Sport Cup 2s vs Pilot Supersports - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

jaykay · 08-07-2016, 06:57 AM

Who has tried either of these? Which one would you choose again....for street and some track

edc · 08-07-2016, 02:55 PM

I have Pilot Sport Cup 2 and came to them from Pilot Sport 2. Much more dry grip as you'd expect, less tread, a bit more expensive, not as good in cold conditions. Not experienced any significant rain to comment. Mines a fast road only car.

jaykay · 08-07-2016, 06:43 PM

How is the ride and road noise?....I had someone tell me they ride quite harsh with a stiff side wall

Topless · 08-07-2016, 07:03 PM

Frankly, neither are my favorite grippy summer tire with track capability.

PSS- A really good all around street tire but doesn't hold up well to continuous lapping. Sometimes they overheat which causes shoulder chunking. I prefer RS-3, RE-11, Dunlop Star Spec, RE-71r. More grip, less $$.

SC2- Really a track tire that you can drive on the street a little. Treacherous in rain and wear out in about 2k miles, very expensive. I prefer RE-71r, RA-1, and NT-01. The 1st two are good in rain, and all three are a lot less $$ than SC2

For mostly street with track capability, RE-11 is my current fav. YMMV

JayG · 08-07-2016, 07:12 PM

Topless knows what he is talking about

The best solution is to have 2 sets of wheels, one for street driving and one for play
I run PSS on my 18's for DD and Re-71's on my 17" wheels for play

edc · 08-10-2016, 02:36 AM

I don't know about you guys over the water but Pilot Sport Cup 2 and similar 'track ready' rubber is becoming standard fit on a lot of performance version of cars in Europe.

As for noise, I don't notice any as roof down with the engine wailing away there is no difference!

Is the ride firmer? Not enough for me to really notice and complain! That said most of my driving has been in hot sunny conditions in very smooth roads in Spain.

Value for money there are probably better tyres suited for mostly road driving. We have Federal 595RSR and Nankang NS2R which are made by companies that used to be known as budget brands. Bang for buck though they are very good.

jaykay · 08-13-2016, 05:44 AM

Very good discussion....gents

I am partial to Michelin as I know them to last and not give a lot of road noise whir cruising down the Hwy.

Yes, I have experienced massive overheating with ps2s on track but really liked the fact that I could survive rain ....until ambient temp dipped below 12C

Perhaps it is time for me to try alternatives

jaykay · 08-14-2016, 08:18 AM

After doing some reading (surfing ) I am on the fence between two: PSS and RE11s

I think we get far too much rain up here for SPC2s....and currently don't have the capacity to change out tires while at the track

Reports of the PSS chunking and limited lapping disturb me greatly. I can't afford to loose tires after just one session. Otherwise, all appears to be well with this choice.

Reports of the RE11s high noise at 50% life (shorter street life) along with comparatively lower wet weather performance are concerns.

This is all internet chatter. If any have direct experience with these two tires in these regimes please chime in

Topless thanks for your opinion...any comment on the RE11s as noted above? uOr say you: just do it!

Topless · 08-15-2016, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaykay

Reports of the RE11s high noise at 50% life (shorter street life) along with comparatively lower wet weather performance are concerns.

This is all internet chatter. If any have direct experience with these two tires in these regimes please chime in

Topless thanks for your opinion...any comment on the RE11s as noted above? uOr say you: just do it!

I like the MPSS a lot as an all around street tire with good manners and few faults. It's notable weakness is overheating in continuous lapping at the track causing a shortened life. I also like the Bridgestone S-04 for the same reasons, same class of tire, with the same caveats.

RE-11 has more overall grip wet or dry, good street manners, and loves carving up race tracks. Extreme performance summer tires will always be a bit firmer and a bit noisier than MPSS by design. That is how they manage higher grip, crisper turn-in, and more precise road feel when pushed to the max.

All tires are a tradeoff so choose the one that best matches your intended use. If track days are part of your plans, my vote is RE-11, RE-71r, Star Spec, Rival, AD-08 in that order. The RE-71r is stickier than the rest but pay a heavy price in longevity (great grip-short life). I keep a set of these around for competition but run RE-11 most of the time.

rastta · 08-16-2016, 07:42 AM

While I agree I wouldn't run Super Sports on the track - Bridgestone tires are very heavy compared to Michelin. I always find it amusing when guys spend huge amounts of money for fancy lightweight wheels and fail to look at tire weight. As an example - when shopping for street tires for my Cayman S daily driver - I decided to look at the weights of various options. I didn't buy because of this but I found it interesting.

The RE-11 in 245/35/19 is 28lbs and the MSS is 23lbs
in 265/35/19 it's 29lbs vs 25lbs. Pretty significant difference.

edc · 08-16-2016, 12:51 PM

Unless you are a racer with money no object budget then you can't choose just the lightest tyres. Every tyres is a compromise of some sort or other.

Topless · 08-18-2016, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rastta

While I agree I wouldn't run Super Sports on the track - Bridgestone tires are very heavy compared to Michelin. I always find it amusing when guys spend huge amounts of money for fancy lightweight wheels and fail to look at tire weight. As an example - when shopping for street tires for my Cayman S daily driver - I decided to look at the weights of various options. I didn't buy because of this but I found it interesting.

The RE-11 in 245/35/19 is 28lbs and the MSS is 23lbs
in 265/35/19 it's 29lbs vs 25lbs. Pretty significant difference.

All true but for me... lap times matter far more than tire weight and the RE-11 is consistently a full second faster than MPSS on the track. I guess in this case the extra weight = added grip.

RE-71r is a lighter tire with still more grip than the RE-11 but they wear out twice as fast. I like the RE-11 as my street/rain/practice tire due to their good combination of strengths that suit my driving, and run the faster but faster wearing RE-71r for competition. If I only ran AX or street-only use the MPSS would be on my short list due to their excellent all-around manners.

Tires are always a tradeoff.

rastta · 08-19-2016, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Topless

All true but for me... lap times matter far more than tire weight and the RE-11 is consistently a full second faster than MPSS on the track. I guess in this case the extra weight = added grip.

RE-71r is a lighter tire with still more grip than the RE-11 but they wear out twice as fast. I like the RE-11 as my street/rain/practice tire due to their good combination of strengths that suit my driving, and run the faster but faster wearing RE-71r for competition. If I only ran AX or street-only use the MPSS would be on my short list due to their excellent all-around manners.

Tires are always a tradeoff.

Of course they are a trade off - and you would always buy a tire with better performance if the main reason you are buying is for performance. I guess after all these years on internet forums where people spend thousands of dollars on lightweight wheels for street use - they could have saved their money and just bought lighter tires

It's like running slicks at HPDE's - if I had an unlimited bank account I would - but since I don't - I run r-comps.