Best Tires / best price and performance
 

I know this has been asked a ton before but I lost my notes on this topic.

What tires do you recommend that have the best performance (cornering) for the price for my 2001 Boxster with 17 inch rims? Also, any special shops that anyone would recommend in far West burbs of Chicago?

Thanks,
-Steve

Dunlop Z1 Star Spec bar none.

You're in the Chicago area so are you considering standard performance or all-season performance tires?

standard performance - car goes away for the winter...

Star Specs are good. I'd consider Sumitomo HTRZ IIIs right there with them for all-around summer usage.

Any advice on all-season performance tires?
I'm leaning toward Continental ExtremeContact DWS.

The highest dry grip per dollar is the Hankook Ventus RS-3. Right behind it is the Kuhmo Ectsa XS. These are the tires that the AX and track guys run because they grip great and are cheap to replace.

Sumitomo IMO is a huge compromise to save a little money, I can never understand how someone can buy a Porsche then look for savings on rubber. My vote? Sport pilots, if they're too much, I'd try the hanhooks, the Sumi's feel square for the first couple miles every trip.

Hankook RS-3 Ventus, they're great on track and street. I use Michelins for street tires and when they're gone, I'm switching that wheel set to RS-3's too.

Thanks guys, here's the pricing that I got from Discounttire.com. Hello Costco!

205/50 - 17 front
255/40 - 17 rear

discounttire.com
Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110$109 front, $129 rear
Kuhmo Ecsta 4X Ku22 $120 front, $132 rear
Kumho Ecsta ASX $120 front, $144 rear

Falken FK 452 $131 front, $155 rear
Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 $194 front, $276 rear
Pirelli P-Zero $239 front, $235 rear

Another great option! I think more performance-oriented than the others mentioned.

Great tire, but not as good in the dry as others in it's class. Relative to others in its class it has a soft sidewall. But for this type of tire they're really good in the snow.

Cant beat a set of Pilot Sports or Yokohama AD08's for Autocross grip.....but they are at the top of line for price. Read Tire Racks test report on the Sumitomo ZIII. It ranked right up there in their test with the Pilot Sport at half the money. I am a Regional Director for a large Tire Distribution company and former Autocross Competition Director for the Suncoast Porsche club here in Florida. My company locations are direct distributors for Michelin, Continental, Yokohama, Copper and many others. For me, and I can run whatever I want to run, and I have found the Yokohama AD08's to be the best grip for Autocross and DE and the ZIII's are right there with them for a lot less money. My 2 cents.

I have been around and around the tire dilemma and I have come to the conclusion that the Michelin Pilot Sports at the highest price are the most economical tire and best handling tire you can buy. This is after trying Hankook, Faulken and Yokohama and Michelin. This is a counter intuitive lesson in spending more to spend less. The Michelins last and last and last, the others...8k miles if you are lucky.

I'd be interested to know how you came to this opinion.

Kumho makes a great UHP All-Season, so I imagine their summer version would be even better grip wise, though I can't state anything on mileage. My sister bought a set of their UHP A/S for her 99, and I have to say they feel pretty close in comparison to the Michelins I got for the 97, especially for being $300 less purchased and installed. I'm talking all-seasons of course, but I figure the savings can be similar for the summers compared to the Michelin Pilot summers.

I have the RE-11's on my Boxster S and they are great. I have not tried the others metioned above, but these tires are much better than the Yokahama's I had on before.

I'm guessing it's because of the name and Korean tire reputation. I don't see how anyone can look at data and come to that conclusion.

I like these too. It's the closest I felt to an R-Comp. Not cheap though but since I split the year with a winter tire I know I'll get at least 2 maybe three summers out of them. The extra $300 seems worth it.
Although in the wet my old Eagle F1's were much better but those are no longer made in Boxster fit.
p.s.
If you live where it snows all season tires are a waste of rubber. You can get caught out in just enough snow to lose all traction and summer peformance on all season tires makes no sense on a car like this. Makes the steering feel like pushing a corpse, unless you've gotten used to leaving all that goodness on the table.

They mounted a new set of these wagon wheels on my car from the second hand dealer, I replaced them with tons of tread left the next summer. In forty six years of watching tires be sold at my dads I found Michelin to be #1 and frankly they have been there a long time. Pirelli makes nice rubber too but it can wear quickly. The only thirteens I could find for the Fiat are Kumho solus and they squeal like a little girl, the XZX that were on there never made a sound just got old.