Winter tire experiences: ExtremeWinterContact v. Xi3?

benrk · Post by **benrk** » 03 Oct 2013, 11:36

Hi!

With the 1st frost the time for winter tires is approaching fast & I don't yet have any for my new (to me) V70 XC.
I have been very happy with Michelin Xi2 on my my Audi 100 & Volvo 850, but since that purchase the market has changed a little.

Michelin has updated the X-ice to Xi3 & Continental has come out with the ExtremeWinterContact which is almost regarded as highly as X-ice & supposedly marginally better than the Blizzak while still trading cheaper then the latter.

Does anyone here have 1st hand experience with these tires, is it worth spending $500 on the Xi3 for better performance vs. $380 for the Conti's or is the performance difference negligible in daily driving?

Thx, Ben

Post by **matthew1** » 03 Oct 2013, 14:29

I put Continental ExtremeContact DWSs on my V70 R three years ago and loved them. Outstanding tires.

benrk · Post by **benrk** » 03 Oct 2013, 16:11

Thx for your answer Matt!
I'm having an eye on the DWS, though for the summer 17s.
Up here in the Canadian Prairies we're calling all-season tires 3-season tires, in the coming 4-6 weeks the temperature will go below freezing & stay there untill March or April with lows in Feb below -30C/F, there simply is no commercially viable rubber compound that maintains it's desired properties between a temp spread from +30C to -30C.

If you look at tirerack's youtube channel, there's a nice video demonstrating how small the spread between all-seasons & summer tires is & how much a difference real wintertires make.

Btw: Am I dreaming or did you not set up a tire&wheel category lately?

Greetz, Ben

Post by **matthew1** » 03 Oct 2013, 17:16

Hi Ben

Yep, I did. We're here

. I moved the post.

I know a little about Canadian winters from my dad -- he's from Winnipeg. He's happy living in Colorado where snow never stays on the ground more than a week, and often less than 24 hours. He got sick of the prairie winter perma-ice.

Post by **IVIUSTANG** » 03 Oct 2013, 19:55

Honestly Benrk, last winter I ran my Cooper CS4 Touring Tires on my XC70 and they did great; however, I also ran the Contintental ExtremeWinter tires on my S70 and they are simply stellar! They wore really good on pavement, were quiet; gripped tenaciously and actually handled on dry roads excellent. Go for the Continentals!

Keep in mind this is from a Regina boy who as you probably know had a WORSE winter than Winnipeg last year!

Jesse

Post by **IdahoBob** » 04 Oct 2013, 14:26

Benrk,

Used to live in North Idaho (100 klicks south of our shared border), drove many a mile to work at -12 (F), so that's....-24 degrees Canadian....we run 3 XC70's and an S-80 in our family. My favorite tire on the XC70's is the Michelin X-Ice. I just use them as an all-season tire, and have been very happy with them (have also run Yokos, Bridgestones and three different Pirellis. The X-Ice is all-season quiet, has fantastic winter traction, is relatively inexpensive for a quality tire, and gets about 45K miles on a set. If I lived somewhere really hot I might be reluctant to use them as a summer time; but even in Denver they were a fine year-round choice.

wouterve · Post by **wouterve** » 07 Oct 2013, 10:55

I've been using the General Altimax Arctic on every car I've had in the past few years, and those tires have been great. The price can't be beat (they're cheap) and they managed to turn my FWD S60 into a little snow tractor when the NE was confronted with 2+ feet of snow last year. I just bought another set for my XC70, and I assume they'll do well on that car too.

The only thing is: they're by no means performance tires. They're excellent winter tires, but they're not that great for spirited cornering or stuff like that...so if that's your thing, you'll want to go with something else.

Post by **matthew1** » 07 Oct 2013, 13:32

wouterve, thanks for the input. I too am in the market for tires. I'm going to get all-seasons.

FWIW, the Contis I mentioned above are good in dry. That R cornered like a banshee in dry.

benrk · Post by **benrk** » 19 May 2014, 17:16

So I did go with the Continental ExtremeWinterContacts in oem size 215/65/16 & switched back to summers again this weekend, I think these tires match the car & our northern plains deep freeze winter very well & overall I probably couldn't be happier.

I don't have a direct comparison to the Xi2 in the same size on the same car, but from what I remember from the Xi2 on other cars, as the tirerack tests suggest, the Michelins are a wee little bit better on glare ice, but otherwise the contis are a very well balanced tire with great allround traction from dry to wet to snow & ice & they're extremely quiet & well behaved for a winter tire.
The day I had the tires mounted was an unexpectedly early cold day of -22C (-10F?) with lots of ice & hardpack on the road, the Bridgestone EP422 3seasons that were on the car had ok traction in the fresh snow the day before, but a day later as the snow was packed to ice it was a night & day difference between going to the tire shop & driving home from there. In between I was fixing a buddies car that we drove from the tire shop to our shop & it had budget winters on (Motomaster?) while I'm used to winter tires being louder than normal, his budget rubber was insanely loud, the other car we used in between to get parts had some better winter tires but not premium brand & was by far not as loud but it still showed the typical somewhat louder tractor-tire sound, both cars had fair winter traction but not to the premium level as these Contis, Xice or Blizzaks.
These contis really don't sound like winter tires, they're as quiet as premium brand touring tires & while they certainly are no performance tires, I do like to corner rather quickly at times & within the limits of wintery road conditions & an XC's suspension I didn't notice the tires being the weakest link in the chain, they always stayed on track & there are no marks on the sidewalls from rolling over like the Xi2 had after a day of tracking the 855.
If there should be anyone thinking about running these tires as all seasons I have to say that I found some reviews complaining about quick treadwear on tirerack, most of these were from Appalachia & south thereof where it doesn't usually stay uniformly cold & Continental unlike Michelin does not claim to have found a magic rubber compound that stays soft in extreme cold while still being wear resistant at moderate or even above freezing temperatures, these tires are rightfully called ExtremeWinterContact & do use very soft rubber & I don't think they will last very long in warm weather, there is a variety of winter tires from Conti & other manufacturers & each have their own characteristics & different best use scenarios.

Greetz, Ben