I have brand-new General G-Max AS-05's installed on the rear of my 2IS.

I need new front tires soon. The current ones are Conti Control Contacts (almost identical to DWS06).

Something that the salesman at Discount Tire suggested was the Conti PureContact (Treadwear rating of 700). Consumer Reports also rated this tire as lasting a staggering 90,000 miles in their testing.

Since the 2IS has a staggered setup, I know to divide the mileage that CR got by 2, so I would approximately expect 45,000 miles from the tires. In my experience, the CR ratings are fairly applicable to the 2IS after accounting for the staggered setup. My Michelin Pilot Sports were rated for about 55,000 miles and I got about 20,000 miles out of them.

The G-Max AS05 has a treadwear rating of 500 and lasted 65,000 miles in CR testing.

Now, I've had top-of-the-line tires on my IS before. I've had DWS06's in the rear and Conti Control Contact's in the front. I've had Michelin Pilot Sport AS3+'s in the rear with Conti Control Contact's in the front. I can't really say that I've noticed much of a difference among all the various tires this car has chewed through. The higher durability of the Pure Contact is appealing to me. What tires would you go with, and would you mix and match the Pure Contacts on the front axle with the General G-Max AS05's on the rear axle?

 

Not a good idea to mix tire brands/models on front and rear - car designer didn't design the handling/braking with this in mind.