I recently bought a set of Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires and within 1000 miles they developed bad vibrations. I had them checked on a road force balancer and basically all 4 failed with three of them exceeding 40 lbs. of road force and one of those exceeded 50 lbs (the threshold for failure is 18). One was at the 18 lb. limit. Continental has offered to replace them with another set of the same tires but my feelings are with 100% failure rate I don't want to even deal with them again (these are staggered set so they can't claim it was just a "bad lot"). I have ordered a set of Michelins and am pursuing getting Conti to refund the purchase price plus the $160 I spent proving it was the tires that were faulty. There are a lot of comments online from people complaining about the quality (or lack thereof) in the current Continental line (see: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/tires/continental.html). I am not interested in chasing tire issues again as I have a life and have wasted enough time and money with these.

I would strongly urge anyone looking for new tires to avoid the ExtremeContact DWS and Continental tires in general as they are really not the line they once were. Learn from my bad experience and buy something else.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

From my experience, Conti's are consistenly the best tire according to the Road Force balancer we have at our shop. Results such as yours would be a serious anomaly, and I would be looking for another cause other than manufacturing defect. FWIW, the limit for passenger car tires should be 26# of spring force and its rare I see a Conti break 15#, when other brands regularly exceed the 26# limit when brand new.

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V8 rear subframe, Quaife ATB 3.06 diff

I had a set of DWS on one of my 211 E55s. I have no complaints, they were a very impressive all around tire. Smooth, quiet, decent in snow, and unreasonably sticky for an all season tire. Lots of 211 AMG drivers use these, and I don't recall any complaints.

I'm on my second set. I find they have two flaws: tread noise on certain surfaces and a soft sidewall that makes them a little mushy unless you pump them up a bit. Otherwise, I've never had a tire with such an impressive combination of adhesion and durability.

It's funny because both the shop who did the road force test and Town Fair Tire had NOTHING good to say about the Contis. The shop who tested them said they discourage people from going with them and said Michelins are the way to go.

In fact the guy from Town Fair said that when the extremecontacts first came out they took so many back on their 30 day guarantee policy that they stopped offering them because at one point they had about a dozen sets of used Conti tires they were trying to unload that were returned. So I guess there are people who love them and people who hate them.

A VERY rude "customer service" representative from Continental told me today they won't give me a refund on them, that I need to either take new tires or nothing. And I am not entitled to the $160 it cost me to prove the tires were defective. I feel like a guy who got food poisoning from a restaurant and went back asking for a refund only to be offered another meal instead.

If, by your comment that there must be another reason why the tires are defective is somehow pointing to me as the cause, I can tell you I didn't do anything to them. They started out with minor vibrations which got so bad the car can't be driven over 50 MPH within 1000 miles of new. These aren't even really low profile tires either, they are 50 and 55 profiles. I can't explain it, I just know this has been a terrible experience and I will NEVER buy Continental tires again. Of course, your results may vary.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

Tire shops don't self-warranty tires, either Continental stands behind them or not. I can't see why a tire shop would care. As to whether you're "entitled" to $160, small claims court?

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Remember, Safety Third!
'99 E300 Turbodiesel, '82 300TD, 1996 12V Cummins Turbo, '94 Neoplan - Detroit 6V92TA

I probably should have made my point clearer. Town Fair has its own policy, and when they take them back they sell them as used tires.

Town Fair Tire - 30 Day Test Drive - Try them for 30 days


If I had bought the Contis from them initially I would have returned them and exchanged them for another brand, but the shop I bought them from isn't as accommodating as Town Fair. So nobody wants these tires back, and basically I will be stuck with a brand new set that I don't want or need.

BTW, now Town Fair considers these tires to be "special order tires" so they are no longer covered by the policy...what does that tell you?

As for small claims court...yes, that's an option, but frankly I will sue Continental not only for the $160 but for the full cost of the four tires too and they can have them back if they force me to take that route. I am still supposed to get a call back from a customer service "supervisor" to try and resolve it but given their attitude I don't have much hope they will make an effort to turn this around.

BTW, I decided to go with a summer tread this time as I only drive this particular car (Porsche 911) in good weather. I was prepared to order Michelin PS2 to replace the Continentals but Town Fair suggested I try the Hankook Ventus V12 because they are almost as good as the Michelin at less than half the cost, and they were offering an $80 rebate on a set, which brought the cost down to $400 including mounting and balancing. They reminded me that I could drive on them for 30 days and if not happy they would upgrade me to the Michelins and I'd only pay the difference, so I am trying them out. They sell a lot of them and said they never took a set back under their 30 day policy. At this point I'd just be happy with tires that could go over 50 MPH without making the car feel like it was mixing a can of paint!

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

I was just told by the dealer I bought the Contis from that they have authorized a full credit for the purchase price towards any replacement tires, so I am satisfied with this resolution. It took the intervention of the Better Business Bureau to get them to offer this, but that's what they are there for.

No mention was made about reimbursement of the cost of diagnosis, but I will "take the high road" on that, write off the $164 and chalk it up to experience.

So, in the end it all worked out and it's good to know that eventually they did do "the right thing".

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

Hey, Thanks so much for the info, but real sorry you had to go through the bull****! Wouldn't wish that on anyone. Well, maybe the douchebag who screwed up the tires....

I have two sets of these DWS tires and like them. One set on my W123 has more than 15k miles on it with no problems and fantastic grip in all conditions. The other set is on my turbocharged 300CE and take all kinds of abuse without complaint. Now I'm not so sure I should be a repeat buyer. The two tire dealers I know around here say they are good tires and reasonably priced. Never mention any problems with them.

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I never go far without a little Big Star

1994 E500 199/Gray 82k
84 300D (Salty) Orient Red/Palomino 141k
88 300CE (Ersatzhammer) 904/Java 163k -- Turbo Technics twin turbo kit, AMG Gen I body kit, Sportline steering box and steering wheel, Sportline/Eibach /Bilstein Sport/500E suspension, Quaife LSD in 210 mm diff case, Silver Arrow brakes.
88 300CE Brabus 3.6 199 on Black 44k

Nhdoc doesn't like 'em. Four other posters in the thread (including you) do. Dif'rent strokes.