This video was an insane amount of work by everyone involved - really appreciate you watching!!! It was actually quite difficult finding a car that had the same tire size two generations apart, paired with an old tire model & size that was still manufactured today. Really fun test! Also - if anyone is in the market for tires, now's a great time to buy! Purchase a set of 4 qualifying passenger Continental tires between November 1 - 30, 2024 and get a $110 Visa prepaid card by mail. PROMO Link: bit.ly/4h8JHN4 This includes many of the tires I've recently discussed on the channel (ExtremeContact Sport 02, ExtremeContact DWS06+, TrueContact Tour54, Viking Contact 7, and many more)!
@@AmandaPandaPowellYes. We also need a treadwear test to see how many miles the tires last. Because if, despite the equal ratings, the new tires don't last as long, then you're just trading tread life for performance, and this whole video is a moo point. ... Like a cow's opinion. It doesn't matter. Moo.
That's the kind of sponsorships that I love to watch. Not a 60 second bla bla section but actual useful information that by the way promotes their products. Also: Thanks for all the great test results. I didn't expect the tires to make such a dramatic difference.
Really happy to hear it, and this is what I always try to push from sponsors - let's do something that I alone cannot do, and leverage their expertise! Really, really happy with how this came out - Continental has been awesome to work with, and they were happy to help me put my ideas to life at their facilities!! Can't thank them enough.
This kind of thing only works when you have an actual good product that you can stand behind. I'm happy to keep giving Conti and Michelin all the money I saved from not buying ridge wallets, athletic greens, and other garbage
I have this video half shot, at this exact test track too lol. I ran it of time on that trip and haven't been back to finish it. Look forward to watching this❤
Would’ve loved to hear your take. Thanks for making great content about tires! It’s been very helpful in making decisions about what I should buy for my car.
Just bought a set of EXTREMECONTACT SPORT 02 because of this video. Continental please support channels like this. More substance than glamor! Keep up the great work Jason.
This video compliments the #1 piece of life advice that applies to every human being: Never ever skimp out on anything that connects you to the ground. TIRES, shoes, bed, chair, couch.
You guys must go searching for negativity. I don’t see a single one in the comments. In fact this is the closest one with the negative sentiment that “many will complain”.
I had a set of Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires on a 1987 Acura Integra for a few years. With those tires, I was competitive while autocrossing against 9th and 10th generation Honda Civics with nearly 100 more horsepower but on all-season tires.
Amazing! And also - those folks need to drop the all-seasons if they're hitting autocross haha! (If they're going for times, that is, if it's just for fun, send it!)
When I was doing autocross we were always wondering if stock class with r compounds would be faster than the modified classes tha required street legal tires. When I first started everyone said stay in stock. You're not having more fun in in modified, but you're spending more money.
We have a guy that's smoked folks at autocross in much newer cars, year after year. A little driver skill, and some good tires went a long way. His times were comparable to that of his dad, who would often have one of the fastest times in his FD RX-7, while he was driving a barely modified 2000 Civic Si. Those two are excellent drivers, but also make good tire decisions.
@TakeoHope if everyone you're autocrossing with says that, they're probably right. Also I need to look at the rules I haven't in ages. I thought running an R tire put you in modified. Or maybe I misread your comment.
at the most fundamental level, f1 cars are trying to load the tire as much as possible in all driving conditions. you cannot go faster than your tires will allow after all.
The thing I think is crazy about the "old" tire is that, 10 years ago when I was first getting into cars, that particular tire was considered the best summer tire in the wet. It's truly incredible to see the progress Continental has made!
As an automotive engineer and as a big Continental fan, I can put my hand on my heart and say: This video was the most informative review I have ever seen. Well thought out, well executed and well explained. This is something I've been waiting for many years! Job well done!!! Thank you!
@@BanhChui1968swe bias ply tires were what we had before radials became the norm. You just can't comprehend how truly awful traction was back in the day. Flats were also so much more common. Radials technology introduced steel belts in tire construction. Game changer. Tire tech over the past 50 years far exceeds the performance gains of chassis and drivetrains.
Tires are [hopefully] the only part of the car actually touching the ground, so it shouldn't be surprising that they're important. But it is amazing how rapidly they've developed in the past few years. Most people probably thought tires were a solved concern decades ago.
The most interesting thing about this, to me, is that my HP All Season tires only perform as well as a two generation old summer tire, both wet and dry. This really shows you what you loose opting for All Seasons, excluding the much shorter tread life. I couldn't afford to commute on Summer tires and am perfectly happy with my choice, but now I know what's possible with my GTI.
Yep; all-seasons can certainly make sense depending on your needs, but if you can manage to swing a summer tire in the hot months, it's super rewarding to drive!
Of course there must be a trade off for performing well in the cold. Your comment does make me think about this video though: how well do these setups compare in cold conditions? Not ice or snow but maybe +5°C wet and - 5°C dry?
@@hansfm2032 Yes exactly! If you read the manufacturers recommendations, some of these summer tires have to reach a certain termperature before use. Some aren't too unreasonable... if you have a garage.
Of course, you could get a set of cheap steel wheels and mount really good snow tires on them. You get the snow and ice capability of the winter tires, and put only 2/3 the wear on your non-winter "summer" tires. There is no All Season tire that is as good as a winter tire in winter conditions.
@@trackie1957 This is generally what people do no doubt, but some of us live in areas that have cool, wet, snowless, winters. The Performance All Seasons being 80% of a true Summer tire makes having both hard to justify. So much so that it is the default for a large portion of the US who has never tried Summer or Winter tires.
I'm a Michelin man because Conti refuses to sell a 3PMSF four-season tire in the US but what an excellent video. Tires are by far the cheapest and most impactful upgrade you can make.
