i finally had a chance to take new set of DWS up to tahoe.
Initially I was a little concerned as they felt a lot squishier than the OEM ones in casual city driving.

However, up in the mountains they did perform extremely well, you feel that the extra squishiness is the extra width helping grip on the curves instead of the skinnier OEM tires which would slip and chirp.

Additionally as the snowiest rated of non-snow tires; they felt soft and supple and soft in cold weather (10F), as compared to the OEMs which I recall would feel like an old pencil eraser.

 

Lotsa great info you guys are posting here. OK, here is a question. I went on Tire Rack & was looking for tires for a 2013 Fit Base, 175/65R15. They had 5 tires listed. The one that was top rated by consumers (4 stars) was the General Altimax. Worst was Hankook Optimo. All the tires were the same size. Anyone know about Generals? I know the name, but have never bought any of their tires. I live in Phoenix, so my biggest concern would be tire life because of the heat. Thanks!

 

There is nothing wrong with the General brand as a whole. I have them original equipment on my Chevy Colorado. I also have a pair of off road ones that I use in the winter only as snow tires. I have 105,000 miles on the originals and they are about worn out. I might get another 10K miles out of them. Do not expect that kind of mileage on a Fit because these are a much larger tire on a light weight truck. I also have a set of General Low Rolling Resistance tires on one of my Blazers and they have been just fine so far. Unfortunately General does not make a LRR tire in your size. The tread wear rating on the ones you are looking at is 440 This is a little above average and definitely better than your OEM Dunlops.

On my Fit I have Yokohama Avid Ascend tires and highly recommend for the Low Rolling Resistance and a tread wear rating of 800. They do make them in your size.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

 

Thank you for the info.