New tires and long trip

[gpope]

Hi guys,

Next spring I have to buy a new set of tires. Current set has plenty tread but are 5 years old. With that said I will be going from Boston down to Smokey Mountains in June. I am afraid that i will eat the tires on the 2500 mile trip. Should I trailer down, suck it up and eat the tires or get 2 sets of tires. I also plan on doing a couple of track days next year. Any pointers?

[BYprodriver]

Michelin!!

[JayG]

What is the date code on the tires, they could be older than 5 years. Old tires can be dried out and dangerious
Also remember, you will typically go through 2 sets of rear to a set of front tires

Sumi HTR ZIII is a great street tire that is low cost and great performance
They are OK on the track

For track on street tires
Dunlop Direzza Star Spec, Bridgestone RE-71R and Hankook RS-3 are all good tires
The RE-71 do not last very long.

Personally I think Michelin are overrated, but they do have great customer service. They just did a generous warranty adjustment on some AS /3's I had on my 996 that were on teh car when I bought it. From their published warranty, because I was not the original buyer, there was no warranty. Note that most of their tires do not have any mileage warranty.

Take a look on TireRack for their testing and drink whatever kool-aid you like

[10/10ths]

...they are a great resource.

I like the new Michelin All Season 3 for an all around street tire.

[JayG]

Originally Posted by 10/10ths

...they are a great resource.

I like the new Michelin All Season 3 for an all around street tire.

My experiance with them was they are pretty good performing tires, no complaints for canyon carving, but really really noisy.
With the new rear tires, just a little noisy. I guess as they wear, they get noisier

They do have an advantage that they have a 45k mile treadwear warranty! However, if you have staggered setup (as generally we do) they cut that in half to 27,500 miles. My rear tires on the 996 were spent @ 11k miles, fronts at least 60% left. They adjusted them so I had to only pay 40% of the replacement cost for a new set.

[gpope]

JayG got me thinking because of his comment about the back tired going faster. I got the age from the date code on one of the tires. So I thought are all the tires the same? They were not, 2 have date codes 8 weeks a part late 2010, early 2011. The other two have what look like bar codes? Anyone know how to decode those? For reference I have Yokohama ADVAN NEOVA now.

[10/10ths]

....you should just buy another set of wheels and put track tires on them.

Run an all season on the street, because they will last longer, work better in the rain, and deal with Boston winter temps.

Use an "R" compound on the track.

Dual purpose tires don't really survive track days.

Good luck.

[JayG]

YThe date codes are only on 1 side of the tire, so they maybe on the inside of the other 2.
5 years is a little old, but if they don't show any cracking, you are probably fine

Running racing tires with a street setup car may not be the best thing. It can lead to higher G force in cornering and possible oil starvation. Also depending on what car class you plan to run in, racing tires could put you in a prepared class instead of Street Stock. That's not a big problem if you have other performance upgrades like suspension, etc. Without the other mods, you most likely will not be competitive in a prepared class against well prepared cars. Also race tires are not cheap and don't last that long

I would disagree in that some street tires will survive trake uses fine. The Dunlops and RE-71s definitely. The RS-3's do run well on the track and street, but I have heard they will heat cycle out before the tread wears out if tracked

The RE-71s are great on the track and street, but while rated at 200 TW, they wear out much faster than that. People have told me they are more like 100 TW

The Dunlops are just a shade less sticky than the RE-71's but last much longer and don't heat cycle out

Yes, having a 2nd set of wheels for track/AX uses is a good idea. Get 17" wheels, the tires are a lot less expensive in 17 vs 18

Do you plan to drive your car to the track or trailer it? That will play into what tires you uses as well.

For what it is worth, I went with the Dunlop Star Spec for my track/AX tires. in 17" (255/40 & 225/45) it was around $850 for the set including mounting and balancing and I can drive the car to the track

[gpope]

Jay G,

I don't plan on trailering the car. I just got the Boxster in August so I have not done a track day yet so haven't got bitten. I have the 17's now and there is no cracking on the tires. I think I will keep them on for the beginning of the season and see how long they last. This car is bone stock so the point about not running race tires is something I have not read before, thank you. My shop recommended changing them sometime next year so I will see what happens and make the call before my trip.