I knew tire technology had improved over the past decade or so. I just didn't realize how *much* tire technology had improved! Wow! Those are some seriously impressive results!! I think back to when I was a kid in the '70s, and most of the tires out there were bias-ply. (Sure, radials existed, but bias-ply was still far more common.) Can you imagine comparing *those* tires to a modern tire?! The first car I ever bought (in February of '88) was a '76 Oldsmobile Cutlass S. Bought it from my neighbor who'd bought it brand new in the fall of '75. It had bias-plies on it, no joke! Atlas bias-plies from the local Gulf station. Best thing I ever did was upgrade those tires to a nice set of radials. Those bias-plies were like driving on ice when you were on dry pavement! How did any of us ever survive?! 😂
Thank you for putting this together. I always wanted to know, whenever a manufacturer came out with a new car and they claim it's "3 sec faster around Burgerking" if it's really the chassis and suspension improvements and power, or it's mostly tires. Ie. going from F80 M3 to G80. Now we know. Basically you can achieve almost same performance as new car just by upping the tires :)
This is a fantastic comparison. I thought maybe the tire advantage would even the playing field, never would have guessed the tires make more difference than the car.
I've said it time and time again to people when looking at tires, " everything a vehicle has to offer, everything a vehicle is, comes down to it's tires. "
Glad that you made this as consumers *really* need to better understand that tires are the most important part on their car. Cheap, generic tires not only tend to be poor values in terms of both handling and longevity, but they can be downright dangerous. You can be a cheapskate about many things, but not when it comes to tires.
I put the Conti ExtremeContact Sport 7 on my Mk 7.5 Gti last year and it's like it gained 25 hp and a suspension tune. They make every sharp turn the highlight of my day. It's absolutely insane ow much last gen premium tires count to the overall performance of a car.
Finding a functional mk6 GTI was the most impressive part of the video for me. The next most impressive was the wet handling difference between tires/generations. It does make sense though when you really think about it
Great video. High quality content as we expect on this channel. A personal note: I really enojoyed your final words about the experience you had. That really puts a wide smile on my face, seeing you geniuinely joyful after a once in a lifetime experience. You deserve that, for all the effort over the years when you made videos for us. Best wishes, Erik.
Continental tire is so amazing for this! This totally swayed me and I will be getting contis for my next tire. Thank you all who made this video possible.
I think it's worth noting that I recently bought new tires. And the Continental's were a really solid mixture of performance, price, and longevity. But beyond that, I was also confident purchasing them in part because the seem to have a commitment to transparency as shown with the multiple videos. That also played a factor in my decision-making. So, whoever in their marketing department decided to partner up, it was a good call.
Amazing. I run the ECS02s on my VW Sportwagen, excellent tires. Unbelievable results and as Harry Hogge in Days of Thunder tells Cole Trickle...."Tires is what wins a race".
All the work put into this is very much appreciated, and you covered pretty much every aspect except acceleration. Upgrading tires was a major breakthrough for us, making our hot hatch much more manageable. I do think there's a turning point where a car can have sufficient power to cancel out the gains in the turns, but that's for another day!
Way to deliver this information! Instead of usual people wasting time and talking about stuff that doesn't matter your whole video is very informative and useful. Thanks to everyone who worked on this video
I have some new SportContact 7s on my hot hatch since spring this year. I drove on an curvy on ramp, basically a solid long corner going 80km/h (50mph), 3 degress outside and wet... and i could not belive this - this car gripped and even allowed to drive with speed. And it felt safe, no rubbing no stuttering not single bit of sliding. New tires are amazing, the dry grip is even more bonkers
Fascinating! While watching this I was telling myself that you have to swap the tires on the cars to dealing get a true reading of what was happening. I was so happy when you brought it up. It would have been interesting to see how a current set of DWS 06+ tires would do on both cars compared to the summer tires. I run the same size on my 2009 Corolla Turbo S 5MT so that was nice to see that was the tire size tested.
Been buying the Continental DWS line since 2010~. DWS, then DWS06, then DWS06 Plus. Had roughly eight sets now. Probably still the best All Season on the market.
If carwow is comparing the cars on factory tires it shows the manufactures choice. They may could have done better but chose not to for whatever budget reason. Changing tires for more perfomance than is the customers choice.
I recently bought a 2019 GTI and have been having a blast in that cat. This video was so much fun to watch since I have the in-between model to these two cars! Love it
Many years ago, I decided to leave my autocross tires (shaved Yokohama A008s) on the Honda CRX Si that I owned and drove it to work that way for a few days. The tires picked up every rock on the road, but the cornering speeds on my commute were incredible. I remember thinking that, at that moment, I might have the best-handling car on the road in the city.
I suspect there are at least a few of us that just leave their street legal track/autocross tires on the car all the time. I just got sick of changing them every damn weekend, figuring out how to transport them back and forth every weekend, etc. So one day I decided it wasn't worth the effort, and have never gone back. I know some of my buddies have gone the same route. If you have a light car, it's not like highway cruising miles wears away any significant usage off of them anyway.
@@NathanaelNaused Yes it does of course. I'm talking about the popular street legal choices. Even the most aggressive of those don't get ruined or used up just because you drive an hour to the event venue and back.
@ As long as they’re not shaved. While I still had the shaved tires on my CRX, I drove over to a buddy’s house to let him drive it and see what he thought. He’d only been driving for a few minutes when a short rain came out of nowhere. That’s not what you want with those tires.
Great video & amazing amount of useful information. Having ran both sets of tires on multiple performance cars I can genuinely say these are some of my favorite summer tires. Currently running the 02s. After a year & about 5,000 miles I can’t complain.
@@SrKinkosince when? They seem pretty cheap for what you get. IRS the best bang for buck sporty hatch out there. Lots of power capability and not much $$
@@JacesOwnWorld the desirable ones are still expensive, 2019 SE's with good options and low mileage for example. I ended up jumping up to a 2024 since the Mk7s I was cross shopping weren't that much cheaper and with worse financing options.
