I know the PS2's have it's fans and I liked them 4 years ago when I picked up a set, but things have changed in the tire market dramatically in the last 3-4 years. They used to be one of best street tires you could buy back in th day, but the bottom line is they are simply not competitive in autocross these days. I also have the Star Specs for my other car and use them for autocross and some street driving and I love them. Best all around summer tire out there in my opinion. They don't have quite as much dry grip as the Kuhmo's but they are better in the rain.

As mentioned above I have a set of Star Specs for my Mazda 3 which I also use for autocross/street and they can do everything the PS2's can do and more. They are slightly noisier and harsher over the bumps, but the dry performance is significantly better while being right there in the wet. The Star Spec in my opinion is what the PS2 used to be four years ago, which is the best all around summer tire. And as a bonus it costs hundreds less.

I agree with you 100%. The Kuhmo is a street tire meant for the track, the PS2 is a street tire meant for the street. If someone has money to burn and wants a decent street tire then the PS2 is still a fine choice, just don't expect to be very competitive at your local autocross or track event. Like you said, there are tires out there with a similar mission as the PS2's that equal or outperform them for less money. Everybody has different expections and needs from their tires and compromises have to be made.

Agreed. All tires are a tradeoff. The Star Specs offer better max grip for less $$ than PS2s. They are somewhat noisier and a bit more harsh on the street due to sidewall stiffness. They are also less street friendly than the Sumitomos and 50% more $$. Always consider your driving goals when choosing tires. Once I run off my Sumi's I will consider the Star Specs.

Next week I'm going to replace my rear Bridgestone RE960's with the Michelin Pilot Sport AS Plus. I liked the Bridgestone's, and I got 17,000 miles on the rears, but I'm hoping the Michelins give me a little more traction. They have a 45,000 mile warranty, but I have no illusions of getting that. The Michelins are only about $40 more than the Bridgestones ($516 for 2).

I drive my Boxster mostly as a weekend car for leisurely drives, but occassionally commute to work in it so I was somewhat concerned about wet weather handling, much more so than skidpad ratings, etc. I just wanted a quiet, durable tire. So, after some research, purchased the Falkens, partly because of the price and the 40k warranty. After researching a few manufacurers I discovered that staggered fitments appear to be excluded by most warrantys. Falken specifically excludes "staggered fitments"

Another example is Michelin's warranty. It doesn't explicitly exclude staggered fitments but the warranty includes a "rotation" provision which I believe would probably exclude most staggered fitments as Michelin's warranty states"Tires which wear out evenly before delivering the warranted mileage will be replaced on a pro rata basis only if: The tires have been rotated and inspected by a participating Michelin® tire retailer every 7,500 miles, and the attached Mounting and Rotation Service Record has been fully completed and signed".

For what it's worth I'm quite happy with the Falkens so far, very quiet and the car's handling is still excellent as far as I can tell, but then again, I drive on public roads and pretty conservatively at that, so I hope to get more than 15 or 20k out of them.

i like the sound of that. I just noticed in my garage that there's a nickel size nick on the sidewall of my tire. Not nearly deep enough to get to the other side but my Goodyear F1's have been discontinued in 18" Boxster fit. hmmm....
Those F1's were quiet the bargain given the wet weather performance. So sticky..not nearly as sticky as my old RA-1's but not bad.

I hear the RA-1's were some awesome street tires and many people won national autocross titles on them. They've since been replaced by the RE-11's which are slightly faster, but not by much. Several people consider the RE-11's the top street tire to have right now in autocross.

Does anyone have any experience with Nitto tires? :cheers:

Not to start a fight, but I find the 50K MILE claim on rear tires to be simply hard to believe.

From experience and in the years we have owned this forum, we have never heard of such a thing. Now anything is possible but guys who 50K MILES seem to be ecstatic.

I have had past customers tell me about 15K or less.

Hey, it that did happen, you should have sent those old tires off for some testing.

