Yokohama AVS Sport's or Michelin Pilot Sport PS2
 

Hi, well it's finally time to change the tires. The car came with Yokohama AVS Sport's. They've been fine in all driving conditions.

I've read good things about the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's. The dealer's racing tech's recommends them. I check the cars they prep and they all have Pilot's.

I'm torn between returning to the Yokohama's or jumping to the Michelin's.

I could use a few opinions on the topic.

Many thanks

bob

2004 S

Yoko AVS Sport is very outdated (almost certain it's discontinued). The replacement Advan Sport didn't earn high score on tirerack comparison. Advan Neova AD07 (extreme performance) also did not gain high score in tirerack's comparo.

Advan Sport:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=93

Advan Neova:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=107

Get the PS2 if money is no object. I hear it's got very soft sidewall and will have flat spots if you don't drive the car for a couple of days. They're incredibly light tho. Definitely leading class tire for sure. I also hear they have updated it very recently with new compound.

I got a set of Dunlops just this past weekend (see related thread). They're supposed to be designed for lighter weight vehicles and have less warmup time. Tread wear seems to be questionable however. IMO I feel more comfortable paying for 2 sets of these than 1 set of PS2. :D

There are 100's of tires out there and 10x that in opinions.

I got the Sumitomo HTZIII's and with a few thousand miles on them I am more than happy with the purchase. The are stable, don't flatspot much (car rarely sits for more than a day at most) and are great in heavy rain. The wear seems to be great. And for 1/2 or less of PS2's SO3's etc. they are 90% of the tire.

I drive incredibly hard and race my 944. They provide more than enough traction get me thrown in jail. I also put almost 20,000 miles the box in a year, can't afford to put 2+ sets of tires a year but don't want to put up with crappy tires.

Just my $0.02

-Greg

I've had both, Yoko's wore out alot faster than the PS2's, my opinion based on many a sports car.

I think I'm going to replace my PS2's with Neova's later this year. PS2's are good, but I want even more dry grip for autocross. I want the stickiest non R compound out there and the Neova's seem to be one of them.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm going to go with the PS2's (N-1).

There's a lot of info out there ... very confusing.

I'll let you know how it works out.


thx

bob

I know I am new to the Boxster, but the PS2's on my car are worth the cost. I will be replacing the tires with these every time. If there is something that does the job at 99% + and costs less....maybe I would consider it.

Read up on Kumho Exsta SPT's. $500 gets you a full set mounted, lasts a long time, good grip, good wet traction and fairly low noise as they wear. If you read the Tire rack reprts and such, they always come out close to the top. Ed

I went through this dilemna not long ago. When I bougth my boxster off my dad it needed new tires.

He had been running the OEM tires - Pirelli PZero (N3). I had driven the car a lot before I bought it and alwyas said it was the best handling car I'd ever driven. I dind't wnat to mess with what i knew worked - so I bought the same thing instead of switchign to PS2s.

I love them. they stick like crazy. i'm sure the PS2s are great too.

My opinion is that unless you are tracking the car regularly, or are REALLY sensitive / in tune with your car - you probably can't tell a big difference between the various tires - assumign you are comparing apples to apples.

PZeros vs PS2s... can you really the difference? I'm sure there are people who can tell the difference. I could probably tell the difference if you bolted on set on, let me drive like nuts for a little, and then switched them out on the track and I got to drive the next set back to back.

but most of us don't do that. we buy a set of tires, drive them until they are bad/need replacement, and they buy more tires. anything you buy will probably be better than the worn out set you are replacing and you'll be happy. :) a lot of this stuff is relative.

it's like TVs. go to Costco, Best Buy - wherever they have the TVs all lined up and you can see the microscopic differences between the various brands. once you settle on one, and get it home - you just see yours. and you like it.

I'll second that. I'm on my second set of Kumho's on the Boxster and they're good tires at a great price.

944boy mentioned the Sumitomo HTZIII's. I just put a set on the 993 to replace my Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's and I'm really happy with them. Can't beat the price either.

The PS2 is a fine tire. Expect it to last 10K miles. Its expensive but has good performance wet or dry, is relatively comfortable and quiet.

The Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Spec is probably the best performing dry weather true street tire out there. It's about 2/3s the price of the PS2 but you give up a little wet weather performance and it might be noisier and less comfortable. Its also not Porsche N rated if that is important to you.

The Yokos you mention are outdated and I would only buy them if they were a tremendous bargain and handling performance was not too important to me.

The Sumitomos get good reviews and would be a good choice if money was tight. They are not up to the level of the Michelin or Dunlop but still a nice tire.

The new Bridgestone RE11 is a highly rated Extreme performance summer tire. It costs somewhere between the Dunlop and the Michelin. It is probably the equal performance wise of the PS2 but might be a little less refined.

All these tires are summer-only and are dangerous as temps approach freezing. If you need a tire for near-freezing weather than look to all-season tires instead.

Hi, just wanted to give everyone a quick update...

I replaced the AVS Sports with a set of Michelin Pilot Sports (N1), not PS2's The difference between the Yokohama's and Michelin's was amazing! The Pilot's make much less noise, and track way better.

The Pilot's also have a nice little rub-bar that's suppose to protect the rims from curb rash.

I hope they last as long as the Yokohama's did....22K.

Thanks for all the input. It's much appreciated.

bob