My 2019 Jetta GLI 35th Edition

[oneheadlite]

General has some pretty good offerings.

My recently departed avant I ran the Altimax Arctics after having been in plenty of customer cars to confirm they were a good winter option. First set on that car were Nordmans (member of the Hakapelita family), but knowing my ownership time in that car was waning... I went cheap. Overall the Altimax Arctics were solid performers and I'd recommend them to folks.

I put a set of General all seasons on my wife's A4 when we went to sell it (I think RT43's or 45's?). Came round (sadly, as a tire installer I can tell you that's not a given. Pirelli, Bridgestone, I'm looking at you...), rode smooth. Looked like a solid tread design if you were gonna suffer through the whole year on them (Read: They have actual siping to provide actual winter traction).

The G-Max RS looks like an interesting summer only option. Seems like the tread design should move some water, which is always a focus for me when I'm picking summer skins. My pilot supersports never got a hint of hydroplaning even when they were nearly worn out.

The Conti DW (non-DWS) is a really good wet weather performer. My friend had an early get set on his E36 M3 and praised their wet performance. Later, when I was at PRI (A convention like SEMA, but for aftermarket performance parts), my boss and I were chatting with the Hoosier guy and he mentioned that they used the Conti DW as their benchmark tire when they were making their Hoosier Wets. High praise! Fast forward, I think Conti bought Hoosier (or, less likely, vise versa?) and they went in together to make a high performance tire that some of our endurance guys use for WRL and Chumpcar racing. I believe that's the Extreme Contact Force.

The DWS Conti's I'm just not a fan of. (Klasse, hopefully we can still be friends!) Haven't been blown away with them on customer cars. They came on my current daily and... they're fine enough to not change out. I'll burn'm off and switch to something else.

I went Vredestein (Hypertrak) on the avant and was surprised how much fun the tires turned out to be for all seasons. They made comical all-season noises on cloverleafs, but I'll be danged if they weren't tenacious with grip levels.

On the brake front, when I mentioned true multipiece rotors, something like this was what I was thinking: 403 Forbidden (EDIT: Ah shoot. OK, go to ECS Tuning's site, enter ES#4658197 in the search bar)
Full truth, you'd probably really only need the fronts rotor wise. Def do matching pads front and rear!
If you like supporting small businesses, check out FrozenRotors.com - Give them a call and ask for Mark Link. He's a friend of mine (Tell him John from Orr told you to call), and a wealth of brake knowledge. He'd be great to talk to about picking pads for what you want to do.

I can also check in with my friend to see what he's running on his enthusiastically-street-driven/Auto-X M3; his pads have been a good balance of heat-tolerant-but-don't-sound-like-a-stopping-train-constantly.

[oneheadlite]

... Attachment 76967

And glad you posted some pics, with this being a detailing forum and all. I was starting to wonder if there were any outside shots of the Horsepower Factory!

Car's super sharp, I like it!

[Desertnate]

The DWS Conti's I'm just not a fan of. (Klasse, hopefully we can still be friends!) Haven't been blown away with them on customer cars. They came on my current daily and... they're fine enough to not change out. I'll burn'm off and switch to something else.

Little surprised to hear this. I ran a set of the original DWS's on a car and a set of DWS06's on my GTI when they first came out. Two of my family members run the DWS06+ and really like them as well. One of those cars I drove 3K+ miles cross country through the mountians...in January...on a Mazda3 and they were excellent. While I found the original DWS's a little harsh, I liked the immediate turn in and they had pretty good grip for an all season. The DWS06's seemed to resolve the ride issue and they didn't seem to get as hard in sub-freezing temps so they are quieter and grip better in the snow.

I'm on the fence between them and the Michelins for dailys on the BRZ as there don't seem to be many that would give me performance I'd be happy with. I'd love to try the Vredetein's, but there is no one around here to buy them if I loose one, and I can't wait a couple days for Tire Rack to ship a replacement most of the time.

