them and they look new. I think they would do everything I need in a tire for a Daily driver in the Northwest climate. I am driving to Parade in July and think I may leave them on for the trip. A good test of hot weather and lots if spirited mountain driving.

I have a 99 996 that I got last May. The PO had been running the Conti DWS (18"). He put a fresh set on the back when I bought the car. Since then I have driven 16k km (10k miles) with approx 1500 km on the track. The rears now resemble slicks but the fronts are still surprisingly good. The DWS is obviously not a track tire but it handled a lot better than I would have anticipated. These tires would probably be fine for daily driving given the fact that the fronts are probably 2 years old and still in good condition.

A few years ago my wife bought a new Corvette. She would complain the the tires would spin when leaving a light on wet or slushy roads. She also never had the car over 130 MPH and only over a hundred a couple of times. When time to retire I put a slightly narrower, taller, M+S all season tire on. Tire life nearly tripled, ground clearance was raised and the car would go through a couple inches of snow with issues. High performance cars are fit with tires that match it's capabilities whether one uses them or not. Fit what works for you.