Continental DWS 06 Plus tires on Tesla

Cybertruck delayed. Unfortunately, that means I had to buy new tires for my 3. I kicked around getting the Michelin Cross Climate 2, but that is a heavily winter oriented all season and fairly pricey over $200 per tire (18″).

Looking around for something that has better dry traction, but still reasonable snow traction and that I could buy from my great local tire center, and I found the Continental DWS 06 Plus (new and improved in every way version).

Cost was a bit over $900 out the door including tax, road hazard and lifetime rotation. The Michelins would have been closer $1100.

The Continental tires are low rolling resistance, as are many new tires. Initial impressions is they are quieter than my OEM Michelin Primacy tires, but they were starting to drone as tread wore out. Ride quality is much improved, but they do have a slightly more hollow sound (hard to explain), likely due to lack of sound foam. I didn’t notice this after driving for a bit.

Initial energy use test shows these are more efficient than my Primacy, even with Aero caps off and 5 PSI low in tires vs caps on and 5 PSI higher on Primacy. I had to take slightly different route, but I don’t think it accounts for all the difference. I achieved 226 Wh/mile instead of 237 in Primacy with caps off (230 with caps on). Average speed was similar.

Once the bridge construction is over I will use the DWS with 42 PSI and try again. Overall though I suspect no range drop, or at least not significant. Maybe even slight improvement, and it is a cheaper tire and overall better performing.

I will follow up on dry, wet, and snow handling.