1)Steering issue question a 2) which tires

1) so I've been driving my new to me 2000 911 and at low speeds (parking lots etc) I've noticed when I turn the steering wheel all the way to lock (left or right) the steering wheel kind of pushes back at me and at low speeds as in parking lot maneuvers there is a rubbinf sound. I know this may vague without video (will try to post eventually) but has anyone seen this? Known steering rack issue with fluids or pump, alignment? 2) which tires do you have a good experience with. I currently have pirelli p zero all seasons. When comes time to replace I'm thinking of getting summer tires... which do you guys like (super sports, conti DW etc?)? The issue is that I will drive the car on occasion when it's cold out (less than 35 degrees day) but not in snow. If I put a summer tire on and drive when cold out is the summer tire compound useless and therefore should I put a "high performance" all season on such as the p zero again or go with conti dws 06 or other option?

What size wheel and tire are you running? Any spacers? Have you looked to see where the tire might be rubbing in the wheel well? Have you checked the PS fluid level? Michelin Pilot Super Sports is what I run and IMO are great all around tires on my daily driver.

225/40 18 front 265/35 18 rear. OEM "twists" wheels. No spacers. Have looked and don't see an obvious spot of rubbing. Have not checked power steering level. No warning lights on etc. car drives straight and feels great otherwise. Woukd super sports loose meaningful grip in cold temps (i.e. 20-40 f)? im going to have the car looked and and needed/preventative maintenance done for the spring. Fingers crossed I can avoid some huge bill... we'll see

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For (1) the behavior you are describing is normal I think. It is common in cold weather and with less than new tires. Briefly, due to the steering geometery when the steering wheel it turned full lock the inside tire is not completely in contact with the pavement. You can see this for yourself. Take the car to a vacant parking log and out of the way turn the steering wheel full lock and then shut off the engine. Get out and get down low in front fo the tires so you can look straight on at them. The outside front tire will be flat on the ground. The inside front tire can have nearly 1/2 its tread off the ground. Thus at low speed the outside tire has the majority of the grip. The inside tire with less grip and because it has to follow a tighter radius during a turn and this is not exact slips/scrubs and in doing so manifests the symptom you report. With my Boxster I experience this every day now in this cold weather when backing the car out of its parking space and cutting the steering wheel full lock. 'course, all the usual cautions are offered: That the power steering fluid level is good and doesn't require frequent topping up; There is no sign of any fluid leak at the rack; That the tires/wheels are in reasonably good shape; The tires are properly inflated; and so on. For (2) with my Boxster I have only run Pirelli and Michelin tires. The car came with Pirelli but at some point I switched to Michelin tires. No reason other than maybe the Pirelli were out of stock or the Michelin tires a bit cheaper. Out of stock is why I switched back to Pirelli from Michelin. In both cases really the tires are about the same. Honestly if I didn't know which brand of tire was on the car I couldn't tell you based on how the car rode, steered, felt, etc. The Michelin tires maybe delivered a bit better tread life but it is close. The Pirelli tires get a bit noisier as they wear/age/get hard from heat cycles but that is about their only knock as far as I'm concerned. For my Turbo I have only run Continental and Bridgestone tires. Much like the Boxster the Turbo started out with one brand: Continental; but ended up with Bridgestones due to lack of stock of Continental tires. As with Pirelli vs. Michelin tires on the Boxster so it is with Bridgestone vs. Continental tires on the Turbo. I can't tell the difference. Which really is as it should be. If there was a distinct difference in tires I think it would call into question the whole N rating thing. Oh, I have never run anything but N-rated tires. I have driven in the snow with these both Pirelli and Bridgestone tires. In both cases the tires were quite new with no more than 1000 miles on them. Nothing really bad happended but really though this was to my having good luck and driving a Porsche in the snow/or ice on high performance summer tires is not recommended and I was fortunate my well stupidity didn't have serious consequences. I have also driven both cars in pretty cold weather. The coldest was with the Turbo in single digit temps back in late Dec. 2014 early Jan. 2015. Some days the temperature never got above 1F. I was aware of the cold temperatures and didn't push the car at all. But one can't know what emergency situation might arise that could turn ugly due to the tires not being able to cope due to cold. Fortunately I never encountered any emergency situation. My best recommendation is -- even if I haven't followed it myself (do as I say not as I do...) -- is if you are going to drive in cold weather, and in snow/ice, you really should get a set of real winter tires on their own set of wheels and switch between sets of tires with the seasons.

I would buy a sensibly priced tire hankook v12 or bridgestone s-04

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Heh. That is one of the funniest things you've ever written, Macster.

