Continental DSWs - All-Season Tire Update

This past week we've gotten the most snow of the winter. I was raised in a warm weather climate, so I hate the snow, but it finally gave me a chance to evaluate my latest tire purchase for my Focus ST that I posted about last August (Focus ST Gets New Shoes).

To highlight the article, after researching all-season tires I settled on a set of Continental Extreme DWSs.  The DWS stands for Dry, Wet, Snow.  Continental also makes an Extreme DW...which aren't designed for the snow, so be aware that the tires are similarly named. 

I am really amazed at how well these tires grip in the snow. It's hard to really compare them to the other all-season tires I've owned because those were on different cars and some of the difference maybe due to the car itself, but I can honestly say that I've never driven a car this stable in the snow that didn't have dedicated snow tires.  In my opinion, these Conti DSWs would equal, or even exceed the snow traction of some of the cheaper snow tires out there.


Now the area I live in doesn't get great amounts of snow (which is why I got all-seasons instead of dedicated snow tires), but every once in awhile we do get a fair amount.  Earlier in the week we got 6-8 inches over a 24 hour period. When I left for work in the morning the plows didn't get to my neighborhood yet and  I had no issues getting around. When I got out to the main street (4-lane road, 2 each way) the street was plowed with a thin layer of snow that had been packed down.  There was barely any cars on the road and none at the intersection out of my neighborhood.  I decided to put the tires to the test and went through the intersection taking a left-hander in a 4-wheel drift. Just using the throttle (no brake) I was able to countersteer and pull the car through the turn...these tires do grip well in the snow!

When I got to work the parking lot was a sheet of packed down snow.  Barely any cars were in the lot so I decided to speed up a bit to again test the tires. Again, I was surprised at how stable the car was.  I was able to make pretty quick left-right transitions without losing control, but the thing that surprised me the most was how much grip I had under braking. In those kind of conditions there isn't anyway to make a quick stop, but I've never been able to slow down like that, in that parking lot under that kind of conditions, with any of my previous vehicles (and one of my previous cars was an Audi A3).  Again, part of that could be the car, but in opinion, a lot of the credit has to go to the tires.

On the way home I took the worst possible route back when it snows out.  The route includes a stop at which I have to take a right turn up a fairly steep hill.  I've taken this same route with ever other car I've own specifically to test the tires grip in snow.  Again, part of it is the car, but every other time I've tried this the tires have spun and the car struggled to make the crest of the hill (at which I have to take a left turn up a slight incline).  I had no issues with the ST with the DSWs.  The tires did spin a little, but at no point did I lose enough momentum that I thought I wouldn't make it.  With some of the other cars/tires I've tried this in the past, when I've got to the left turn I've had to really keep in the gas and slide around the turn so that I keep enough momentum to get up the street.  It was almost like taking it in the dry with the ST/DSWs.  I even slowed down to take the left hander and was still able to accelerate up the grade.

Again, impressed with the Continental Extreme DSWs.  So if you live in a 4-season area and looking for year round tires, I would highly recommend them.  So far in my car owning experience, the only way I've been able to get better performance out of a set of tires was to own two sets (one dedicated summer performance, one dedicated snow) and swap them out as needed.