Jim is always helpful

Glad you figured out what you wanted, the DW's look good to me.

 

Ive got the continental Extreme contact DW and I love em so far, Ive got about 2-300 more miles of break in though so I havent really pushed em, but they are SUPER QUIET on the highway compared to the old bridgestone re050a I had.

 

I have the RS3's now and had the Continental DWS before and they were GREAT in cool and wet weather compared to these RS3's BUT had nowhere NEAR the traction when it's warm. The warm grip makes up for the crappy cool grip. I mean like anything below 55 haha.

 

just out of curiosity, how many miles are you expecting out of the continentals? my star specs probably have about 12k miles on them, and i think i could make back to dragon with them again if i really wanted to. that would be about 15k miles total out of them, pretty impressive for a 200 treadwear imo. if the continentals are only good for 20k miles, i say screw it and get some sticky dunlop goodness. my $.02

 

No need for all-seasons, which will sacrifice warm-weather wet and dry grip for some snow/ice/cold capability which you don't need.
Also, I recommend against the "Extreme Performance" category as they sacrifice some hydroplaning ability for ultimate dry grip.

Try to go with a "Max Performance" tire if you favor ultimate wet/dry grip over tire life, and with "Ultra High Performance Summer" if tire life is important to you.

Honestly, the Conti ExtremeContact DW looks pretty hard to beat overall.
I went with the Dunlop Sport Maxx TT, though, which for some reason doesn't show up in customer survey results, or in tire searches when you input different front/rear sizes. However if you search on one size only, they show up. Weird... They did really well in Tire Rack testing: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=128
I've run them in back on my AP1 with Star Specs (very good "Extreme Performance" category tire) up front at the track, and they're not far behind in terms of ultimate dry grip (which is saying a lot).

The Hankook V12 Ventus K110 is going to be very hard to beat for the money.

One thing to note: You can't really compare reviews of tires in different performance categories. I.e., reviews of an all-season tire are going to be more relative to OTHER all-season tires. You can rest assured that the Conti ExtremeContact DW and DWS are very different-performing tires. The DW (Max Performance Summer) is going to have a lot more warm-weather wet/dry grip, while the DWS (Ultra High Performance All-Season) is going to have much better snow/ice/cold capability and longer life. Same applies to S.Drive vs. 960 reviews, the S.Drive is an Ultra High Performance Summer, 960 is Ultra High Performance All-Season. The UHP Summer tire is generally going to have better warm wet/dry grip, and the UHP All-Season is going to give some amount of snow/ice/cold capability, and will generally have longer life.

Regarding your rear tire wear issue, you might have the alignment checked. The AP1 calls for what I consider to be an excessive amount of rear toe-in, which not only increases rear tire wear but actually makes the handling behavior more twitchy and nonlinear. I'd recommend rear toe-in in the 0.2degree to 0.3degree range TOTAL (or .10deg to .15deg per side). This will improve tire life and improve handling stability *and* turn-in responsiveness. Win/win/win.

 

I really loved the star specs, but the fact that they lose their wet handling abilities much earlier than the continental DW's are what turned me off, along with that the continental's are supposed to be alot more quiet vs the SS as they wear, but I do agree that the SS has better dry grip performance. Its all user preference really.

 

@ZDan - thanks! Good tips there on the rear toe. When I first bought the S I put on the Euro alignment in the rear and did NOT like it. (Much to the contrary of these Euro Alignment acolytes) I agree with the nonlinear response in the rear being a PITA. Also good point on the tire classes - Tire Rack does a good job of separating the tire classes so you don't compare apples to oranges (which is what I was doing.)

@Carbon Blue - this was my suspicion as well. The Star Specs are fantastic in dry, but even our local Star Spec fan has had some wet-weather problems in the past on them. I'll gladly trade a little dry traction for wet safety since the car is already dangerous when wet, and I live in FL.

@s2kMiami69 - I am expecting more than what I got on my old Pole Positions, less than my S.Drive's. I am hoping for 20K+ in the rear, and possibly more in the front. I would be upset if they wear out faster than 15K in the rear, as that would be consistent more with an extreme performance tire. The old Falkens that Honda put on in the front lasted almost 40K miles (!!).

 

I want to see pix with the CR wheels mounted..

 

Max perf tires aren't going to last any longer than extreme perf, the only difference is void ratio, or water-channeling capacity/hydroplaning-resistance. If you want 15k+ life you might want ultra high perf summer tires.

 

I'm basically doing the same thing...
Going from 16" to 17" because finding 245/45-16 for the rear is impossible, and as I have run that size since 2003 I have zero desire to go to the 225/50-16. What really saddens me about this change to 17" is the wheels I have now are the JDM 6-spoke BBS Forged OEM S2000 wheels, I love these wheels for their light weight, but, the best wheels in the world are no good if you can't find decent rubber to go on them.

I just bought a set of AP2V3 CR wheels and am in the process of having them powdercoated, the wheels were in perfect condition, and I got all for for $690, they were priced to move because they were a color most people would not be interested in. I planned on powdercoating the wheels regardless so tthe color meant nothing to me. I just have to have dark bronze on My Spa.

I have run Hankook R-S2 on my S for something like 5-years, so what tire to go with is an easy decision for me

215-45-17 front and 255/40-17 back, Hankook R-S3

In addition, for the record I'm running a 1" drop on Eibach springs and am confident I'll have no issues