Tire decisions- Azenis FK510 vs Conti Extreme contact sport 02 vs DWS06 for real world use

Does anyone have strong feelings one way or the other on these tires?  I'm looking for a more reasonable blend of performance with respect to longevity basically.  I don't race or autocross it, and it seems super silly to replace tires annually on a commuter.  I put about 15k miles a year on the car...  I enjoy spirited curvy roads at 'ticket but not jailtime' speeds, the very rare autocross when my track pig is down, and it sees all seasons and conditions because I intend to drive it as the Germans designed.  I do not do burnouts or stupid things, and I only take off from red lights with anger when im, well, angry. 

Car in question is a Panamera Turbo (Big fat pig) with big honkers, but my use case is much more pedestrian (commuting and kid hauling) than racey.  I am more than underwhelmed with the Pilot sport All-seasons (only got about 15k miles on them and they're pretty much beat) and the P-Zeros that were trash in the rain before those, so for this instance, I am ONLY interested in the above.  I have a good friend with a shop, and 4 wheel alignment has been verified as good, and tire wear is even, so I can only believe that premature wear isn't a car issue more than it is just picking the wrong 'type' of tire for my use case. 

I lovemy rt615's on the track car, but have never actually owned another set of Falkens other than that style...

I also have a full set of winter wheels and tires for the car, so cold and snow duty does not apply to this equasion.  I'm looking at Tire rack and other online vendors, and obviously would like to get good value, but am not out for the cheapest 'deal' either... 

Thanks in advance! 

I can report that the DWS06 is excellent in the rain with a surprising amount of grip in the dry. They will let you fudge the winter tire swap until after the first snow as well. Don't quote me on this, but I think the first 2 you listed won't like below 50 degree weather until they warm up a bit. 

DWS = Dry Wet Snow

golfduke said:

Does anyone have strong feelings one way or the other on these tires?  I'm looking for a more reasonable blend of performance with respect to longevity basically.  I don't race or autocross it, and it seems super silly to replace tires annually on a commuter.  I put about 15k miles a year on the car...  I enjoy spirited curvy roads at 'ticket but not jailtime' speeds, the very rare autocross when my track pig is down, and it sees all seasons and conditions because I intend to drive it as the Germans designed.  I do not do burnouts or stupid things, and I only take off from red lights with anger when im, well, angry. 

Car in question is a Panamera Turbo (Big fat pig) with big honkers, but my use case is much more pedestrian (commuting and kid hauling) than racey.  I am more than underwhelmed with the Pilot sport All-seasons (only got about 15k miles on them and they're pretty much beat) and the P-Zeros that were trash in the rain before those, so for this instance, I am ONLY interested in the above.  I have a good friend with a shop, and 4 wheel alignment has been verified as good, and tire wear is even, so I can only believe that premature wear isn't a car issue more than it is just picking the wrong 'type' of tire for my use case. 

I lovemy rt615's on the track car, but have never actually owned another set of Falkens other than that style...

I also have a full set of winter wheels and tires for the car, so cold and snow duty does not apply to this equasion.  I'm looking at Tire rack and other online vendors, and obviously would like to get good value, but am not out for the cheapest 'deal' either... 

Thanks in advance! 

 

 

If you need any snow grip, DWS06 all the way. Very well rounded All Season Tire (not All Weather). Conti 340TW tires are great if your car never expects to see the winter. I hear the Falken FK510s are comparable to the DWS06 but I have never driven on them so I don't really have a say.

If you have snow tires I would lean towards the ECS02, but then again I wouldn't expect them to last overly long. If you want durability, you probably want the DWS06.

On a related note, those michelins have a 45k mile tread warranty, if they're really dead at 15k miles you should be able to put the warranty to use.

Very happy with the DWS06 on our E400, also a big heavy car with big tires.  They are excellent in the wet, I've never hit their dry limit in the street, and they are wearing better than expected.  They are a 3 season tire for us, snows on December through March.  
 

I've used the ECS on several cars (currently on the NSX) and they are not as good in the cold and wear significantly faster.  Excellent in the wet and surprisingly high dry grip for a 340tw. 

I like the ECS02 I have on my CTS-V. Used them for daily driving, autocross and even cold weather driving. They are holding up pretty well, with just about 2 years on them.  The V isn't normally my DD, but sometimes has to be while the regular DD is being fixed.  If I could rotate tires they would hold up even longer, but staggered wheel sizes don't let me.

81cpcamaro said:

I like the ECS02 I have on my CTS-V. Used them for daily driving, autocross and even cold weather driving. They are holding up pretty well, with just about 2 years on them.  The V isn't normally my DD, but sometimes has to be while the regular DD is being fixed.  If I could rotate tires they would hold up even longer, but staggered wheel sizes don't let me.

I feel you on the staggered thing for sure.  I'm leaning ECS02 as well, since it seems to fit the use case the best.  Can you comment on roughly how many miles you have on your set?  I don't need 50k miles, but I'd like to see 20-30k... otherwise I'll just use DWS06 and make sure I'm a better mechanic to stay on top of the track car, haha. 

