+1 for the conti 5's on my second sets on the front and think there great. Alloy protection wise just watch the kerbs ha ha, had my car 5 years now and never caught any of the rims!
Wish I could say the same. Must be my sh!t parking 
I'm also on my second set on the front, got 13k miles out of the first set, which is about average for conti 5s. Out of interest Jimmy how many miles did you get from your first set?
Hmm at a guess I got just shy of 12 months so that would be around 9-10,000
I started a thread about this before cos I was going through tyres in 6 months covering about 5,000 which people said was a little on the high side. Granted I don't drive like a granny but I certainly don't fly around everywhere. These were conti 3's btw
The 5's much better wear ...