new tires... - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Perfectlap · 02-29-2008, 05:52 AM

For daily driving I doubt you will get the most out of your tires in terms of performance. Well at least you better not be getting the most out of them!

Some people go cheap on tires just to save $200-$300. Kind of crazy that you would choose to save money on perhaps the single most important part of the car.
Goodyear Eagle F1's are the happy medium in my opinion. Dry performance that is as good as the expensive Michelin and Bridgestone, perhaps the best wet weather performance of the three(def the best wet weather tire I've used) and at the lowest price of the three.

pbanders · 02-29-2008, 08:57 AM

Agree with Perfectlap, the Goodyears are a great compromise, I have them on my M3. Excellent dry and wet traction, much better wear than Michelins, low noise, and they don't go out of balance. I bought my Boxster last year and it had a new set of Nexen N3000's on it. Very inexpensive and good-looking tire, but dry traction is poor, which defeats the reason for having a Boxster in AZ in the first place! Looking forward to going to the Goodyears ASAP, my rears are almost shot - too bad the fronts look almost new!

Boxtaboy · 02-29-2008, 09:08 AM

+3 on the Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3s. I have them on my car now, after moving up to 18in wheels (had Pirelli Pzeros before), and find the Goodyears to be a great combo of wet/dry traction. Very well balanced at high speeds. They are not N rated by Porsche, however, if you care about that kinda stuff...

bmx672 · 02-29-2008, 10:50 AM

I've done TONS or reading about this... there are some nice choices... I've decided on The Michelin Pilots 2's. I'll be ordering them in the next week or so.

RandallNeighbour · 02-29-2008, 11:41 AM

Regardless of brand (outside of Pirelli's, which just melt off a rim in no time) expect to get no more than 12k out of your rear tires. The insides wear out way before the outsides due to the camber settings. This is normal.

Some guys only get 7500 miles out of their rear tires.

Lil bastard · 02-29-2008, 12:35 PM

There is really no absolute right and wrong in picking any of the popular brands of tires available for the Boxster.

People select tires for many different reasons. They are performance drivers, they are on a budget, they like the look of a certain tire, they want to follow the most popular concensus, etc. All valid, yet different, reasons.

Two most important things you should do, and do objectively, is to make a budget and decide (again objectively) how you will use the car (how you've been using the car is likely to continue, so use that as a gauge). Select the tire for the qualities you'll mostly need, not for those you might use 3% of the tire's life.

After making a budget and deciding on use, weigh in the other factors such as looks, popular brand, etc.

Hi-Perf Z rated Tires are more spendy. Do you need all the advantages these tires offer? Not everyone does. There are lots of Boxsters out there running perfectly well on M&S (all-season) and/or speed rated H or V. These can offer better, longer wear and are lower priced.

My car is not a daily driver, I use it for spirited pleasure driving in warm dry weather only. I use Z-rated tires. But, if it were a daily driver, I'd opt for an M&S Tire.

While it's good to hear others' opinions and try to learn from them, realize that for just about any tire mentioned here, there will be those who like them, and those who don't. Also, the Web is full of information on Tires and how to select them. Tire Rack offers lots of information.

RandallNeighbour · 02-29-2008, 01:53 PM

I agree about reading up about tire choices by Tire Rack customer reviews on Boxsters. I looked for reviews from people who'd owned the tires for 12k or more because most everyone likes their choice after 2k miles but as the tires wear down a bit, the comments change about wet grip, tire noise, separation issues, etc.