Tom P.

Is anybody running the Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires? I have a 4Matic and these are suppose to be very good in snow as well as being a decent summer tire. Interested in comments on road noise and wear with these compared to stock Continentals.

LILBENZ230

at Primacy MXV4s. I have had them on two cars and "hate" is not strong enough of a word. The performance was pathetic, especially on anything even slightly resembling a curve. I've heard people say they have fantastic wet weather performance but that's not my experience either. Your experience will vary.

The Continental DWS tires are rated for snow and are very good tires. I have almost 20,000 on mine now and they've been great. In all likelihood (educated guess) they're probably cheaper than the Michelins, too.

Leevan

+1 on the dws. i have them on all 3 cars now and use them on both my summer wheels and stock wheels for winter. very happy with them.

Glyn M Ruck

All the MXV4 will give you is long life - NOTHING else!

BTW - Tirerack has amazing specials running on PS2's & others at the moment. The W204 guys are all jumping in.

FrankW

until they realize they need to replace the PS2 in 15k miles. LOL

MXV4 came with my 204's stock 17" btw...at least i think that's what it was... the only thing i like about it it's that they're quiet.

Glyn M Ruck

Only on a C32

Yes - in absolute fairness to the MXV4 they are very quiet.

johnand

Glyn, the PS2's are awesome summer tires, but don't even think about trying them in the winter. The Michelin PE2's are a damn good summer tire too. They give up a little ultimate grip to the PS2's, but last longer, and tend to be a little cheaper.

But, alot of us need an A/S tire. It appears the OP needs an A/S tire, as he is talking about snow traction. I can recommend the Michelin Pilot A/S Pluses, but think the Continental Extreme Contact DWS is a better match on our car. The tread design of the Michelin A/S doesn't seem to play nicely with the 203's large caster angle in front, and tend to literally shred the shoulder tread blocks. If the Michelins could be rotated, I bet it wouldn't be as much of an issue. The Conti DWS's on the other hand appear to hold up really well to the caster when rotated based on Matt's latest pics of his tires. A few thousand miles on the DWS's now on my car, and I am pleased so far. The Goodyear Eagle A/S's are pretty good too, but are a noisier than the other two, and have crappy treadlife.

Glyn M Ruck

Yes the PS2 is strictly a summer tyre. splinter raves about his A/S Plusses but he runs a larger scrub radius up front which might help. The Conti Extreme DW has seen a better reception in SA than previous Conti's. The DWS has a luke warm reception here but mainly because we don't need them. Very few areas have snow. We have plenty of rain. Their compounding does not seem to like our stinking hot summers. Sidewall lumps continue to plague Conti tyres here & I notice on the 204 forum.

I would take your advice on on All Season tyres anyday & DW (not A/S) & DWS are the only tyres that might persuade me back to Conti.

My point was good pricing at present across the Michelin range at Tirerack - Yes, I'm very pro Michelin. Maybe years of racing with them as a highly proactive sponsor & their mind blowing R&D spend convinced me. They really understand the science of tyres. Some are shaky in this regard.

At the same time I'm prepared to put a shot over their bows when a product in the range is not to my liking. That does not mean others will agree. Life is all important to many users & manufacturers have to respond to all requirements. "Super Slip non Grips" are the result.

Where I get fed up with people is when they refuse to accept that the life vs handling & grip equation is always a compromise. You can't have high life & perfect performance - they are mutually exclusive. Never mind how you play the natural rubber, synthetic rubber, silica filler et al balancing act with compounding - softer compounds have more grip in both hot & wet conditions. Going below freezing is another problem.

Carcass & tread design are both sciences all of their own.

johnand

Great points Glyn, and I agree with it all. I too am a big fan of Michelin. You generally get what you pay for when it comes to tires, but there are exceptions. One Michelin that is overpriced garbage is the Primacys that were OEM tires for many W203's.

The point I know you always try to make when it comes to tires, is they are the single most important safety device on a car. Tires, then brakes, are 2 areas you shouldn't ever cheap out on.

euromedic

Quiet, solid feel on dry road, low wear factor, good in wet weather, hold the line on snowed roadway. They even take a solid sidewall impact well. No complaints, other than price (but then wear factor is low too).

OneOfaKindTrini

I replaced my Continentals with Goodyear Eagles and they are quieter than the continentals, but I haven't used them in the winter.

LILBENZ230

My car had OEM Continentals according to the delivery sheet. But when I picked it up off lease at 25k miles, it had Primacy. They sucked. Bad. As did the Primacy tires on some previous Honda products.

I recommend the DWS. It's apparent that they are going to last longer than the 30,000 miles the Kumho ASXs did on my car. Then again, in fairness, I have rotated the DWS tires across the axle to change the direction every 6,000 miles.

FrankW

i was running them/PS2 bold at around 18k miles. was doing some power u-turns with it just for the heck of it.

Glyn M Ruck

Yes John - from a safety perspective - Tyres, brakes, dampers. You have to be able to stop the damn thing safely. Bad dampers severely impact braking performance. Even with ABS - if dampers don't keep the tyre in contact with the road surface you are in trouble. One can worry about other aspects of the car once these three items are taken care of.

A good dose of defensive driving also helps in spades. My brother in law gets mad with me that I don't consider him a good driver. He is very capable of driving fast but he is always on the edge with zero latitude for unforeseen incidents. His accident record proves me correct. My attitude is if you want to race then go and do it on a race track in controlled conditions. South Africa has one of the highest road fatality rates in the world. There are many reasons for this too long to mention but a lack of defensive driving plays a big part. 8 kids died last week in Cape Town due to a Taxi driver, taking them home from school, racing a train at a level crossing & driving around the booms as they were closing. Well obviously the train won.

MW_ATL

The train always wins.

Tom P.

Thanks for all the responses. Based on the general consensus, I ordered a set of Conti DWS at Tire Rack. $94 per tire for 205/55/ZR16.

Glyn M Ruck

That's a great price! Good luck

zerocover

Great tire at a great price. I have them on now and could not be happier.

Of note I've had 3 sets of MXV4's they were acceptable. They were decent with no major problems in general a very blah tire. Now the Conti's can do everything with authority. Esp produce road noise (a minor price to pay). Pretty good dry weather performance, great wet, still waiting on snow but i expect good things.

johnand

Good choice! Have several thousand miles on the rear pair now, and VERY happy with them. In fact, I have several hundred miles in heavy rain now too, and they are quite a bit better than the Michelins in wet, which is the most important factor for my climate. Though, they do give up little bit of dry grip to the Michelins. Can't wait to try them in snow this winter.

LILBENZ230

Glad you're liking the DWS, John. I'm at 20000 miles on my DWS set and they are about 50% remaining.