Tires
 

I have Pirrelli P-Zero Rosso's all around, the rears are worn nearly bald in the center and I can hear the sound of the tread that is left on the outer edges mostly when I am just cruising straight. These tires seem to handle great when pushed hard. But I am thinking that I am looking for a very quite tire that also handles well. This is my toy car so when it rains for a few days, I will most likely be driving the Explorer or Jeep. I was looking at the Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110, Sumitomo HTR Z III, Kumho Ecsta 4X or the Continental ExtremeContact DW. Is anyone here unhappy with any of these tires?

It is one thing to read TireRack reviews, but that is not the same as hearing from Boxster owners exclusively. I do not want to spend a $1000 on this go around. I was thinking to either put two new P-Zero Rossi's in the rear since the fronts have better than 50% tread left or replacing all four with new tread. I love the feel of new tires...

Anyone ?????

If you plan to drive the car in below 40f weather on a regular basis, Shoe it up with all season tires. If not, any of the summer tires mentioned will work. I would put a pair of Hankook V12s on the rear and be done.

Sorry I've tried a few but nothing comes close to the Michelin Pilot Super Sports I got installed, balanced, including tax (out the door) for $1100. Never flatspot, quiet, and turn-ins are fantastic. I had Fuzions last time and they stuck to the road like glue, flat spotted for about 3 miles and were noisy at low speed . I had the Hankooks V12s when I had 17 inch rims and didn't like the way they felt at high speeds on highway, twisties they felt fine.

How has the wear been on the Michelin's? I do like flat and straight tracking on the highway.

I will not be driving in under 40 degree temps very often. But have never mixed front and rear brands of tires. Well not since I was 17 and through on whatever I could get.

As long as the tires are of similar design, treadwear, and grip levels they work fine. I have actually mix-and-matched quite often in 8 years with this car. Now running max summer tires on the front and A/S tires on the rear would be treacherous. My brother tried it once and managed to put his car in the weeds after only 10 minutes driving. Off they came.

I'd seriously consider just replacing the rears. It doesn't seem that you hate the tires you have now and the fronts have more than 50% tread left. Plus, this is probably the cheapest route.

Too early to tell, and with these cars it's all about driving style and alignment when it comes to wear.

I'll have to +1 this.

Had very bad experience with the last set of michelins. 3 of the 4 failed within the 1st 3 months with bubbles on the sidewalls. still had 9/32 tread and michelin screamed road hazard and would not stand behind them. I have 2 other porsches with hankook v12's on them. never a problem. hold just as well as michelin, wet or dry. Last longer. balance better. and cost half as much. Michelin lost a 40 year loyal customer when I got a bad set and they did not stand behind them. According to the customer service GIRL they assigned to me, any sidewall separation of the sidewall has to be my fault and never a manufacturing defect. I am certain she has probably seen a rire, but doubt that she ever actually touched one. For my money, hankook. Now have them on everything. Best deal I have found is discounttiredirect on the net. Very good prices, great service and quick shipping

I recently got 4 Hankooks from Tirerack for about $550 installed. When I first got them they were very squiirmy, but after a few heat cyclesand about 200 milees, the firmed up and now they handle great. Haven't gone on the track with them yet, but they are good on the street.

I've always been intrigued by the Nitto series of tires .

I'm sure you heard the term "impact damage" at some point in the conversation since that is what causes the bubble on the sidewall. I am also guessing the tire never failed. It just developed the bubble on the sidewall caused by the impact break to the inner air chamber layer which allows the air to escape & cause the bubble.

I have always considered tires a major part of the outside appearance of a car. Therefore I won't downgrade with anything inferior to OEM components. The quickest & easiest way to alter the performance & appearance of a motor vehicle is by changing the tires. When I inspect a vehicle for sale the tires tell alot about how it was maintained & driven. To me downgrading tires is simular to replacing a Porsche spoiler with universal 1 size fits some E-bay spoiler.

Hankook from Tire Rack it is. Now I got to find a place that can mount without a scratch and balance these perfectly. Then I will check all the suspension bushings before getting an alignment which is another subject unto itself.

If you have always been intrigued. What has stopped you from trying them?

I am familiar with the term and what happens and it didn't. I drive all 3 porsches exclusively, about the same number of miles and in the same manner on the same roads. I know when and if I hit a pothole, etc and it didn't happen. What are the odds that 3 of the 4 tires on one car would be the victims of the alledged impace damage while none of the hankooks had a problem. And in a 3 month period. The 3rd one to go bad even had 2 bubbles both on the outside sidewall directly across from each other.

I have Hankook Ventus V12s on 19's and they do everything I need them to... I have tried to loose grip on spirited country drives and really had to push the car more then I was comfortable. The hold like glue.

I currently have a set of Goodyear F1's that have 95+ percent still on them. Maybe in the future I'll give the Nitto Invo, NT05 or NT450 a try .