I put the Extreme Contact Sport 02 through their paces this past summer on my warmed-over 3rd Gen Mazda 3 hatch. I ran down a Focus ST, 350Z, ND Miata, Forester STI, an old E63, and a 550i at the FCP Euro Proving Grounds at Lime Rock Park. Power has its place on straights and coming out of corners, but tires and talent are important everywhere.
This was one of the biggest things I learned when I started actually racing IRL. The difference in my car's handling just from putting a good set of track tires on it was absurd.
Back when I used to play a crap ton of Forza Horizon 4 there was a weekly challenge involving playing Playground Games in a snowy park using old school muscle cars. There was a class restriction which limited what all you could upgrade, and putting snow tires on would exceed the limit except for one car, a Pontiac Firebird. The tradeoff was the Firebird was gutless, but you could turn on a dime. Every. Single. Game. that I had played in the Playground was full of people that were driving the cars with higher power ratings on stock tires. I could out-accelerate, out-brake, and out-maneuver all of them because I had the one thing they didn't, grip. I could have told a story about my real world experiences, but the video game story is far more memorable to me in demonstrating the effectiveness in a more entertaining approach.
Extremely informative Jason. It goes to show how much it is absolutely important the type of tire you have on your vehicle is for safety as well as for stability in handling a vehicle on various road conditions.
4:50 any reason we don't get to see both of your times? How did they compare to the test drivers times? What was the difference between your lap times?
1:15 The performance difference _could_ also simply be due another tyre having a softer compound right? Surely a bubble-gum of a tyre is offering a better performance with a cost of longevity
They both have the same tread wear rating so while the compound is going to be more refined with the newer tire technology this would be comparable performance to a similar “compound” from that era since they basically wear the same.
Unless you drive a lot putting many kilometers in a given time period, the softer compounds are still a better choice... As many cities have either a high Ozone concentration or higher sun UV, or both, making rubber degradation a higher concern than tyre wear. Plus, having to drive together with a lot of ever dumber drivers that drive much worse every year risking crashes, makes having the best, highest grip tyres a better investment, in safety alone! The price difference between more costly better grip tyres, and even the smallest "fender-bender" crash, are in favor of having the highest grip tyres.
This is the kind of car geekery I live for. Side note, I'm finally rocking some proper all-weather tires (Hankook Kinergy 4S2s) on my RWD Lexus this winter. Having survived the last 8 winters on mediocre all-seasons, I expect much improvement and this video gets me extra excited.
See... it isn't ads that people hate. It's how useless, loud and devoid of value ads are most of the time. This information is a clear example that people will sit thru ads if they're been run scientifically, provide value and the host is a known quantity. Well done EE.
Absolutely love this video as it really illustrates that you should not cheap out on tires as they make such a massive difference. Motorcycle tires also made huge leaps over the last few decades and they are so much better than when I started riding in the late 90's.
Sorry but @10:00 you did: New car with Old tires vs Old car with New tires. Too many variables. Here's what I need to know: NC with OT and NT. Then OC with OT and NT.
Great video, Jason! You are so good at keeping complex things simple but also entertaining. And you are also very good at choosing topics that the average car guy, like me, would love to know about. I’m so glad someone is doing this (e.g. you) and doing right!
The extreme contact 02 is a truly jaw dropping tire. I could not believe the grip it had especially in the rain. It was like the ground wasn’t even wet Can’t wait for summer to come back around so I can put them back on my car
How is the road noise? I decided to try a few other tires after I had one of those older ExtremeContact DWs because my winter tires were just so ridiculously quieter. If the new ones are great while managing to care about road noise I might have to give them a serious consideration.
@@EkiToji I drive a miata so to be honest the loudest thing that I hear is the wind noise in the cabin lol. I can't even hear the tires unless I try to focus on it. I'm running a set of Michelin pilot sport AS4s and I can tell you the 02s are quieter than that set of tires. Tire rack has done a review on them here on youtube and it was the quietest tire they had on the test against other competitors
I ran Continental DWS on my 07 Civic Si. Best all-seasons I ever owned by far. They were almost as much fun in the summer as a cheap set of Yokohama summer tires I once ran, and they let me deliver pizzas in a sport coupe on unplowed snowy roads. Absolutely insane.
Same treadwear rating from the same manufacturer, so in theory very similar life. I'd imagine with modern advances though, you probably get more life out of the new tire.
@TheDCJason thats kind of the point tho. Cpmplete every weather test. What are the tires going to do IF you run them in temps theyre not necessarily designed for
I love how the fact that weight is a huge disadvantage, especially on corners in wet conditions, was ignored, and covered by a nice looking power to weight ratio.Tons of power in wet corners will definitely magically solve all overweight problems of heavier and heavier modern cars.
The tests were done later in the video with both tyres on the Mk8, which fully answers this...why do people make comments saying something was missing in testing when they clearly haven't watched half the video 🤔
What an awesome video, great info. Had no idea tire tech was getting so much better with each generation. I drive a bunch of classic cars, and in the Citroën SM world people keep telling me the Michelin XWX or XAS is best for the car, but I run modern tires and feel I get equal or better performance. It would be great to learn if I'm right, this helps a lot in making that argument.
Can be, but this comparison did a reasonably good job of showing that the older car was slightly inferior for the tests they ran. On top of that, they did a final test with the new car on new tires.
Of course it's important to take quite "similar" cars for comparison. The Golf GTI is a perfect candidate for this tbh, having been around for nearly 50 years now without any major change of concept. It's still Front engine, front wheel drive, and the same engineering practices between them. Would have been great if they had the Mk6 with the DSG, too, but that would probably make an even higher gap between the tires, with the Mk6 on new tires being faster anyways. Also, the GTI is not a one-of sports car, it's still an everyday car, built for the masses.
One too many variables. Wanna test tires, test tires using the same car. Or, test all tires on all cars. Maybe this was done... I lost interest around 8:20.
I love how you take your sponsorships and turn them into valuable information! Your passion for tire technology inspired me to do a speech about tires for my public speaking class. I even quoted you in the speech!
