Both the Yokohama’s Advan Sport AS Plus and the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 Plus coming in under ultra high performance all season category, giving you great dynamic capabilities. But which tire is still better here? Well, let’s find out.
As a tire engineer, my tests show that the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus excels in wet and dry conditions, overall, while the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ stands out in terms of directional grip (in dry), fuel efficiency, tread life, and ride comfort.
Table of Contents
Info about their Sizes
On the other side, the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 Plus comes in 16 to 22 inches rims. And all those sizes have following specifications.
- Speed ratings: W and Y.
- Load ratings: SL and XL only.
- Tread depth: 10/32″ on all.
- Weight range: 18 to 35 lbs.
- Treadwear warranty: 50k miles.
- UTQG rating: 560 AA.
The Yokohama Advan Sport AS Plus comes in 16 to 21 inches rims, and they have the following specs.
- Speed ratings: W and Y.
- Load ratings: SL and XL.
- Tread depth: 11/32″ on all.
- Weight range: 21 to 33 lbs.
- Treadwear warranty: 55k miles.
- UTQG rating: 440 AA A.
Construction of Both Tires
Let’s start here with the Yokohama’s asymmetric tread design.
The center of its tread (with 3 ribs), has a more pronounced design than its edge.
The middle most rib is the narrowest, but is pretty biting, forming zigzag off-set edges, notches and siping.
The adjacent ribs are thicker, and so they naturally nave more pronounced in-groove biters.
Though one of those have linear sipes, while other carry a wave-like siping pattern.
Moving towards shoulders, they carry almost similar features on both sides, and are less aggressive relatively (as they are pretty packed up)
Though they still have lateral voids and biters on them.
Internally, the tire features a single ply polyester casing with twin steel belts, reinforced by spirally wrapped nylon on top.
The ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus on the other side, although also offers asymmetric tread, its more aggressive.
Now this tire has 4 total ribs or you can say group-columns of blocks, where of course the central one is on the spotlight.
Here, squared shaped lugs are clearly seen with plus shaped full depth siping.
Due to their inter-connectivity, they offer superb water clearing abilities, while maintaining grip on dry.
And for winter, they carry snow vices (which are also seen on one of the adjacent and shoulder ribs).
Speaking of which shoulder lugs are pretty boring, where there aren’t any tread features except for lateral linear siping.
Internally, the tire comes with 2 ply polyester, with 2 steel belts on top, and a single ply nylon cap ply on the very top (just beneath its tread’s rubber).
Overall Dry Performance
Dry performance can be broken down into three main components. Two of these are associated with traction – namely directional and lateral grip, while the third describes steering characteristics.
Let’s check them all out one by one.
Directional Grip
Directional grip pertains to its capacity to maintain longitudinal stability. That’s why its measured by the tire’s braking efficacy.
And yes, this grip is primarily influenced by the central portion of the tire tread.
So it makes sense why the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ offers superior results here (even though its marginally better).
As highlighted in the tread design section above, it comes with three distinct biting ribs, which ensure a steady rubber-to-road contact due to their continuous running structure.
And this streamlined design of the tire, combined with its multi-directional in-groove slanted notches further enhance the tire’s braking capabilities.
On the other hand, the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus is although pretty great, its lugs aren’t as streamlined longitudinally.
And since its more voided up too, its not able to give out as much directional grip in comparison, with limited rubber to road contact.
Yet, when it comes to overall handling, the tire quickly redeems itself, outperforming by a significant margin.
Overall Handling
Handling can be understood in two primary components: lateral grip and the tire’s steering feedback/response.
When considering these aspects, the Yokohama Advan Sport AS Plus falls short, where its lacking performance in lateral traction is noticeable, as evidenced by its marginally reduced average lateral g-forces.
Additionally, while the tire does exhibit decent steering response, it doesn’t provide drivers with a precise feel for the grip level or wheel positioning.
And this limits the preciseness of the steering, where the guy on the wheels doesn’t understand how much traction is available (while cornering).
Consequently, this lack of clarity mostly leads to understeering, where the car’s front doesn’t turn as intended (though its still manageable).
On the other hand, the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus offers a better and a very clear-cut steering feedback during mid-cornering and a distinct on-center feel upon exiting the corner, leading to superior overall performance.
I mean sure the Yokohama, leading in directional grip, provides faster entry, it tends to fall behind during the mid and exit phases of the turn.
For clarification, I am basically referring to the 3 phases of cornering.
First is the entry, where braking occurs. This is followed by the mid-corner phase, where the tire’s traction limit is tested. Finally, during the exit phase, as the tire aligns straight, it signals the time to accelerate once more.
Wet Performance
Evaluating wet road performance requires emphasis on two paramount areas: steering traction and the tire’s hydroplaning resistance.
Let’s get into each aspect.
Wet Traction
In wet conditions, the Yokohama Advan Sport AS Plus performs decently, though it doesn’t reach the pinnacle of performance within its ultra high performance all-season class.
