986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners - View Single Post - Got some new tires

Perfectlap · 01-29-2013, 07:52 AM

not a higher performing car? We're going to have to agree to disagree there. From the seats to the front bumper this is the 99-01 Carrera. And with the engine in the right place to boot..... which in my opnion makes your car a superior handling sports car than the 911 <-- no slouch by anyone's standard.

All season tires are bad compromise for this car if you live where it snows. Relative to a performance tire, the car feels very numb during summer, and during winter you're in trouble if on a drive home it starts to come down fast and hard. I had this happen to me twice here in NJ. Last time was two seasons ago.
I walked into the mall around 4PM -- no snow. By the time I walked out at 6PM the snow was hitting the ground like I'd never seen before. I was on SNOW TIRES and just barely getting by at 15 mph. That was rare but on snows you'll be ready for any abrupt change in conditions.

The best thing to do with the Boxster is to have two sets of wheels. Swap around Thanksgiving.
With an impact gun, torque wrench and race jack you can do all four sides in 30 minutes tops. I picked up a replica set of wheels $600. Actually the snow tires cost more. But given they're only on duty for five months they can last 3 or 4 seasons, which in turn extends the life of your summer tires. And honestly when it comes to tires unless you are chewing up the tires quickly, saving $600 for budget tires vs. top shelf doesn't seem worth it. When I had the Potenza RE-11's first mounted, the instant they turned one full revolution I could feel the difference. It was as if I was driving with thick winter gloves before and then ripped them off. Obviously once the tires got to temp it really started to show. Bottom line is that excellent rubber makes the Boxster as good as it can be. Some people spend $5K on exhaust/intake mods that can't achieve the goal that an extra $600 on tires will. By far the most bang for the buck mod.
I would say going with all season tires is more about the way the sports car is driven than how good the sports car is.

01-29-2013, 07:52 AM	#6
Perfectlap Registered User Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New Jersey Posts: 8,709	not a higher performing car? We're going to have to agree to disagree there. From the seats to the front bumper this is the 99-01 Carrera. And with the engine in the right place to boot..... which in my opnion makes your car a superior handling sports car than the 911 <-- no slouch by anyone's standard. All season tires are bad compromise for this car if you live where it snows. Relative to a performance tire, the car feels very numb during summer, and during winter you're in trouble if on a drive home it starts to come down fast and hard. I had this happen to me twice here in NJ. Last time was two seasons ago. I walked into the mall around 4PM -- no snow. By the time I walked out at 6PM the snow was hitting the ground like I'd never seen before. I was on SNOW TIRES and just barely getting by at 15 mph. That was rare but on snows you'll be ready for any abrupt change in conditions. The best thing to do with the Boxster is to have two sets of wheels. Swap around Thanksgiving. With an impact gun, torque wrench and race jack you can do all four sides in 30 minutes tops. I picked up a replica set of wheels $600. Actually the snow tires cost more. But given they're only on duty for five months they can last 3 or 4 seasons, which in turn extends the life of your summer tires. And honestly when it comes to tires unless you are chewing up the tires quickly, saving $600 for budget tires vs. top shelf doesn't seem worth it. When I had the Potenza RE-11's first mounted, the instant they turned one full revolution I could feel the difference. It was as if I was driving with thick winter gloves before and then ripped them off. Obviously once the tires got to temp it really started to show. Bottom line is that excellent rubber makes the Boxster as good as it can be. Some people spend $5K on exhaust/intake mods that can't achieve the goal that an extra $600 on tires will. By far the most bang for the buck mod. I would say going with all season tires is more about the way the sports car is driven than how good the sports car is. __________________ GT3 Recaro Seats - Boxster Red GT3 Aero / Carrera 18" 5 spoke / Potenza RE-11 Fabspeed Headers & Noise Maker BORN: March 2000 - FINLAND IMS#1 REPLACED: April 2010 - NEW JERSEY -- LNE DUAL ROW Last edited by Perfectlap; 01-29-2013 at 08:20 AM.