Tires: which were you not impressed with?

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Kumho Ecsta MX's. I got 11k out of them, but they were never true and round, causing all sorts of vibration from the back and steering wheel shake in the front. My cheaper Sumitomo HRTZII's are far better, and that's saying something!

Oh yeah, they got loud at about 7k too.

you know come to think of it I do remember this vibration business with the Ecsta 712 summer tires I once sported on my last car. Very irritating. You get what you pay for I guess.

I'll have to dig deeper ho hum...

[blinkwatt]

I'm not impressed with the Pirelli P-Zero Rossos. They don't have as much grip as my old Bridgestone S03 Pole Positions did. Seems like the Rossos are wearing down at a much slower pace then my S03s did though.

[mtch]

I have about 5K on these and they are holding up well. I live in a mountainous area and frequently push tires hard. I am impresed with the performance as well as ride quality and low noise level. They are not as good as the Michilins, but I would say 90% of the attributes for 70% of the price

[Adam]

I'm having some PS2's installed this Fri. I'll let you know what I think of them. It came out to $1,042 shipped from Tire Rack.

[MNBoxster]

Hi,

This is one of those questions where you're bound to get as many opinions as there are respondents.

There is good reason for this, because several of the qualities of a Tire are subjective. Noise is a matter of personal sensitivity. Wear is largely a matter of driving and maintenence habits - some people will use a tire up in 10k mi., while others can push the same Tire past 20k mi. One will say they wear poorly while the other will be mostly satisfied. Unless you have your own all-weather Skidpad and an accelerometer, even Grip is mainly subjective and anecdotal.

All performance Tires are a series of compromises and priorities. Want great grip? There's goes the wear. Want long wear? Grip will be sacrificed. Want Dry performance, Wet performance is sure to be less impressive. Want the Tire quiet? There'll be trade-offs there as well. Even aesthetics are paramount to some, who will forego all sorts of advantages in one Tire simply because they like the look of the treadblock pattern in another. There is no Perfect Tire.

You need to evaluate how you drive and what you expect of a Tire and then pick the one you think will best suit you. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99

[Adam]

Very good points Jim. Tires are almost as subjective as exhausts

[mjw930]

On the Boxster in 18" sizes I have been unimpresed with PS2's and P-Zero's. The PS2's extremely soft sidewall took too much precision out of the handling and actually caused the rear to get twitchy in rough switchbacks. The P-Zero's, while having great dry grip, were too harsh and flatspotted way to easy.

I like the PS-Ribs and am dying to try the Yokohama Advans but not enough to part with $1000 when the PS-Ribs are virtually new. The PS-Ribs combine a stiffer sidewall with good wet and dry traction. Probably 95% of the absolute traction of the PS2's but far more comfortable at the limit. Early reviews of the Advans are promissing and the RE-050's seem promissing as well as a replacement for the S-03's.

In the 17" size I hated the AVS Sports and ES-100's but love the Falken RT-615's as track tires.