So, what’s the deal here?
Well the tire although offers superb grip with its interlocking and rectilinear siping, its still lacks when it comes to “precision” in terms of its steering response.
And that’s where the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus comes in, offering better overall handling (as seen by its faster lap times on tests).
In fact, it outperforms all its competitors, and not just the Yokohama here. But how is it doing that?
Well, three primary factors contribute here:
- The tire offers a more intuitive and communicative steering response.
- It has a lot more biters, which includes full-depth interlocking siping and a myriad of traction enhancers placed strategically. The sipes basically clear off the path, by soaking up water particles.
- And it offers better and more enhanced hydroplaning resistance.
Let me explain this 3rd point in the next section.
Hydroplaning Resistance
Hydroplaning resistance is fundamentally anchored in a tire’s capacity to expel water from its tread, primarily through its grooves.
This function prevents the formation of a water layer between the tread and road surface, which can induce hydroplaning, causing the tires to lose contact and “float.”
Now Continental DWS06+ with its enhanced aquaplaning resistance ensures more efficient water evacuation, reducing the workload on the sipes, adding to its wet traction, (where its sipes already don’t need any help).
On the other hand, with missing lateral connectivity of its circumferential grooves, the Yokohama Advan Sport AS Plus isn’t able to clear off water with similar efficacy.
Basically its compacted up shoulders and continuous running ribs impede lateral water displacement. And so, you get lower straight and cornering aqua speeds compared to Continental.
Fuel Consumption
Tire rolling resistance, which directly impacts fuel efficiency, is primarily determined by three factors: the tire’s weight, its rubber composition, and the tread design.
And here, the ADVAN Sport A/S+ is slightly better.
It features a “flatter contour profile”, specifically designed to optimize the contact patch and evenly distribute pressure over an extended period.
Additionally, it benefits from a lightweight internal structure that incorporates a single ply of polyester and a nylon cap ply.
So Yokohama offers better fuel economy compared to ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus.
Continental basically lacks with its increased weight, which exerts more pressure on the lugs as they make contact with the road.
Such pressure promotes lug bending, a phenomenon detrimental to fuel economy, because here energy is wasted/converted into heat and into the reshaping of the lugs, for the most part.
Winter Traction
Both tires, though offer good enough winter traction, they lack the 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake certification.
(This certification basically tells that the tire is almost 10% superior acceleration wise, compared to standard all-season tires without this label.)
So it makes sense why they both don’t do so great on ice, though their performance in “snow“ is still appreciable.
On one side, the Yokohama Advan Sport AS Plus offers features such as zigzag longitudinal grooves at its tread’s center, diagonally oriented in-groove biters on the inner ribs, and lateral notches on the shoulders.
While on the other side, the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus is equipped with interlocking central lugs and an abundance of biting edges on its tread.
Collectively, these design elements trap snow particles, allowing for effective snow-on-snow traction, a necessity given snow’s natural tendency to bind more readily to itself than to rubber.
Ride Smoothness
The ride comfort offered by a tire is gauged by its capacity to absorb road imperfections, with its material composition being a crucial factor.
And here the Yokohama Advan Sport AS Plus, although provides a ride quality which is on par with most other performance tires (in its category), its performance is only limited to minor bumps inconsistencies in the road surface.
And it faces challenges, when it comes to bigger, substantial bumps, where the tire’s flexibility seems to reach its limit sooner.
Still, its ride comfort surpasses that of the ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus.
The Continental’s deficiency basically comes from its stiffer nylon cap ply, predominantly around the shoulders.
And this rigidity prevents it from adequately absorbing road vibrations, leading to a more noticeable impact (as seen on my subjective testing).
Tread Life
Evaluating the lifespan of a tire’s tread requires a detailed examination of various elements, such as tread depth, rolling resistance, and the materials used in the tire’s makeup.
Now given their classification as ultra-high-performance A/S tires, one might not anticipate remarkable results form them. But in comparison here, the Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+ still takes the lead.
This is mainly due to its stiffer rubber compound combined with its greater tread depth offering.
The stiffer rubber naturally resists wear more effectively, while the added tread depth ensures a longer duration before the tire reaches the minimum legal tread depth of 2/32″ in the USA for replacement.
To Conclude
Both tires have their own strengths and areas of specialization, so it all comes down to your specific needs.
The Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus distinguishes itself with superior overall handling, particularly in wet conditions, showcasing superior steering traction and hydroplaning resistance. This is attributed to its well designed elements that enhance wet traction and ensure efficient water evacuation.
Yokohama Advan Sport A/S+, on the other side, excels in dry performance, particularly in the domain of directional grip, and further stands out in terms of fuel efficiency and ride smoothness.
Moreover, although it handles minor road inconsistencies well, it needs some help dealing with larger bumps, though my overall subjective testing here puts Yokohama better, still.