[Klasse Act]

Oneheadlight, what didn't you like about them inparticular? Obviously there's no right or wrong answer here. Tires are really like shoes, some favor one over another.

I've had the original DWS as well as DWS06+ and it seems the newer ones have better life and still kick ass on perf cars but in our circle "perf cars" are 300+ hp cars

The Michelin CrossClimate2's are very interesting as they're all-WEATHER, not all-season, a newcomer in the industry

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[PouncingPanzer]

General has some pretty good offerings.

My recently departed avant I ran the Altimax Arctics after having been in plenty of customer cars to confirm they were a good winter option. First set on that car were Nordmans (member of the Hakapelita family), but knowing my ownership time in that car was waning... I went cheap. Overall the Altimax Arctics were solid performers and I'd recommend them to folks.

I put a set of General all seasons on my wife's A4 when we went to sell it (I think RT43's or 45's?). Came round (sadly, as a tire installer I can tell you that's not a given. Pirelli, Bridgestone, I'm looking at you...), rode smooth. Looked like a solid tread design if you were gonna suffer through the whole year on them (Read: They have actual siping to provide actual winter traction).

The G-Max RS looks like an interesting summer only option. Seems like the tread design should move some water, which is always a focus for me when I'm picking summer skins. My pilot supersports never got a hint of hydroplaning even when they were nearly worn out.

The Conti DW (non-DWS) is a really good wet weather performer. My friend had an early get set on his E36 M3 and praised their wet performance. Later, when I was at PRI (A convention like SEMA, but for aftermarket performance parts), my boss and I were chatting with the Hoosier guy and he mentioned that they used the Conti DW as their benchmark tire when they were making their Hoosier Wets. High praise! Fast forward, I think Conti bought Hoosier (or, less likely, vise versa?) and they went in together to make a high performance tire that some of our endurance guys use for WRL and Chumpcar racing. I believe that's the Extreme Contact Force.

The DWS Conti's I'm just not a fan of. (Klasse, hopefully we can still be friends!) Haven't been blown away with them on customer cars. They came on my current daily and... they're fine enough to not change out. I'll burn'm off and switch to something else.

I went Vredestein (Hypertrak) on the avant and was surprised how much fun the tires turned out to be for all seasons. They made comical all-season noises on cloverleafs, but I'll be danged if they weren't tenacious with grip levels.

On the brake front, when I mentioned true multipiece rotors, something like this was what I was thinking: 403 Forbidden (EDIT: Ah shoot. OK, go to ECS Tuning's site, enter ES#4658197 in the search bar)
Full truth, you'd probably really only need the fronts rotor wise. Def do matching pads front and rear!
If you like supporting small businesses, check out FrozenRotors.com - Give them a call and ask for Mark Link. He's a friend of mine (Tell him John from Orr told you to call), and a wealth of brake knowledge. He'd be great to talk to about picking pads for what you want to do.

I can also check in with my friend to see what he's running on his enthusiastically-street-driven/Auto-X M3; his pads have been a good balance of heat-tolerant-but-don't-sound-like-a-stopping-train-constantly.

Thanks for sharing all this excellent information and experience. That tid-bit about Hoosier using the DW as a benchmark helps me make my final decision, so thank you. Those are what I'll be getting next year.

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[PouncingPanzer]

At the dealer I saw DWS tires wear like crap on the rear axles. Golf's. CCs. SUVs. Whatever used them, they got choppy AF in the back and caused horrible road noise when rotated to the front. Customers often asked to have them put back. I saw enough to know DWSs aren't for VWs lol.

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[Desertnate]

At the dealer I saw DWS tires wear like crap on the rear axles. Golf's. CCs. SUVs. Whatever used them, they got choppy AF in the back and caused horrible road noise when rotated to the front. Customers often asked to have them put back. I saw enough to know DWSs aren't for VWs lol.

