I also have Continental ExtremeContact DWS's on my 09 touring. Here in northern Michigan I can go when I want to. They went on in October.

 

Another vote for the most useless tires especially trying to function after a snow. I added 3 bags of water softner salt for weight which is a minor help. I have the 2010 Touring SE,3500 miles and I'm also unhappy that I have to shell out $$$$ to make this thing anything other than a fair weather vehicle. My question is..what size would be taller than the 215-45-17? 225-45-17 is supposedly 1/2 inch taller?? 215-50-17, 1 inch?? or go with 195-65-15 and wheels?? I'm looking for better ride.

 

Bad tires are not the cars fault. Sorry but even the best all-season tires are junk compared to winter tires. And it's not all about snow traction. All-season tires have a harder rubber compound to be able to adapt to the warm summer temperatures. Winter tires are much softer and don't get as hard in cold temps. But they will wear out VERY quickly when hot. That's why you should use winter tires when the temps are consistently below 45-deg.

And you don't want to go with taller tires. The computer in your car is designed to operate with the factory tire height. Adding too much height causes problems. If you want a softer ride, you need to go to smaller wheels with the same size tire diameter. Go to 16" or 15" wheels; do not add taller tires to your 17" wheels.

 

Appreciate your input. Considered snows but prefer the softer ride year round.

 

Doesn't matter. If you want a "softer ride year round" you'll want 16" or even 15" wheels.

And if you choose to use all-season tires instead of winter tires in the winter than you can't blame the car or the tires. That's complaining your sneekers do a poor job of keeping your feet warm and dry in the snow when you should be wearing boots.

 

If you want a softer ride and want a guide as to what size tire to use, check out a lower version of the car with smaller tires (ie. I have the SE with 17in tires, but my winter's are the 15in that come standard on the GLS...tires installed by my dealer).

 

Nova-
What about going from a 45 to a 50 with the 17" rim? I noticed that the 245/50 17 size has a better selection of tires.

 

That's not going to make a big difference in ride. Keeping the same diameter wheel and increasing the section width creates a taller tire that throws off the speedometer and odometer etc. If you want a softer ride you need to increase the sidewall height while keeping the overall diameter of the tire the same. The only way to do that is to use smaller diameter wheels.

 

From what I've read in online reviews, the Kumho Solus have a good tread life and are good on dry pavement, but notable slippy in the wet. Recommendations are: don't use them at all in winter ice/snow conditions. One other thing in all the reviews I read is these tires don't lose their balance. I notice very little in the way of weights on the rim to balance them too. So really it's a cheap durable tire. I haven't used mine yet because I had the dealer put snows on steel rims when I bought the car. I do like the mag rims that came with my GTS.

However, thanks for the heads up everyone. I won't make the mistake that these are high performance tires. I'll probably go for a premium tire later after these wear down. I do like the alloy rims. I've never been a fan of OEM tires. Besides, you have to suit the tire to yourself. As far as ride, probably a 16" rim and tire would be good.

 

I have been advised by my tire dealer, that i can replace the OEM 215/45-17 with 225/45-17 on my SE with no difficulty at all. He has this size in stock and is saying he can sell me the very slightly wider tire for the same price as the 215. Looking for any comments......