Continental Extremecontact DWS 06 Plus vs the BFGoodrich G-Force Comp-2 Plus
I will start this off by saying that either of these tires is way better than the stock tires. When I replaced my stock tires I already had a set of dedicated snows and thought about getting summer only tires but realized there are too many times we get early or late snows that I wouldn’t normally install the snows for. So I set out to find a high performance all season that would hopefully have enough traction to keep me out of a ditch with a few inches of snow. I initially bought the BFGoodrich’s and was really happy with them. They are priced right and often had a $100 rebate or so to sweeten the deal. These tires exceeded my expectations. They were marginally louder than the OEM tires but I never really noticed it unless I was trying to hear it. Wet weather traction was amazing. I don’t ever remember hydroplaning or slipping on anything, even the dreaded wet fall leaves or wet painted lines. Dry traction was more than I would even try to extract out of this car. Snow traction was OK, as expected they were not great but they were just fine if you got caught out in a light storm. The only drawback I had with these was treadlife. They wore evenly but fairly quick. I think I might have been able to push them and get around the 40k life they quote but I was about to do a long road trip down to the Carolinas. Often I hit some really heavy rain and ponding on the roads down there and it wasn’t worth trying to save a few bucks and potentially white knuckling it for hours. It also just so happened that the Continentals offered a double rebate at the time, so while the tires are normally about the same price, the $220 rebate swayed me. It also helped that some testing showed the Conti’s had better wet stopping performance and the treadlife is rated at 50k. I have had these on for a few months now and while I haven’t driven in snow I thought I would compare the two tires. The Conti's are asymmetrical so rotating should be easier, but to be honest the Comps wore just fine with their directional pattern. In the summer I found these tires to be great, the wet traction and hydroplaning resistance was on par with the Comps but the dry traction was not the same. I find these just don’t grip as well but they are progressive as they start to lose traction. The sidewalls are also a bit softer which helps on long drives with expansion seams but in dry cornering makes it feel like there is more body roll. I have tried playing with tire pressure to counter this but they just don’t quite measure up to the Comps. So far I have not gotten a chance to drive these in snow but I am not looking forward to it. This fall/early winter driving has brought out a short coming of this tire. Wet traction. As mentioned I don’t ever remember hydroplaning or slipping with the comps in wet weather, but daily I find myself slipping with these. It isn’t anything major or terrifying, but it is a significant difference. Wet leaves this year were a little problematic but the biggest shift was been on cold rainy days. Any time I try to accelerate from a stop light and I cross the painted lines, these tires start to break loose. I suspect to get the longer treadlife (25% more) they are using a harder compound, so as it gets colder out these are bricking up more than the Comps did. So I am not expecting these to do great when it gets even colder out and I have less friction from snow but I could be wrong. Overall they are just fine, especially for a family hauler but if they were the same price I would go back to the Comps.