You convinced me years ago when you did the hypothetical of better tires vs more HP on an oval track and showed that tires won every time. Always bought the best tires possible since for every car. Glad to see it continue with real world analysis here.
What an excellent test concept, one that was greatly enhanced by the clear and compelling presentation and video editing. Thank you very much for doing all the work to produce this superlative analysis.
Thank you to Jason, and thank you to Continental. I was waiting for the new car with the new tires, versus the old tires. It is incredible what the tire technology has done for performance. Tires have improved performance soooooooo much more than anyone can realize. We have cars that can make 700 to 1000 hp from the factory, and the tires make the performance happen!!!!
Fantastic video! I love tires and I know how important they are for car performance but to see it quantified like this was absolutely brilliant! Thanks so much for this!
I love the fact that you took in consideration the fact that you must have constant variable such as the wheel diameter etc. Unlike other youtubers, the experiment is very well made 👍🏻
This video was an insane amount of work by everyone involved - really appreciate you watching!!! It was actually quite difficult finding a car that had the same tire size two generations apart, paired with an old tire model & size that was still manufactured today. Really fun test!
Also - if anyone is in the market for tires, now's a great time to buy! Purchase a set of 4 qualifying passenger Continental tires between November 1 - 30, 2024 and get a $110 Visa prepaid card by mail. PROMO Link: bit.ly/4h8JHN4 This includes many of the tires I've recently discussed on the channel (ExtremeContact Sport 02, ExtremeContact DWS06+, TrueContact Tour54, Viking Contact 7, and many more)!
I'm so happy for you to hear that you had an awesome time there, and that you were on your element.
You are such an inspiring person. Thank you!
Jason, don't forget that if you have a Continental Credit Card through Tire Rack you get an additional $90 rebate for $200 total back!
@EngineeringExplained Please also test it when it is halfway worn down. The newer tire's threads are not cut nearly as deep as the previous tire.
@@AmandaPandaPowellYes. We also need a treadwear test to see how many miles the tires last. Because if, despite the equal ratings, the new tires don't last as long, then you're just trading tread life for performance, and this whole video is a moo point.
...
Like a cow's opinion. It doesn't matter. Moo.
I am jealous of your time at the Contidrom. We had the best autocrosses there back in the eighties and early nineties.
That's the kind of sponsorships that I love to watch. Not a 60 second bla bla section but actual useful information that by the way promotes their products. Also: Thanks for all the great test results. I didn't expect the tires to make such a dramatic difference.
Really happy to hear it, and this is what I always try to push from sponsors - let's do something that I alone cannot do, and leverage their expertise! Really, really happy with how this came out - Continental has been awesome to work with, and they were happy to help me put my ideas to life at their facilities!! Can't thank them enough.
This kind of thing only works when you have an actual good product that you can stand behind. I'm happy to keep giving Conti and Michelin all the money I saved from not buying ridge wallets, athletic greens, and other garbage
Should've blurred the speedo lol
This!
👍 Marketing can be educational, rather than just an annoyance. Hope this is direction of the industry
I have this video half shot, at this exact test track too lol. I ran it of time on that trip and haven't been back to finish it. Look forward to watching this❤
Hahaha, you've done EVERYTHING!! 🫡
Would’ve loved to hear your take. Thanks for making great content about tires! It’s been very helpful in making decisions about what I should buy for my car.
Yes! More tire videos!
Was just thinking how much you guys need to collaborate on more tire material, and how it ties to the overall vehicle platform. Do it for science 🤓
Cool to see you here! I bought a set of ContiSportContact 7 based on your review. And happy with them, feeling confident in the rain.
As an engineer, I'd like to say:
This is the most important video in automotive UA-cam from the last 10 years.
Thanks Jason.
Just bought a set of EXTREMECONTACT SPORT 02 because of this video. Continental please support channels like this. More substance than glamor! Keep up the great work Jason.
🙏🙏
Please let us know the performance when it is worn down
I run them on a 700hp C6 Z06. Can’t beat high performance tires that come with a tread life warranty, and still isn’t crazy expensive
Are they available in zero pressure/run flat?
@@AmandaPandaPowell Don't ride on worn down tires. Ever. When the marker says it's at the end of it's life... it's at the end of it's life.
This video compliments the #1 piece of life advice that applies to every human being: Never ever skimp out on anything that connects you to the ground. TIRES, shoes, bed, chair, couch.
Can't stress this one enough.
💯, bed,couch,and chair optional 😅.. shoes and tires are a must 👌🏽 💪🏽🤘🏽🤙🏽✌🏽
I bought a cheap couch and it has terrible grip in the wet. Regrets.
It depends, both walking unshod and sleeping on the ground are better for the body, but most people find those two options unacceptable.
If donut did this video it would have been a 6 episode series with half of the data. Thank you for providing so much for us!
Aint that the truth
the channel Tyre Reviews does it better without bias.
And it would have been full of 14-yr-old goofiness that's hard to watch.
@@xtnuser5338 true
'dOeS MOar tIrE eQuaL mOar BeTteR?'
Detailed, thorough, entertaining. I'm sure many will complain.
Hahaha ❤❤
Few hours after video is up and your prediction already has proven to be correct 😂
You guys must go searching for negativity. I don’t see a single one in the comments. In fact this is the closest one with the negative sentiment that “many will complain”.
I don't see anyone complaining. Except you complaining about the non existant complainers, .. and me complaining about your comment.
I had a set of Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires on a 1987 Acura Integra for a few years. With those tires, I was competitive while autocrossing against 9th and 10th generation Honda Civics with nearly 100 more horsepower but on all-season tires.
Amazing! And also - those folks need to drop the all-seasons if they're hitting autocross haha! (If they're going for times, that is, if it's just for fun, send it!)
When I was doing autocross we were always wondering if stock class with r compounds would be faster than the modified classes tha required street legal tires. When I first started everyone said stay in stock. You're not having more fun in in modified, but you're spending more money.