You might not "need" the ECS 02, but what did you pay for your P car? Wouldn't an Accord have satisfied your "needs." ;)

I love my ECS 02s. One thing I was very surprised at was the improvement in ride quality vs. my previous Indy 500s. These sorts of benefits might to align better with you car.

I had FK510s on a car for a while 5-6 years ago and they seemed good. I wonder if the "real life" TW of the premium UHP summer tires might better than those of the value priced ones. My FiST ate through multiple sets of the value priced varieties pretty quickly.

I put ECS02 on everything I own (and my kids cars) that doesn't see much track use, though the tire is quite capable of that (see also One Lap of America favorite tires).  Amazeballs wet grip and solid dry.  You never know when you are gonna get caught out in a deluge.

If you need some snow use, get the DWS06.

In reply to golfduke :

I'm really happy with the DWS06 I put on my Mustang.  Much better overall traction and handling than the OEM Pirelli P Zero Nero and significantly quieter on the highway in my opinion.

Just because of this statement

"I also have a full set of winter wheels and tires for the car, so cold and snow duty does not apply to this equation."

I'd go for the Extreme Contact Sport 02's.

I have the dws06plus' on my daily and they're fine for driving around in Texas heat and the winters that see a decent number of 30 degree days, plus the road trips to New Mexico where it will be colder and maybe some snow.

But you have that type of winter weather use already covered so I don't see much of a need for the UHP All Seasons.

Addressing the wear question, I have ECS02 on my daily 08 civic, barely any wear after about 20k miles. It's a lighter car at 2800 lbs, the roads are pretty straight here, and they've been criss cross rotated multiple times. I'd guess they've been rotated 20 or so times, whenever I put the autocross tires on. They have five autocross runs on them, pushed hard on an over 90° summer day at Daytona, no chunking or other damage. Amazing in the wet, and very good in the dry. I've never come close to the margin of grip on the street.

I've had a set of DWS on my Ralliart wagon, and the later generation DWS02 on a Mazda five van, superb tires. The Ralliart will be due for a set soon.

Every DWS I've owned has worn out quickly. They are quite good, very soft sidewalls though.

I liked the ECS02 more, but also live in a snow once or twice a year area...where everything shuts down anyways.

In reply to golfduke :

My mileage on tires isn't the best, as the front tires get the edges worn quicker. I will be close to 20K when I change them, which is good, as previous alignment killed the fronts in 10k.

ztnedman1 said:

Every DWS I've owned has worn out quickly. They are quite good, very soft sidewalls though.

 

I liked the ECS02 more, but also live in a snow once or twice a year area...where everything shuts down anyways.

This sounds like a direct quote from me. I couldn't get 15k out of the DWS, and I often felt like they struggled for grip with my JCW. So that's a car with FWD + decent torque, so they *did* have their hands full. This was usually on a commute, too, so they were relatively cool when called upon. I sold that car before putting ECS on it, but my wife has gotten good life out of hers on her G8 GT. Probably 20k miles before replacing the rears. Fronts have a lot more life left. This wear reflects her driving as well as how my wear reflected mine. She'll punch it quite a bit but never really leans on the fronts. I'm sure my DWS would've lasted much longer if I had been gentler on them, but the ECS seem to tolerate mild abuse better. There seems to be a crossover point where the ECS lasts longer in a tough environment, but the DWS lasts longer when driven gently. 

I used DWS on my npc cars in a snow zone. Not the best dry traction, but the best snow traction in category. However you have since you have snow tires that shouldn't be a big consideration. I think the biggest pain point for me is shoulder season. Summers get sketchy before winters really start working well, depending if you have deep snow or cold road snow tires, that might be of varying interest. You'd probably be happiest with the summer tires though. I'd probably optimize for rain traction in that case as it probably means better shoulder season use. I'd probably go with the Conti's as their street tires usually follow the strategy of optimizing for the worst condition they'll likely see rather than being the best at the optimal condition.

I Put ECS 02 on my Boxster and wish I went with the DWS. They are excellent tires, don't get me wrong. But for now I only really commute in this car so the tires are wasted. And on staggered wheels I'm super happy with 25k miles. But again, wasted. 
 

They do ride like butter though. Noticeably smoother than the original ECS on there before

Thanks for the feedback everyone!  DWS for the rears were backordered to November, so I ordered ECS02 this time around, and will see how those go.  

I was going to suggest the ECS02 as well. I run a set of the ECS on my BRZ (the 02s came out right after I installed my wheel/tire setup) and ran a set on my my red '06 Miata. The set on the BRZ only has about 3k on them and I can still see the molded in stuff on the outside treads. If I keep driving the car at this rate, they may drive dry out before wearing out. 

We also have a set of the DWS06 on the '18 Mazda 3. Great grip in the dry, rain, and light snow. 

In reply to z31maniac :

I have about 25-30k on my current non-02 ECSs.  They are at 5 and 6/32 tread depth.