New Tire Recommendations

[pvaughan]

I need new tires. I have done some research and have read good things about a number of tires. I have narrowed my selection to two. I am looking at the Goodyear - Eagle F1 GS-D3. It is highly praised for wet and dry traction along with long tread life. I'm also looking at the Continental - ContiSportContact2. Highly regarded but I fear short tread life. I am looking to get 30k out of a set of tires. That would give me two years before I have to do it again. If anyone has any thumbs up or thumbs down on a particular tire or a recommendation I would appreciate your input. Thanks in advance and I'll see you on the road.

[porscha996]

I need new tires.  I have done some research and have read good things about a number of tires.  I have narrowed my selection to two.  I am looking at the Goodyear - Eagle F1 GS-D3.  It is highly praised for wet and dry traction along with long tread life.  I'm also looking at the Continental - ContiSportContact2.  Highly regarded but I fear short tread life.  I am looking to get 30k out of a set of tires.  That would give me two years before I have to do it again.  If anyone has any thumbs up or thumbs down on a particular tire or a recommendation I would appreciate your input.  Thanks in advance and I'll see you on the road.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have a 99 996 and bought new tires when I bought the car. There were Pirelli PZero's on the car at the time. I went with the continetal -ContiSportContact 2 primarily for tire life as well. I live in Vancouver so deal with wet roads quite a bit. The tires are great in the wet and fantastic on dry pavement. I have about 25000k on the tires now and think I could get at least 20K more. My opinion, great choice.

[LVDell]

Remember that the Goodyear tires are not Porsche approved tires. Just the Conti's. I ran the S02's (Porsche approved) on my 996 and now am trying the Conti's so I can't comment yet on the life of the tire but I can tell you that YMMV determning the tread life.

[DANNOV]

I have Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires on my wife's C4 Corvette. These are great tires. Fine for handling, and very good in the wet, with excellant wear characteristics. Look at the test on the TireRack website. The Michelins test results rank very high in the TireRack ratings. But they are not cheap.

[drpaulmarsh]

I am in the same boat, but have been looking at the Kumho MX... supposedly half the price as the previously described ones. From everything I have been reading though, ALL of these tires get between 8-14k miles before needing replacement. If your hoping to get 30k miles out of a new set of tires, you might be a little disappointed...

I too talked to Tire Rack and highly recommend "Damon" He is very good at his job.

Paul

[pvaughan]

Thanks for the quick responses. I have a few follow-ups.

porscha996 - Which PZero (Nero, Nero M+S)?

LVDell - Who did you like the S02's? Who was tread life?

I have been to TireRack.com and found the site to be a wealth of info. I always have to laugh when I read a review of a tire by someone that has been running them on a Neon though. I've had an occasion to drive a Neon and I don't know that tire would.....I digress, enough said. I drive a Boxster so I thought I ask some fellow owners for their input. Thanks to all who have responded. I look forward to further opinions. I'll be ordering this weekend.

Later,

-pvaughan

[LVDell]

The dry grip was great and the tread life was over 20K miles for me. And that is just the rears. THe front still look like they have another 20K in them. However, wet traction SUCKS! I am going with the Conti's now to see how they perform.

[Danyol]

Looking toward a change of tires soon as well, currently running PZEROs. Stick like glue but wear like cheap shoes!

Unfortunately have more limited choices for the C4S with 295/30's on the rear. Leaning toward the Contis as well. I run them on my Audi A6 V8, good grip in wet/dry and they are wearing very well. 8k miles they are looking as they did when new.

Anyone else try the Contis on the C4S or Turbo? :unsure:

[ar38070]

I have Conti 2's on my TT. Dry grip is good. Wet grip sucks, at least on the track. However that may not equate very well to street use. I have not had any problems with them in the wet on the street but do not have any other tire brand experience yet to compare it to.

[neil.schneider]

I have the contis also. I have 14500 miles and they still look pretty good. I figure they are good for another 5 to 10 thousand. I would be very surprised if they lasted to 30.

[Cold Warrior]

You might want to do the cost trade with the tires you've mentioned and the Dunlop Super Sport Race tires. These are R-compound DOT approved tires that grip exceedingly well. I have a set on my 2000 S and they are phenomenal. At $121-$131 per tire it might make sense to get these even if you only get 8k miles out of them. Check Tire Rack for prices and availability. Also, Sasco Sports has them, including the 285-30/18 size but for more money.

CW

[brewcity996]

I had the Conti's on my first Boxster, really liked them, they were quiet and had good traction in both rainy and dry conditions. Also, I think they had a little lip that stuck out to give the rim some protection. My 996 C4 Cab had the Pilot Sports and they had great traction even as the rears wore out, noise level was low too. My current Boxster has P-Zeros and they are loud, cupped and I can't wait to get rid of them, I'll probably go back to the Conti's., hope my 2 cents helps.

[pvaughan]

Thank you to all for your input. I truly appreciate it. After much consideration and research I have made up my mind. I ordered a set of Michelin Pilot Sport (N2 rated). I still don't have a clear understanding of the N rating system but maybe someone can enlighten us.

Anyway, all this made me think we should do a survey about what tires people are runnig on. I think people may be interested. So I thought I'd start a new topic. I'm labeling it "Survey - Where the rubber meets the road / Tire talk"

Thanks again.

Later,

-pvaughan

[LVDell]

Hope this helps a bit on N-Spec

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/general/porsche.jsp