We have a guy that's smoked folks at autocross in much newer cars, year after year. A little driver skill, and some good tires went a long way. His times were comparable to that of his dad, who would often have one of the fastest times in his FD RX-7, while he was driving a barely modified 2000 Civic Si. Those two are excellent drivers, but also make good tire decisions.
@TakeoHope if everyone you're autocrossing with says that, they're probably right.
Also I need to look at the rules I haven't in ages. I thought running an R tire put you in modified. Or maybe I misread your comment.
@@goosenotmaverick1156 This was scca 20 years ago. The rules may be a little different at this point.
There's only one conclusion here. VW have progressed a lot less than Continental in the last 15 years... 😂
if Adrian Newey says that a car design starts with its tires, you shut up, and listen.
Yes, I’m sure a Camry design started with its tire choice. 😂
Calm down kid
at the most fundamental level, f1 cars are trying to load the tire as much as possible in all driving conditions. you cannot go faster than your tires will allow after all.
@@juancuelloespinosaTrue but that's why aerodynamics is so important. The tire performance is proportional to down force after all.
@@TML34the suspension design of a camry starts with the tire choice. As it does in every vehicle.
The thing I think is crazy about the "old" tire is that, 10 years ago when I was first getting into cars, that particular tire was considered the best summer tire in the wet. It's truly incredible to see the progress Continental has made!
As an automotive engineer and as a big Continental fan, I can put my hand on my heart and say: This video was the most informative review I have ever seen. Well thought out, well executed and well explained. This is something I've been waiting for many years!
Job well done!!!
Thank you!
My dad tells me the greatest leap forward in car technology during his 65 year lifetime has been the jump from bias ply to steel wall radials.
What's bias ply and steel wall radials? Is it regarding wheels and tires or something else about the car?
@@BanhChui1968swe bias ply tires were what we had before radials became the norm. You just can't comprehend how truly awful traction was back in the day.
Flats were also so much more common. Radials technology introduced steel belts in tire construction. Game changer.
Tire tech over the past 50 years far exceeds the performance gains of chassis and drivetrains.
@@russelloppenheimer3970 ooh ok so it's regarding tires, I see alright.
Continental has just scored my next tire cycle. Thank you both for the excellent content!
Appreciate it, thanks for watching!!
imho they're the best winter tires too
And motorcylce tires
Guess i have to buy new tires for my mk8 now 🤑 😢
@@thomas_coastyou’re running sport 02’s in the winter?
Tires are [hopefully] the only part of the car actually touching the ground, so it shouldn't be surprising that they're important. But it is amazing how rapidly they've developed in the past few years. Most people probably thought tires were a solved concern decades ago.
I knew tires were important but damn I did not realize just how much really good tires could make up for lol.
A comparison I never thought about but loved every second of it.
The most interesting thing about this, to me, is that my HP All Season tires only perform as well as a two generation old summer tire, both wet and dry. This really shows you what you loose opting for All Seasons, excluding the much shorter tread life. I couldn't afford to commute on Summer tires and am perfectly happy with my choice, but now I know what's possible with my GTI.
Yep; all-seasons can certainly make sense depending on your needs, but if you can manage to swing a summer tire in the hot months, it's super rewarding to drive!
Of course there must be a trade off for performing well in the cold. Your comment does make me think about this video though: how well do these setups compare in cold conditions? Not ice or snow but maybe +5°C wet and - 5°C dry?
@@hansfm2032 Yes exactly! If you read the manufacturers recommendations, some of these summer tires have to reach a certain termperature before use. Some aren't too unreasonable... if you have a garage.
Of course, you could get a set of cheap steel wheels and mount really good snow tires on them. You get the snow and ice capability of the winter tires, and put only 2/3 the wear on your non-winter "summer" tires. There is no All Season tire that is as good as a winter tire in winter conditions.
@@trackie1957 This is generally what people do no doubt, but some of us live in areas that have cool, wet, snowless, winters. The Performance All Seasons being 80% of a true Summer tire makes having both hard to justify. So much so that it is the default for a large portion of the US who has never tried Summer or Winter tires.
I'm a Michelin man because Conti refuses to sell a 3PMSF four-season tire in the US but what an excellent video. Tires are by far the cheapest and most impactful upgrade you can make.
Also: You have to get some new tires sometime, anyway. Don't buy cheap tires!
The AllSeasonContact 2 isn't sold in the US? It's a great tyre!
@ Nope!
I wouldn’t say cheapest anymore tbh. Best value yes but tires are mad expensive now
@@collinwall5169 What’s cheaper than tires? A stage 1 ECU tune is less but will only impact acceleration.
" Power is Nothing Without Control " Pirelli, since 1993 i think.
Best fit for a slogan ever
I knew tire technology had improved over the past decade or so. I just didn't realize how *much* tire technology had improved! Wow! Those are some seriously impressive results!!
I think back to when I was a kid in the '70s, and most of the tires out there were bias-ply. (Sure, radials existed, but bias-ply was still far more common.) Can you imagine comparing *those* tires to a modern tire?!
The first car I ever bought (in February of '88) was a '76 Oldsmobile Cutlass S. Bought it from my neighbor who'd bought it brand new in the fall of '75. It had bias-plies on it, no joke! Atlas bias-plies from the local Gulf station. Best thing I ever did was upgrade those tires to a nice set of radials. Those bias-plies were like driving on ice when you were on dry pavement! How did any of us ever survive?! 😂
It makes me wonder what a GT40 would do with the most modern summer tire.
Thank you for putting this together. I always wanted to know, whenever a manufacturer came out with a new car and they claim it's "3 sec faster around Burgerking" if it's really the chassis and suspension improvements and power, or it's mostly tires. Ie. going from F80 M3 to G80. Now we know. Basically you can achieve almost same performance as new car just by upping the tires :)
So, don't buy a new car, buy new tires!
Haha exactly!
F that id rather have a new car than my rio
This is a fantastic comparison. I thought maybe the tire advantage would even the playing field, never would have guessed the tires make more difference than the car.
