Rear tires lasted 50k miles and cost $617 to replace

[kls]

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).

[RGH]

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.