I just got a set of mich pilot sport A/S plus at costco for a grand total of $930. Since my girl is a daily driver I needed all seasons, and I chose mich because the car came with them when I bought it a year ago. I can vouch for this tires as one of the best tires I have ever driven on. The old set were in pretty bad shape because the owner didn't use the car that much so they were slightly dry rotted. By the time I replaced them you could probably take a chunk off the tire and they were pretty slick in the back. It was bad, but even in the bad condition they were in, they kept me pretty safe and in the dry still griped like glue. They were also very tough tires that could take a hit.

I was infortunate enough to have someone change lanes onto me a while ago on my way to newark. I was in the right lane and to avoid getting hit I hit the curb at around 50mph. The tire held together and even held enough air for me to reach the nearest autozone to get my spare on. When I inspected the tire it had tare on the side wall and no damage to the rim.

Now with the new set it feels good and with minimal road noise. I still have to try them in the wet so I am hoping they are good. They also look really agressive and I like that. The only down side to the tires is that they are quite expensive.
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I have had Pirelli's on other vehicles and they never seem to last at all for me.

I currently have Hankooks on a couple of vehicles and they hold up well in dry and wet, noise level seem ok.

For the Boxster, I currently have the BFG KDW's and love them for performance/price/and looks. I also had Bridgestone RE050 and Fuzions on them before with a lot of luck also.

In general, I tend to stay away from Pirelli and Yokohama's.

I put the Michelin pilot sport A/S on the box. Expensivo, but hey it's me were talking about here! They perform well here in Florida wet or dry, are quiet and have been wearing well. I paid the extra for hazard and have replaced one, no questions asked after a sidewall got cut. The car had the same tires on when I got it but they were old. The PPI noted that and I negotiated to split the cost. The old tires looked great and even drove well, or so I thought until the new set was mounted.

I replaced the Pirellis on my F150 with Nitto Crosstecs.They do not make the Pirelli I was using anymore. The guys at the tire shop where I have been spending a lot of time and money recommended the Nitto brand. They said Nitto is trying to get into the market and thus were a great deal. Of course there was a difference in price and performance. You get what you pay for. I saved a couple of hundred, I got a rougher ride. The Nitto's handle the road well wet or dry so far. They are a little noisier and seem to flat spot.The tread seems to collect gravel all the time. They do look great on the vehicle. I do not know if this will apply to their performance tires, I could not find very many reviews of their products on-line when I was in the market early this year.

I had the P-Zero Rosso's. I thought they were terrible tires (loud, hard, expensive, didn't last, etc.).


I am running the Continental ExtremeContact DW now. I've probably got 15K miles on them and there is plenty of tread left. These are the summer performance tires (not the DWS which is the winter tire). The ExtremeContact DWs are soft with good road feel, good performance and they have very good tread wear. I can recommend them without hesitation and will likely get them again.


My car is a daily driver. If my car was a weekend toy, I'd probably get the PS2s.

Mike,

I was looking at those also and comparing them with the Hankooks. I was thinking that a set of four Conti's would cost about the same as a set of Hankooks plus 2 extra rears as they wear twice as fast.

I have no opinion on the Hankooks (I've never run them). It seems that folks who have like them though.


My car is a daily driver. I think the Contis are the ideal balance of performance and durability.


In general, the rears wear much faster. So a strategy of replacing the rears separate from the fronts makes sense to me (maybe even 2:1)?

I put on full set of Continental ExtremeContact DW (not the winter version) a while back, and I have been very happy with them. OEM Michelins were nice, but these were cheaper, and I don't think I gave up ay performance.

can't beat the handcocks for the money

I have Conti DWS's on my BMW. When I had to replace the tires on the box, I bought Yoko all seasons. they seem pretty good so far.

I'm a little late to the decision I think but I can make you feel good about your choice. I've had pretty much all the tires you're looking at:

P-Zero 17" on 200 Boxster daily driver: Hated them. Loud, wore fast, etc. Had a couple scares with heavy rains on roads and decided to start buying tires with better wear & wet ratings (my issue was partly tire performance and partly that you really can't let the tread wear too much with those tires if you're going to be driving in rain).

Then Sumis on same car because they were popular with the weekend racing set: They were OK but I wouldn't pick them again. Was experimenting with off-brand tires and the Hankooks
had just come out so even though the Hankooks got good reviews I didn't take the chance.

Then the Hankooks on same car: Great tires. I would have bought them again. Tried to get them for my current M3 but they don't come in the rear size.

Michelin Pilot SuperSport: Have them on the M3 and they're good. Price wasn't as bad as I expected for Michelins, either. However, if I could get the Hankooks for half the price I'd do it.

I live in warmer weather than you'll have in MA, though, so factor in temps if you're going to be driving until the first snow. Frozen summer rubber isn't something you want to play with. I would give the DWs a shot there because I think they're 3-season tires.

Somehow this struck me as funny!:D:D:D