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Funny you say that. My first set were used as my winter wheels on a MK6 GTI and I loved them! I had 20+K miles on them and they were on the car when I traded it in. Had a guy in our region do a full season of autox on them in a highly modded GTI and then ran them all winter two with no issues. He was a beast in the rain when everyone else was sliding around.

Odd how people have such different experiences.

The Michelin CrossClimate2's are very interesting as they're all-WEATHER, not all-season, a newcomer in the industry

I considered a set for my wife's SUV, but the fact they are a directional gave me pause. You can only rotate them front/back. Directional treads like that in my experience can get pretty noisy after a bit of wear. We went with the Bridgestone WeatherPeak which is also an all-weather/three peak tire and we really like them. Way better than the crummy Khumo's the dealership had on there when we bought it.

Nokian started the whole all-weather tire thing about 10 years ago with their WR tire which I think is on it's fourth generation now, the WR G4. If I had a more sedate sedan or hatchback as a daily, it would be a top contender for me...if I could find a local place that sells them. Nokians are all that common this far south. Their snow tires are legendary.

[oneheadlite]

Little surprised to hear this. ...

Oneheadlight, what didn't you like about them inparticular? Obviously there's no right or wrong answer here. Tires are really like shoes, some favor one over another. ...

I should preface my comments with the fact that my experience with these tires are all tinted from the lenses of seeing them only on BMWs, Audis and minis, and how they wear and perform on them. Suspension design I think plays in huge to a tires overall experience.

As an example, Khumos come to mind. I'm sure a variety of Kuhmos might work perfectly well on Subarus and Mazdas, but I can tell you they're one of the brands that when used on BMWs and Audis they will absolutely scalp the inner edges at like a 20° angle. Rest of the tire can be fine. It's not an alignment issue, it's something in the construction of the tire and how the car carries it's weight or something. (I'm a tech, not an engineer!).

I've had sets of new DWS where we've had to jump through hoops either mounting them in a specific orientation (reclocking them on the wheel) or getting them swapped out due to excessive road force (tread/ply/carcass variations that feedback excessive forces to the driver; this is what I referred to about tires "showing up round"). As a tire, I've just not been blown away with their winter performance after they're worn in a couple 32nds. The first generation seemed to wear really quickly.

I'd still take them over certain other tires, they're just not one I default to recommending.

The Michelin CrossClimate2's are very interesting as they're all-WEATHER, not all-season, a newcomer in the industry

Ah yes, the sand dune tire. As much as I'm a Michelin guy, I can't say I'd recommend these to anyone (for the cars I see). Customers that have had them have ended up with excessive noise due to cupping/feathering (general rule the German stuff doesn't seem to like heavily V-patterned tires), and winter grip has been surprisingly meh. A tech pulling a 5 series into the shop expected them to be bald from how they behaved in the snowy parking lot (this was a tech whose driving skills I respected), only to find out they had like 8/32".

Holy moly, aren't I the Negative Nancy!

[Desertnate]

As an example, Khumos come to mind. I'm sure a variety of Kuhmos might work perfectly well on Subarus and Mazdas, but I can tell you they're one of the brands that when used on BMWs and Audis they will absolutely scalp the inner edges at like a 20° angle. Rest of the tire can be fine. It's not an alignment issue, it's something in the construction of the tire and how the car carries it's weight or something. (I'm a tech, not an engineer!).

I can't say I've every had a good Kuhmo experience. A set of all seasons I ran on my Mazda3 performed pretty well, but wore out faster than a summer tire. A set the came on the wife's MDX wore out at a shocking rate and they were dangerous on anything other than dry or wet pavement. No feathering/scalping/cupping/etc. just horrible in other ways.

[PouncingPanzer]

Been enjoying the car A LOT more even justifying driving it on rainy days. It shows....the car hasn't been this dirty all year!!!! It pains me to see it but boy do I smile behind the wheel lol. Taking my car to my parents after work today so my Dad can drive it. Perhaps if the baby is asleep when I vet home I will wash the wheels and get those done and out imof the way. Pick away at the car with waterless wash as time allows.

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