Thanks - yeah, it's really impressive to see, and I think really drives home that tires play such a critical role in performance!
I've said it time and time again to people when looking at tires, " everything a vehicle has to offer, everything a vehicle is, comes down to it's tires. "
Glad that you made this as consumers *really* need to better understand that tires are the most important part on their car. Cheap, generic tires not only tend to be poor values in terms of both handling and longevity, but they can be downright dangerous. You can be a cheapskate about many things, but not when it comes to tires.
I put the Conti ExtremeContact Sport 7 on my Mk 7.5 Gti last year and it's like it gained 25 hp and a suspension tune. They make every sharp turn the highlight of my day. It's absolutely insane ow much last gen premium tires count to the overall performance of a car.
I've seriously been thinking about this for a long time. Turns out I'm not the only one. Thanks Jason
Finding a functional mk6 GTI was the most impressive part of the video for me. The next most impressive was the wet handling difference between tires/generations. It does make sense though when you really think about it
Great video. High quality content as we expect on this channel. A personal note: I really enojoyed your final words about the experience you had. That really puts a wide smile on my face, seeing you geniuinely joyful after a once in a lifetime experience. You deserve that, for all the effort over the years when you made videos for us. Best wishes, Erik.
I run Continental ECS 02 tires on my Mk.7 GTI. The car handles so much better now. I love these tires
Continental tire is so amazing for this! This totally swayed me and I will be getting contis for my next tire. Thank you all who made this video possible.
I prayed for something like this. Thank you and Continental for feeding my excitement for tires!
I think it's worth noting that I recently bought new tires. And the Continental's were a really solid mixture of performance, price, and longevity. But beyond that, I was also confident purchasing them in part because the seem to have a commitment to transparency as shown with the multiple videos. That also played a factor in my decision-making.
So, whoever in their marketing department decided to partner up, it was a good call.
Amazing. I run the ECS02s on my VW Sportwagen, excellent tires. Unbelievable results and as Harry Hogge in Days of Thunder tells Cole Trickle...."Tires is what wins a race".
We all know how much Jason loves oil and by larger degree, tires!😊
Well, tires _are_ oil.
@@altosackpartially, good tires also use real rubber, it’s a major component to the price difference.
@@altosack tires are made of oil but don't oil your tires.
Nodiddy
Thanks!
killer video man. loves these deep dives and comparisons.
All the work put into this is very much appreciated, and you covered pretty much every aspect except acceleration. Upgrading tires was a major breakthrough for us, making our hot hatch much more manageable. I do think there's a turning point where a car can have sufficient power to cancel out the gains in the turns, but that's for another day!
I never tired hear Jason's jokes, keep up the good writing man
u mean TIREd?
Your content is like Chris fix, entertaining, direct, and detailed
Thanks Jason, I never tire of your engineering explanations!
I watched this while eating brake fast
I hope you didn't choke
Way to deliver this information! Instead of usual people wasting time and talking about stuff that doesn't matter your whole video is very informative and useful. Thanks to everyone who worked on this video
I have some new SportContact 7s on my hot hatch since spring this year.
I drove on an curvy on ramp, basically a solid long corner going 80km/h (50mph), 3 degress outside and wet... and i could not belive this - this car gripped and even allowed to drive with speed.
And it felt safe, no rubbing no stuttering not single bit of sliding.
New tires are amazing, the dry grip is even more bonkers
I run them both on my e53 coupe and grecale trofeo. On winter tires both cars are horrible, but with them, it's like on rails
I have always researched and never skimped on tyres. This kind of thorough testing confirms why. Great stuff, Jason.
Simply AMAZING Jason! E Cubed! Entertaining, Enlightening and Educational!!! One of your best yet!!! 💪👍
Fascinating! While watching this I was telling myself that you have to swap the tires on the cars to dealing get a true reading of what was happening. I was so happy when you brought it up. It would have been interesting to see how a current set of DWS 06+ tires would do on both cars compared to the summer tires. I run the same size on my 2009 Corolla Turbo S 5MT so that was nice to see that was the tire size tested.
The old tires are gonna lose I think
The moment we heard that Continental was involved, it was pretty clear 😂
@@leksasdf Yup, the "sponsord by continental" gave the answer away.
@@Lassitude1001as well as the "TIRES ARE EVERYTHING" thumbnail
Yeah, that was obvious. Tire tech doesn't go backward. More interesting to know by how much.
@@leksasdfTBF that doesn't mean it's wrong, just that they had something that made them look good they wanted to share.
Been buying the Continental DWS line since 2010~.
DWS, then DWS06, then DWS06 Plus. Had roughly eight sets now. Probably still the best All Season on the market.
No they’re not better than the Michelin PSAS4. The only tire that competes with any Michelins are these Sport 02’s.
This makes carwows and other UA-camrs drag race and braking comparison between the different cars pointless
Bingo. You can watch it for entertainment value, but trying to assess anything without proper tyre parity is pointless.
If carwow is comparing the cars on factory tires it shows the manufactures choice. They may could have done better but chose not to for whatever budget reason. Changing tires for more perfomance than is the customers choice.
Carwow isn't testing new cars with two-generation older tires.
Carwow annoys me. It is entertainment not information. I do not watch Carwow very much now because it is um, childish.
You should watch tyre reviews
I recently bought a 2019 GTI and have been having a blast in that cat. This video was so much fun to watch since I have the in-between model to these two cars! Love it
By far my most favorite UA-cam channel. As an engineer myself, I love this.
Great video. Always enjoyed EVO magazine doing tests like this on different manufacturers tyres.
Many years ago, I decided to leave my autocross tires (shaved Yokohama A008s) on the Honda CRX Si that I owned and drove it to work that way for a few days. The tires picked up every rock on the road, but the cornering speeds on my commute were incredible. I remember thinking that, at that moment, I might have the best-handling car on the road in the city.