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Thanks for this suggestion. A low cost /similar performance to the usual Michelin choice is very welcome. I encourage the tire geeks to contribute here. But there is nothing more expensive than cheap tires that fail ! http://986forum.com/forums/general-d...ive-tires.html

Macster, thanks for the insight on the steering issue. I'll do my due diligence but if this is likely normal that's very good. In regards to tires, this is not a DD and I have another car. I will never drive the 996 in snow. Leaning towards summer tires, but don't want to have useless tires for beautiful sunny, albeit crisp, days. Thanks for the anecdotes that it is indeed "possible" to drive on summers in very cold weather even though it is of course not advisable... on the other hand im not going for a good lap time so peace of mind of not having a compound that isn't hard as a rock when it's 20 degrees may pursuade me to go "high performance" all seasons again in the form of another p zero Nero or conti dws etc... the safety of decent all around performance despite temp may be worth the sacrifice of performance in warm weather from a dedicated performance summer tire.

Just plug in the choices suggested by Forum members in Tire Rack for a comparison of the features/performance you want most. Let us know which you choose and why? http://www.tirerack.com/landing/Land...ar=996+Chassis They have some sizes of M-Pilots on closeout for less than $150 ea. There are 2nd tier brands for less than $100 but check performance ! I found there for my Boxster S and here is the test info/video/results/comparison: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=201

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I'm very picky when it comes to tires, I have always had good luck with the Bridgestone S0x series. I put on a set of S04s and they are really good. Great feedback and grip, steering nice and tight. It's a great compromise between cost and performance. But... my next set will be some Michelin PSS. I hear such incredible things about them, I just have to try them.

Michelin PSS -have you read the Tire Rack comparisons for this tire? It may hint at even better choices.

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The "briefly" applied only to my comments on the steering issue. I think just paragraphs, a few sentences, qualifies as "briefly".

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If you intend the car to be a fair weather car something for hooning around in in good weather you may find the "all season" tires (often referred to as "no season" tires) may deliver less than acceptable performance for your hooning around. So you end up with tires that are better a bit perhaps in cooler temps but kind of suck in warmer weather compared to the factory sanctioned high performance tires. But fit whatever tires you want. If they work OK for you all the time that's great.

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thanks... so maybe summers after all 😂😂

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I was just fooling around, Macster. I understood the context but chose to ignore it an effort to be witty...

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I have used the Conti DW tires and was pretty unimpressed. They wear well and give a comfortable and quiet ride, but they have really mushy handling so that car does not want to change direction quickly, and kind of wallows back and forth side-to-side. It just feels like the sidewalls are extremely soft and/or the tread is squirming a lot. They have really good grip if you trust them, but they way they feel does not inspire confidence. They'd be more appropriate on a big luxury sedan than a sports-ish car I think.

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I would for sure run RE11s too if that's what you're hinting.

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This is exactly why the combo of data/test from a source like TR and anecdotal evidence here is so useful. One without the other, not so much.

I had p zeros on my car originally - very noisy when old - ever since then have used sumitomo htr z3 - very happy with those as are many others .. yep Michelin is probably better ... but double the cost. I've never hit tire limitation - even in spirited driving . If you are looking for an extra couple of seconds at the track or runnning long intervals at autobahn speeds it might be a different story. As far as what happens in cold temps - not sure - I live in California !

There are all season, ultra high-performance Michelins - see TR Old tires of any brand vs.new tires -not a valid comparison. M tires are notorious for going hard .Poor trade off for their long wear life imho. The girls complain on longer rides.

I'm running ultra high performance all season Michelin AS/3+, which are no match to summer tires while on a race track. While most people thing that ultra high performance tires are not as good as any dedicated purpose-built winter only or summer only, this tire category receives the most technological advancements over time, and most R&D. So they have gotten pretty darn good. These tires, even in the summer, should be within 10-20% of a summer tire. So you have to ask yourself - are you wanting to drive over 8/10 on the street? My answer was "no," but yours might be different. That's one reason I chose this tire. The opposite of what I just said can be taken a different way: "can you afford 10-20% braking loss in a panic stop? In this case, probably not, so a top-performing tire for best braking would likely be Summer. Then again, even tire brands in the same category can range by 10-20%, so the Michelins are pretty much best in class. I also wanted performance for freezing temps. And these UHPAS tires are pretty good. Even snow is bound to occur for me, and these tires are cavalry in the snow, depending on how good of a drivers you are and how much snow you want. You want zero snow, so this is a non-issue. While it snows in Chicago, and we can get dumped on, they plow where I live, so again, UHPAS are a non-issue. You will likely be fine with summers. Although I also think you'll be fine with ultra high performance all seasons. But for you, summers sound like the best fit

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Overall grip is just one factor. Most summer tires have way more grip than anyone can safely run on the streets. For a street tire - steering feel, and predictability is more important to me. There's also sidewall stiffness, and noise. Higher quality and more expensive tires doesn't necessarily mean just higher grip, there are many other factors to consider.

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So I wonder what tires the OP bought, and more importantly- is he happy with his choice? (I'm in the process of shopping tires ....)