:)

Peace and Merry Christmas.

I use my Boxster for evreyday summer driving ,spirited back road driving and a small amount of track time. The rear alignment is set with a little less toe that spec to get more miles out of the rear tires which for the last 3 sets have been Kumho Excsta SPT's . Good dry and wet traction, a little noisy when they are on their last 5K miles. I am down to the wear bars at about 15 K and consider that good. Ed

Ditto the not driving hard enough comment. :cheers:

I'll be happy if my MOTOR lasts 50K miles. :D

That's 20K miles away, which works out to... um... 2+ sets of rear tires.

The BFG G-Force Sports I have on my street wheels, by the way, are absolute garbage.

Yeah, I find it hard to believe one could get 50K miles out of any of the Pilot Sport tires on the back of the Boxster as well. I got 15K miles out of the Pilot Sport Ribs and 15K miles out of the Pilot Sport 2 on mine. Now if somone is running an all season tire with a 400+ UTQG wear rating then sure. Ok, I just did a quick search on Tire Rack and Michelin makes an all season "Pilot Sport A/S" with a rock hard 500 UTQG rating. My guess is the OP has these tires.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Pilot+Sport+ A/S+Plus&partnum=345YR7PSAS

I just bought new wheels and tires from Tirerack.
I got OZ Alleggerita(??) HLT wheels in anthracite color in 18x8.5 front and 18x10 rear. http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/WheelCloseUpServlet?target=runWheelSearch&initialP artNumber=W0183400266A&wheelMake=O.Z.&wheelModel=A lleggerita+HLT&wheelFinish=Anthracite+Painted&show Rear=yes&selectedRear=W0183600266A&autoMake=Porsch e&autoModel=Boxster+S&autoYear=2006&autoModClar=St andard+Model&filterSize=All&filterFinish=All&filte rSpecial=false&filterBrand=All&filterNew=All&sort= Price

I had Sumi HTR ZIII tires mounted and balanced by Tirerack in stock sizes for the 987.
They're not on the car yet due to having a set of Cayman side grilles painted to match the wheels at my local custom paint shop. It took the master over a week to figure out the match for the multi-layer paint so they weren't done before I had to leave for Christmas. I did get the wheel back he had the afternoon before I left, so I'm itching to get home!
I picked the Sumis because of Tirerack's tests. They did not have one directly comparing the Sumis to PS2s, however, they had two separate tests with Bridgestone Re 050s in both. The Bridgy number was almost identical in the two tests and the Sumi number was so close to the PS2 number, it was a no-brainer, considering I could buy a full set of Sumis and two more sets of Sumi rears for the cost of the PS2s.
I did check the fit of the OZ wheels before taking one up to the paint shop. They fit with no problems and all I can say is - WOW!
I removed the Boxster side grilles and their plastic backings and put the Cayman plastic backing pieces in. I was tempted to just have the Cayman side grilles painted black to match the car because it looked so good with the silver gone!
I'm sticking to my plan and I can have the grilles repainted black later if I so chose.
As soon as I get back and get it all together I'll a bein' postin' new pichers!! :cheers:

I was looking at the same wheels. I would like to see how they look on your car. I only got to see the digital preview on TireRack's website.

I'll post a link here to whatever my program's online posting spot with plenty of pics.
I think they look great on the black car, but I did this once before with a black on black Acura CL TypeS. It had darkest legal tinting on the sleek 2 door (2001) and I also removed the rear badges (Acura emblem had a hole, so it stayed), blacked out the side window trim and lowered it 1". I had Motegi 7 spoke 17's on it. It was before I had a digital camera, so no pics I can post.

I have also blacked out the cross bars in the front air intakes on the 987. This leaves just the very thin silver outline and looks great. Very subtle, but great.
I can't wait to get the Cayman grilles matching the anthracite wheels installed!!
You can tell I'm a car nut for decades, and my patience has NOT improved with vintage!!