Changing tire brands based on RL rec

My car is in for its 90,000 mile inspection. Original engine, original RMS and IMS and clutch, if anyone cares. I am also replacing the front brake rotors, pads, all four rubber brake lines, and getting a full brake fluid flush (flush done every two years as per the book). Figured it was getting close to time for those hard parts since the car turns 14 years old shortly. No leaks in the lines, but they are rubber... All of the brake stuff except the fluid is original and stock since new, but the front pad/rotor measurements were finally getting close to the wear limits. Now on to the point of this post. Based on the harrang I got from fellow R/L-ers when I mentioned (in another post about tires) that I had excellent service and performance from Pirelli P Zero Rosso N-spec tires throughout the full life of this car, I decided to give their advice a test. I am not one to simply go cheap on tires (no Sumi's, Nitto's, Falkens, or other weird brands just because they are cheap), so I decided to try a full set of Michelin PS2 this time, as well getting as my bi-annual 4 wheel alignment. We will see if all the talk is true. When I bought this (my 4th 996) in summer of 2004, it had a full set of Pirelli P Zero Rosso's N0-spec's already on it. The car (sadly) only had about 6,500 miles on it at that time so these were the factory original tires, albeit now almost 6 years old , and though they had plenty of tread, they were hard as rocks. I drove them for about 4 more months that way. But at 11,751 mi. the roar of the dried out rubber was enough to cause me to move to a full new set of Pirelli P Zero Rosso N1 spec, and the rears were by then appropriately worn down anyway. That is 11,751 on the rears, and the fronts replaced at the same mileage because of age, and to get fresh rubber and a full alignment all around. Everything was quiet, smooth, and sticky enough at the track to enjoy, and stayed that way through each set, though they do get noisy as they approach the wear bars. Below is the list of tire replacements at the miles done. All changes were to current-at-the-time P Zero Rosso N-spec (the set coming off is N4 spec), date-matched, and 4-tire changes included 4 wheel alignment and full brake fluid flush. I always ordered 6 tires at a time, two fronts and four rears, so that rear-only tire changes were always still date-matched to the front. I ordered my new Michelin PS2's as a set of 6 as well for the same reason. For those who have no idea why I would order 6 rather than 4, your 996 will NORMALLY go through two sets of rears for every one set of fronts. If you don't understand date-matched, start a thread asking. See what happens. LOL! 11,751 four (N1) 24,841 rears only 34,522 four (N2) 46,659 rears only 58,383 four (N3) 72,258 rears only 89,583 four (N4) You can get out your own calculator and figure out the miles for each set. The last set of fronts got 31,200 miles. The last set of rears lasted 17,325 miles. As a further note, I have always kept the tire pressures at exactly the factory recommendation for my wheel/tire size combo: 36 psi front, and 44 psi rear. I check them the first weekend of every month to make certain that are still correct, and adjust them accordingly. I make no adjustments to those pressures before, during, or after a DE weekend (3 per year). I do not change either the wheels/tires or the brake pads for track event weekends. Factory stock - all the way. We'll see if the Michelins do as well, with 3 DE's per year, as the Pirelli's did.

The Mich's will grip better, but I'll be surprised if you get 17,000 miles on the rears.

I'll be interested to hear about your experience. I love my PS2s.

Any reason you went with a PS2 instead of a Pilot Super Sport?

My PS2 were toast at 14K miles. I did not pay enough attention to them and went dangerously low on tread wear.

NO N SERIES SUPER SPORTS AVAILABLE YET.....

Super Sports - maybe another time. I drive approximately 16,000 miles per year total, so my target is to replace rears or all four only once per year. I was pretty close to that with the Pirelli P Zero Rosso's. DE's are not timed events. I do 3 per year. I drive to and from on the same tires as on the track. Eight 25 minute run sessions per weekend, or roughly 700 miles per year on the track. That is 4% of my total miles per year. Tail of the Dragon is only "timed" by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. PS2's cost less per set, and will potentially get more miles than Super Sports. Porsche friends with Super Sports have gone back to PS2's because they corded a set of Super Sports in a single weekend at the track. Dollars and good sense.

can you be confused with mich sport cup tires? i believe the super sport price points are similar to ps2...but like i sed they are not available for a specific fitting for porsche(n serie) anyway good luck sounds like you are on top of the situation

I'm in the tire change process and wanted to go Super Sports but couldn't find the size for my 2002 C4 (225/40 18 285/30 18). I checked with Porsche and they didn't recommend going with the (225/45 18 285/35 18). My question is "has anyone put the Super Sport on a 996 C4 and if so what size tires". Thanks

How are these new tires going to affect your IMS Senior Chief?

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Hopefully, like everything else, not one little bit! LOL! But I have always been a bit of a risk taker.

So the PS2's are balanced, mounted, and aligned. Drove home today. Yes, all brand new tires, regardless of brand, are quiet. The tires on the Panamera 4 loaner I had this week with 11,000 miles on it, made more road noise over the same stretch of road. A little road nibble, but the Pirelli's were the same in the same section of road (here in Jacksonville, Florida, the Interstates are paved with concrete because we don't get freezes. But they micro-groove the roads in the direction of the traffic flow, to help with control in rain). The mileage "clock" starts at 89,542. I'll report back to this thread after my next DE which will be at Roebling Road in mid-January. I do have an event at Daytona next weekend, but I will not be taxing these tires or my brand new brakes there. Just "party" laps.

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Alignment problem????

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hahahaha!!!

i have not tried Pirelli P Zero Rosso so cannot compare. i do use ps2, and have n3 on the car now. rears went in 14k miles, and fronts look like they will be done in 30k. have used ps2 on prior bmw. very happy with them. i would like to hear your reports back.