Continental DWS did great in snow! :)

[reyxlp]

Was hoping to find one tire to run all year round on my E53 4.8is w/OEM 20s. Based on combination of reviews and price at TireRack, I installed Continental ExtremeContact DWSs a few weeks ago.

Took her out last night to test them out in the snow. Drove from NYC up to CT and back, looking for the least plowed highways and roads.

I could not be happier with these tires!

No problems 6"-12" of fresh snow driving conservatively on local, unplowed side streets, including sharp k-turns and decent inclines.

On the highway in slush plus maybe 2" of unplowed fresh fall, no problems whatsoever.

To be clear, these did not glue me to the ground like smaller sedan-sized Blizzak LM-xx dedicated winter ice/snow tires, but I did feel as in control of the car as can reasonably be expected for an all-season tire in the wide, staggered 20" OEM setup.

I got the sense that the tire would have done even better in a narrower size, as should be expected.

If you are in heavy snowfall areas where people measure snowfall in feet instead of inches, and the snow stays on the ground long enough to harden and get packed, I don't know if this tire will get you through that time and time again.

But if you want one tire you can run all year around in all-season weather, with enough traction to get you home in the occasional heavy, fresh snowfall -- like what you normally get in NY/NJ/CT -- I can't say enough good things about this tire, especially for the price!!!

I found dry traction only slightly less than (and wet traction slightly more than) the Diamaris.

Also, and I'm sure this isn't news to most, but it was an interesting discover for me -- sitting on the ABS did not stop me nearly as well as human discretion on the brake pedal with immediate release then reapplication upon lockup, in snow. Anyone know if this is also the case in rain? Never tried...

Hope this helps - thanks!