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I bought Michelin pilot sport all season 3+ Tire is great. Did a DE event this past Saturday at lime rock park and they performed phenomenally. Great in the wet too.

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I concur. I have the same tire and I did a track event two weeks ago, and I think had one of the best times in the beginner group. These tires grip very well in the day and wet. And good in the cold as well.

Thanks for the response guys!

OP, I recently purchased Sumitomo HTR Z III from tire rack. Under $600 delivered for all 4 tires. Very happy so far.

Ventus V12's were garbage. Never again. I've run MSS for several years now and not changing anytime soon.

I just went through the same decision making process. In my case I was looking for the best tire on which to drive the car 2-3k miles a year in dry warm weather only. Mostly just cruising with some spirited driving and possibly a track day here and there. I wanted the life of the tire in age to coincide with it wearing out. That pretty much put me in the summer category. I have the same tire sizes as you as well. In that category the price range is from $550 to $900 installed, with the PSS's being at the top of the price spectrum. I was also hemmin an hawing over a possible wheel change as well. Long story short, review after review, video after video placed the PSS as the best tire. Over the years I've typically bought most of my tires from Tirerack and actually make the trip to South Bend, IN for installation as well. This time I just happened to walk into a local Discount Tire. They matched the Tire Rack price plus Michelin has. $70 rebate and in addition they had a $50 rebate on the PSS's. Finding out I could get the PSS's for $780 installed more or less sealed the deal. Due to incessant, never ending, ark building rain here, I've only had the opportunity to put about 200 miles on them. My comparison was to the ORIGINAL P-zero's that came with the car when I bought it. 17 year old tires, beyond being dangerous, might as well be made of stone. Every bump was like a major pothole. Comparatively, you would think that the car turned into a 1976 Eldorado. Realistically, they just feel great. I've read that some of the other tires in the category reverberate bumps, these don't. Also, compared to the OE tires they are quiet as a church mouse. Keep in mind, I'm comparing them to the Pirelli's which sounded like a pair of 35" super swampers. I can't give advice on the handling other than they didn't even audibly complain on the few turns I've taken that scared me beyond my willingness to push further. I also can't comment on cold weather as it hasn't been cold in the few weeks that I've had them. I've stupidly driven summer tires on other cars in the winter, including snow. All of them are a danger to society when the white stuff is on the pavement. You will probably go nowhere, slowly, in the snow. If you live in a area with ANY grades whatsoever don't even consider it. I live in the ultra flat Midwest and even trying to get out of a parking light with an ever slight grade is a challenge in getting a running start and hoping the car turns into the road without spinning out. As far as lower temps, I've noticed that summer tires gradually lose grip the colder it gets. A tire that doesn't spin during acceleration at 70 degrees will spin in the first three gears at 35. Braking and handling are likewise affected. im sure I will report back on the summer handling of the PSS's after our 40 days and nights of rain subside. If it does actually keep up I might have to let you know what PSI is needed to get the car to float.

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Details? I had Ventus V12 EVO's on my 986, and my only complaint was that the sidewalls were too soft. I bought a set of Ventus V12 Evo2's for my 996 after reading the reviews and confirming that the sidewalls are much more stout on the Evo2. I've got several months on these, and they are everything I liked about the Evo without a sidewall that deflects too much under load. 99% street use so far; I have pushed them and overcooked them in a bunch of environments. Even at pretty much max-g for cold, dry conditions (both ambient air and road temps in the low-mid 30's) I haven't bounced down any mountains or wound up in a ditch yet...so I'm REALLY curious what you dislike about your set. If there's something you don't like, I'd like to see it - could be that I've been so happy that the sidewall issue is resolved that I've overlooked something else - or you're having an experience I haven't.

I was using them for my summer tire that would see 3 or 4 track days a summer. The tires literally fell apart. Chucks from tread block came out of the tire. They had tread left by the end of summer but they were so noisy at that point, I couldn't stand it. They were on my WRX. Never ran them on my porsche. My friend loved them on his 996 turbo. Not me. Went back to michelin after that, not looking back.

As I recall, the old ones didn't handle heat well. I remember them going squishy after a longer session on a hot autocross day. It was an offputting feeling, like all four tires suddenly being underinflated. I haven't had the same issue with the EVO2's, but they've seen essentially no track time.

Steering question... felt the same in my C2, not so much in the C4. Tires... I suggest reading here and comparing to Tire Rack's info. As for my still relatively limited P-car tire experience.... My C2 only ever had Continental Procontacts and my C4 came with what looks like a new set of Bridgestone Potenza S04's. Small sample size. General ride feel and road noise were a better on the Continentals to me. But the driving characteristics of the C2 and C4 are different enough that I could not tell you for sure which gripped better driven close to the limit. Given the choice between these two, I'd take the Continentals. The noise from the Potenzas bothers me to the point where I feel the need to make sure the sound isn't coming from the wheel bearings.