hey all,
I'm not sure this is in the right thread, but I think it might be. I am getting rid of the runflats in my jcw clubbie and I want to buy some tires for autox. I was looking at ventus v12s but I really don't like hankook (personal thing)... I want the Continental ExtremeContact DW. What do you guys think? Who has ran either of them? Who has ran both?

I had the dws tires on my a4 and I loved them! I know they werent track tires, but the dw's look pretty good.

help?

thanks in advance

 

The DW tires are nice on the street, I wouldn't run them on an autocross, except as wet tires. They have a very good reputation in the wet, but aren't n the same league as the best tires. If you're serious about autocross, you might want to consider dedicated tires for it. The current debate about autocross tires is Dunlop ZII vs BFG Rivals vs Bridgestone RE-11A.

 

I've read about the dunlops and I prefer them, but price is an issue at the moment. I would get a whole set except I need 17s to fit my car and I'd be looking at about 1200 for a good set of rims and tires (assuming 150/per each).
I will probably go to about 5 autocross events this season.

 

Just so you understand the magnitude of the difference in times in the dry:

The guy who was fifth at Nationals in 2011 drove with my local group with his Conti DW "rain tires." I was on Dunlop Star Specs with a completely factory stock car. I beat him by 3.4 seconds on a 153 second five-lap course. Later in the day he drove my car and went one second faster than I had.

 

wow, that's impressive. Where do you get the star specs?

 

actually... what size are you running? I found some

 

The DW is the best all around street tire you can get. As far as how fast they are it comes down to the driver. On a dry course I've been faster than a fully prepped STR s2000 on the DW tires. And other times he beat me on hankooks.

All that said if you auto cross and want to be competitive you need a dedicated set of tires and wheels. If you are not willing to do this then you're not serious. Now on to this next part about what tire to run..

The ZII Dunlop should be a good all around performer. But you will give up tread life, comfort and wet grip to the DW.


So how many auto cross events do you do a year?

 

I have only done one so far. I did it in an A6 loaner car teehee... 3.0T Quattro... I took first (in the class)

I don't currently have the money for dedicated rims, but I'd ideally like to get a set of 17s for track only. Well for track and driving to the track so no rcomps.

I estimate that I will do about 10 events by the end of the summer. I don't know that that is a high or low number for the time.

 

How about street miles a year?

The v12 just isn't a very good overall tire from my experiences.

On one hand the DW is an amazing street tire that is very fun and pretty quick in autocross. There are other better autocross tires that will be faster but will all give up street manners and monsoon wet grip to the DW.


I have yet to drive a street tire that is better. That says a lot.

 

In terms of street tires, the Michelin PE2 is pretty equal to the DW. I'd still be running PE2s if they hadn't stopped making them. I went form PE2s on the Cooper-S to DW on the JCW.

If you're also going to drive the car on the track, I'd also recommend using dedicated track tires (and their attendant wheels). They could be the same tires/wheels as your autocross ones. A good track tire doesn't necessarily make a good autocross tire and vice-versa. I used Z1 *specs on the track and they tended to overheat. That's good for autocross, they heat up quickly. I found Bridgestone RE-11 made good track tires. They also made pretty good autocross tires, but have been superseded by the latest generation of tires. I'm eagerly awaiting the RE-11a in the right size.

 

I have to disagree with the pe2 being in the same level as the DW. it's not even on the same planet in wet grip.

 

I will be logging much more street time than auto cross and track time, so by what you guys have said I think that the DW are the way to go. $110 mounted and balanced and I get to rid myself of run flats. :-)