Pete7874

How does it look promising? There is no mention of treadwear warranty anywhere, which is typical for OEM tires.

Pete7874

There may be manufacturing defect type warranty, but there is no treadwear warranty on OEM tires.

The OEM ContiProContacts on the back of our C300 4matic lasted about 16K miles, but the 4matic has a 45/55 front/rear torque split, if I'm not mistaken. If your car is RWD, then your rears will wear out even faster. Depending on how you drive, 10K miles may be normal.

Other than short life, I actually didn't think the CPCs were that bad.

If you want longer treadlife, find yourself a grand touring all-season tire (aka grandma tire) with the highest possible treadwear index and longest treadwear warranty. However, they only honor half that warranty length on cars with staggered setups like yours.

kev10

12K with the stock tires (Contis 225/45/17) for my '12 C300 and the tires still look quite good. It wore away about 3/32" so far (measured during last month's tire rotation). I guess driving habit is also an important factor.

I was actually hoping that the wear could be a bit faster so that I can go to Michelin Primacy MXM4.

RavenMDX

How long should Conti's ExtremeContactDWS last if I use them 7months/year (april - october) ? For winter I use other tires

Pete7874

It's not as much about time as it is about the actual miles/kilometers driven. As you can imagine, two people could use the same tires for 7 months and during that time one will accumulate 3K miles while the other will accumulate 30K miles. So, which one are you?

We have 13K miles on our DWS currently and they have plenty of tread still left. I expect them to make it to 25K miles or more.

RavenMDX

Right. Well I will drive about 10K miles during the next 7 months.

Breitling65

Pretty much exactly what I think about most touring all-season tires ... great explanation! MXM4 is the most boring, stone hard, long lasting tires I ever drove on my cars before...

RavenMDX

well, Conti DWS are all season touring tires but I won't use them for winter

Pete7874

Conti DWS are Ultra High Performance all-seasons. However, due to the fact that they utilize winter rubber compounds, I find their steering response rather sloppy, unlike any other UHP all-season tire I've tried. I actually think the OEM ContiProContact provided better steering response than DWS.

Pete7874

Haha... I used to own an Accord once with Energy MXV4 tires, which I think are even less performance oriented than MXM4. The traction and handling on these tires was abysmal, and worst of all, they just would not die. They seemed to last forever. That's the worst scenario I can think of on a sporty car (not that the Accord was one): being stuck with awful tires that just won't wear out and you feel bad about replacing them because so much tread is still left. Nowadays, I don't even wait for tires to wear out if I'm not happy with them. I sell them on craigslist to help offset the price of new ones.

kev10

Surprised by your comment about MXM4 being "stone hard". There are a few MXM4 available:
- Pilot MXM4
- Pilot HX MXM4
- Primacy MXM4

Primacy MXM4 is actually soft and is more comfort oriented. It is probably "boring" to most of performance-oriented drivers though.

2012c350

Thanks. I'll follow-up with them. But as someone else mentioned, I don't know that that says anything about tread warranty but rather what they deem as factory defects.

Breitling65

Any lasting long tires normally made with harder/stuffier compound. They are much worse on handling and traction but maybe good roll over. I drove MXM4 on my former Passat, possibly worse all seasons I know and yes they are last long. If you like Michelin all seasons take Pilot Sport A/S.... Anyway I am driving summer/winter tires sets with rims, highly recommended setup.

2012c350

Thanks again all for the comments. I guess it's just the way it is (assuming I do find that I have no alignment/suspension issue).

Just wanted to check being that I've never experienced such fast tire wear on a family car. Now I know...

Pete7874

Is the wear on the current tires uneven? If so, that would be a clear indication of alignment/suspension issue. However, most german cars I've seen specify a small amount of negative camber on the rear (to improve cornering/handling). This will result in slightly more wear on the inner tread of the tire, but it's actually normal. The wider the tire, the more this will be noticeable, too.

When you have your alignment done, you could ask them to bring the camber closer to zero. Your handling at the limits may get slightly worse as a result, but most average/non-aggressive drivers won't notice. The benefit is that the rears will wear more evenly and should last a bit longer.

Breitling65

Right, that is what grandma need on her 1978 Buick ... I am also selling tires on Craiglist pretty quick to finance good one.

2012c350

yea, my '67 Buick Electra 225 has tires that are harder than the roads themselves!

kev10

Thanks for the recommendation, although I don't quite like Pilot Sport A/S. My friend has a 2009 C300 Sport with the tires (based on the recommendation from this forum). The road noise is noticeably louder than my C300 Luxury with Contis tires and the ride is harsher. It is, however, possible that the difference can be partially attributed to the Sport/Luxury differences. The overall handling of his car is marginally better and we agree that it is only noticeable when on wet roads.

I am not an aggressive driver and comfort is a very important factor for me. I used to have Primacy MXM4 on an A4 (ex car) and the ride was quiet and comfortable. Primacy MXM4 also gets good recommendation from E class forums.

I understand that using summer/winter tires is a better setup. But I would like to avoid changing tires.

ralawren

I would definitely check your alignment or alter your driving style. I have 17K miles on my OEM Continental's for the C350 Coupe and they have at least 80% of their tread.

I used Continental Extreme DWS on my BMW 128i for 20K miles and they were also in good shape. So, I don't think you are going to find a tire that wears significantly different.