That's a fun thought experiment and I would believe it too
I suspect there are at least a few of us that just leave their street legal track/autocross tires on the car all the time. I just got sick of changing them every damn weekend, figuring out how to transport them back and forth every weekend, etc. So one day I decided it wasn't worth the effort, and have never gone back. I know some of my buddies have gone the same route. If you have a light car, it's not like highway cruising miles wears away any significant usage off of them anyway.
@@xtnuser5338 It depends on how aggressive your autocross/track tires are
@@NathanaelNaused Yes it does of course. I'm talking about the popular street legal choices. Even the most aggressive of those don't get ruined or used up just because you drive an hour to the event venue and back.
@ As long as they’re not shaved. While I still had the shaved tires on my CRX, I drove over to a buddy’s house to let him drive it and see what he thought. He’d only been driving for a few minutes when a short rain came out of nowhere. That’s not what you want with those tires.
Great video & amazing amount of useful information. Having ran both sets of tires on multiple performance cars I can genuinely say these are some of my favorite summer tires. Currently running the 02s. After a year & about 5,000 miles I can’t complain.
Here goes mk6 and mk7 prices through the roof!! Thanks. 😊
Mk7 prices have *been* through the roof lol
@@SrKinko I would rather take a sixth or 8th generation, made in 🇩🇪
@@SrKinkosince when? They seem pretty cheap for what you get. IRS the best bang for buck sporty hatch out there. Lots of power capability and not much $$
@@JacesOwnWorld the desirable ones are still expensive, 2019 SE's with good options and low mileage for example. I ended up jumping up to a 2024 since the Mk7s I was cross shopping weren't that much cheaper and with worse financing options.
I would say they both matter, but the question is what matters MORE.
I put the Extreme Contact Sport 02 through their paces this past summer on my warmed-over 3rd Gen Mazda 3 hatch. I ran down a Focus ST, 350Z, ND Miata, Forester STI, an old E63, and a 550i at the FCP Euro Proving Grounds at Lime Rock Park. Power has its place on straights and coming out of corners, but tires and talent are important everywhere.
Any driver with seat time at a track will agree with you 1000%!
This was one of the biggest things I learned when I started actually racing IRL. The difference in my car's handling just from putting a good set of track tires on it was absurd.
Terrific subject. Excellent video. Well conceived. Well executed. Thanks.
This is incredible information! Never buying a new car again, only buying the best tires I can. Thanks for doing this, the results are fascinating.
continental is such a sick partner, use their tires on multiple cars
What an experience for you,and an awesome way to illustrate the importance of picking the right tire.
Back when I used to play a crap ton of Forza Horizon 4 there was a weekly challenge involving playing Playground Games in a snowy park using old school muscle cars. There was a class restriction which limited what all you could upgrade, and putting snow tires on would exceed the limit except for one car, a Pontiac Firebird. The tradeoff was the Firebird was gutless, but you could turn on a dime. Every. Single. Game. that I had played in the Playground was full of people that were driving the cars with higher power ratings on stock tires. I could out-accelerate, out-brake, and out-maneuver all of them because I had the one thing they didn't, grip.
I could have told a story about my real world experiences, but the video game story is far more memorable to me in demonstrating the effectiveness in a more entertaining approach.
Thank you for your service
Interesting, the meta in that game for dirt is stock tires from d to b class with AWD from memory, do you remember which class this was?
@@lincolndethomasis6602 Afraid not. It's been 5 years since I last played it. I lived off it on release, then interest just kinda died out.
Extremely informative Jason. It goes to show how much it is absolutely important the type of tire you have on your vehicle is for safety as well as for stability in handling a vehicle on various road conditions.
You should have gotten old tires on old car times also. Maybe the old car wasn't as bad as you assumed.
Are you hurt or genuine
4:50 any reason we don't get to see both of your times? How did they compare to the test drivers times? What was the difference between your lap times?
Good question
1:15 The performance difference _could_ also simply be due another tyre having a softer compound right? Surely a bubble-gum of a tyre is offering a better performance with a cost of longevity
They both have the same tread wear rating so while the compound is going to be more refined with the newer tire technology this would be comparable performance to a similar “compound” from that era since they basically wear the same.
@@LoganLeGrand There's the bit of extra info I was looking for, thanks!
Unless you drive a lot putting many kilometers in a given time period, the softer compounds are still a better choice... As many cities have either a high Ozone concentration or higher sun UV, or both, making rubber degradation a higher concern than tyre wear. Plus, having to drive together with a lot of ever dumber drivers that drive much worse every year risking crashes, makes having the best, highest grip tyres a better investment, in safety alone! The price difference between more costly better grip tyres, and even the smallest "fender-bender" crash, are in favor of having the highest grip tyres.
This is the kind of car geekery I live for. Side note, I'm finally rocking some proper all-weather tires (Hankook Kinergy 4S2s) on my RWD Lexus this winter. Having survived the last 8 winters on mediocre all-seasons, I expect much improvement and this video gets me extra excited.
See... it isn't ads that people hate. It's how useless, loud and devoid of value ads are most of the time. This information is a clear example that people will sit thru ads if they're been run scientifically, provide value and the host is a known quantity. Well done EE.
Appreciate it, thanks for watching! Really proud of what we were able to put together here, it's fascinating info!
Absolutely love this video as it really illustrates that you should not cheap out on tires as they make such a massive difference. Motorcycle tires also made huge leaps over the last few decades and they are so much better than when I started riding in the late 90's.
Sorry but @10:00 you did: New car with Old tires vs Old car with New tires. Too many variables. Here's what I need to know: NC with OT and NT. Then OC with OT and NT.
Agreed. I wet and googled the MRK6 v MRK8 breaking distance from factory. I think they were the same
The point was only to show that the new car is faster then the old car.
Great video, Jason! You are so good at keeping complex things simple but also entertaining. And you are also very good at choosing topics that the average car guy, like me, would love to know about. I’m so glad someone is doing this (e.g. you) and doing right!