Thanks for all the replies!

[VGM911]

Porsche recommends keeping tires on a car for no more than 6 years....even if there's plenty of tread left.

That sounds like good advice to me.

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by JayG

The RS-3's do run well on the track and street, but I have heard they will heat cycle out before the tread wears out it tracked

I can add a data point, I ran my first set down to the wear bars, and I think I could have gotten another track weekend out of them but there was rain forecast at that event, so I got a new set installed. I did 8 track days with them over the period of a year, and also kept them on as my street tires with around (this is where I am guessing) 6,000-8,000 miles of street driving. I just left them on all the time. In fact they never felt better than on the last track day I did with them (but I had also gotten my first performance alignment so that may be it)

This is in FL, when I was in NC I kept my Sumitomo HTR Z III on all the time but only went through one winter with them and if it was really cold I didn't drive that day. The previous owner lived in PA and he drove the car as his DD and use the Sumis year round.

[steved0x]

Originally Posted by gpope

Hi guys,

Next spring I have to buy a new set of tires. Current set has plenty tread but are 5 years old. With that said I will be going from Boston down to Smokey Mountains in June. I am afraid that i will eat the tires on the 2500 mile trip. Should I trailer down, suck it up and eat the tires or get 2 sets of tires. I also plan on doing a couple of track days next year. Any pointers?

I think a single 2500 mile trip isn't going to make a significant dent in the life of a tire unless you have a super sticky extreme summer type of tire.

In Boston, you probably wouldn't want to run a tire like that unless you plan to storage the car during the cold season.

Max summer tires like the Sumitomo are good for your first track days - I used them during my first two events.

Then I moved to the Hankook R-S3, still driving them all the time as my street tire down here in FL. These tires would probably not be good up north except in the summer. But they make a good track tire, as do the other crop of Extreme Summer/200 tread wear tires like the ones Jay mentioned.

If you plan to drive in the cold then a 2nd set of wheels/tires is probably a good idea, you can change them out and drive them to the track and back.

An all season tire like the Michelin AS/3 which is by all reports a great all season tire, is probably terrible on the track.

My son in his Miata had to use an all season tire for his very first track event and they got some serious chunking and wear even at his lower speeds and cornering since it was his first time...

[JayG]

Originally Posted by steved0x

I think a single 2500 mile trip isn't going to make a significant dent in the life of a tire unless you have a super sticky extreme summer type of tire.

In Boston, you probably wouldn't want to run a tire like that unless you plan to storage the car during the cold season.

Max summer tires like the Sumitomo are good for your first track days - I used them during my first two events.

Then I moved to the Hankook R-S3, still driving them all the time as my street tire down here in FL. These tires would probably not be good up north except in the summer. But they make a good track tire, as do the other crop of Extreme Summer/200 tread wear tires like the ones Jay mentioned.

If you plan to drive in the cold then a 2nd set of wheels/tires is probably a good idea, you can change them out and drive them to the track and back.

An all season tire like the Michelin AS/3 which is by all reports a great all season tire, is probably terrible on the track.

My son in his Miata had to use an all season tire for his very first track event and they got some serious chunking and wear even at his lower speeds and cornering since it was his first time...

+1

I have not tracked my 996 with AS/3's and I would not expect them to be particularly good on the track

[tlc356sc]

A couple of years ago I drove Boston to FL via the Tail of Dragon and back home on my winter tires. No wear noticed, no problem.

Please don't use summer tires under 40 degrees because of dramatic fall off in grip. I drove mine one winter a few times (near Boston) and it wiggled and almost broke loose on a highway on ramp. Imagine what would happen to stopping distance in a panic stop. Tom

[Topless]

Yep, gotta recommend 2 sets of tire for the NE. 1 set for all season/daily driving/long trips. The other set of Summer only Max grip tires for canyon carving and track days. Find a spare set of takeoff wheels and mount some tires on them.

Michelin, Bridgestone, Yokohama, and Continental all have very good A/S tires that wear well and work in low temps. A/S tires do not fare well in very high heat of continuous lapping.

For the Summer fun tires I like RS-3, RE-11, AD-08, Star Spec. They have monstrous dry grip and withstand the high heat associated with continuous lapping very well.

It's all about the contact patch.