The extreme contact 02 is a truly jaw dropping tire. I could not believe the grip it had especially in the rain. It was like the ground wasn’t even wet
Can’t wait for summer to come back around so I can put them back on my car
How is the road noise? I decided to try a few other tires after I had one of those older ExtremeContact DWs because my winter tires were just so ridiculously quieter. If the new ones are great while managing to care about road noise I might have to give them a serious consideration.
@@EkiToji I drive a miata so to be honest the loudest thing that I hear is the wind noise in the cabin lol. I can't even hear the tires unless I try to focus on it. I'm running a set of Michelin pilot sport AS4s and I can tell you the 02s are quieter than that set of tires.
Tire rack has done a review on them here on youtube and it was the quietest tire they had on the test against other competitors
I ran Continental DWS on my 07 Civic Si. Best all-seasons I ever owned by far. They were almost as much fun in the summer as a cheap set of Yokohama summer tires I once ran, and they let me deliver pizzas in a sport coupe on unplowed snowy roads. Absolutely insane.
My next question would be if those two tires last roughly the same amount of miles before they wear out.
Same treadwear rating from the same manufacturer, so in theory very similar life. I'd imagine with modern advances though, you probably get more life out of the new tire.
Wear is always dependent on driver.
@ghoulbuster1 Yes and no
The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S
You can t beat them.
Can confirm
Pilot Sport 5's?
@@TheBreakfastLover PS-5 are the sucessors to PS-4, not PS-4S. You want to check PS-S5 instead.
Depends on which metric you are measuring.
@@stenyak untrue, but even if it was, it's irrelevant
I love how much you love tires. It’s actually contagious…
Can you all at least watch till the end before commenting?
I usually pause the video and comment on a specific point so I don't forget. Then finish the video.
Is this what you're referring to?
I've ran the non-02 tire on two previous cars and loved it. Looking forward to getting a set of the DWS 02s soon.
Should repeat this comparison, on cold dry roads and snow
It'd be better if he did it with winter tires. You don't want to run performance tires in the winter.
@TheDCJason thats kind of the point tho. Cpmplete every weather test. What are the tires going to do IF you run them in temps theyre not necessarily designed for
This is one of the best videos I've ever seen on YT. Thanks, Jason.
Newer tires will have more grip, i.e. more friction, which means more power loss, so the old tires will def be faster.
(This is a joke, btw)
Tires are the only thing keeping you on the road. This is why I have bought Premium Contact 6s for my 2008 KIA Cee'd. Thank you for this amazing test!
I love how the fact that weight is a huge disadvantage, especially on corners in wet conditions, was ignored, and covered by a nice looking power to weight ratio.Tons of power in wet corners will definitely magically solve all overweight problems of heavier and heavier modern cars.
You can’t ignore physics….until our business plan requires ignoring physics.
The tests were done later in the video with both tyres on the Mk8, which fully answers this...why do people make comments saying something was missing in testing when they clearly haven't watched half the video 🤔
50kgs is nothing come down there. The mk8 has better distribution and advanced suspension
@@ApothecaryTerry cause he's miserable
@@ApothecaryTerry👏👏👏
What an awesome video, great info. Had no idea tire tech was getting so much better with each generation. I drive a bunch of classic cars, and in the Citroën SM world people keep telling me the Michelin XWX or XAS is best for the car, but I run modern tires and feel I get equal or better performance. It would be great to learn if I'm right, this helps a lot in making that argument.
"Old car" has no meaning. An old car can be a beast.
Can be, but this comparison did a reasonably good job of showing that the older car was slightly inferior for the tests they ran. On top of that, they did a final test with the new car on new tires.
Of course it's important to take quite "similar" cars for comparison. The Golf GTI is a perfect candidate for this tbh, having been around for nearly 50 years now without any major change of concept. It's still Front engine, front wheel drive, and the same engineering practices between them. Would have been great if they had the Mk6 with the DSG, too, but that would probably make an even higher gap between the tires, with the Mk6 on new tires being faster anyways. Also, the GTI is not a one-of sports car, it's still an everyday car, built for the masses.
I’m upgrading my redeye tires to these thanks to you! Great video
One too many variables. Wanna test tires, test tires using the same car. Or, test all tires on all cars. Maybe this was done... I lost interest around 8:20.
He did this at the end of the video. Watch the whole thing before getting upset for no reason.
They showed that the new car was faster then the old car and they showed that the new tires were faster then the old tires.
The armchair expert has spoken.
Fantastic content! Thank you and thank you Continental!
I have watched nearly every video you have ever made and this is without a doubt one of the best and most informative. Really great stuff!
I love how you take your sponsorships and turn them into valuable information! Your passion for tire technology inspired me to do a speech about tires for my public speaking class. I even quoted you in the speech!
You convinced me years ago when you did the hypothetical of better tires vs more HP on an oval track and showed that tires won every time.
Always bought the best tires possible since for every car.
Glad to see it continue with real world analysis here.
What an excellent test concept, one that was greatly enhanced by the clear and compelling presentation and video editing. Thank you very much for doing all the work to produce this superlative analysis.
Thank you to Jason, and thank you to Continental. I was waiting for the new car with the new tires, versus the old tires. It is incredible what the tire technology has done for performance. Tires have improved performance soooooooo much more than anyone can realize. We have cars that can make 700 to 1000 hp from the factory, and the tires make the performance happen!!!!
been running the sport 02s on my golf this summer, excellent tire. Been really happy with them
Fantastic video! I love tires and I know how important they are for car performance but to see it quantified like this was absolutely brilliant! Thanks so much for this!
The end made me so happy for you!!!
I love seeing you smile like that when you were sharing how you felt about having this opportunity :3
Continental did such a great move helping out for this! Thanks for this enlightenment
I love the fact that you took in consideration the fact that you must have constant variable such as the wheel diameter etc.
Unlike other youtubers, the experiment is very well made 👍🏻