Tire Odyssey

So let me preface my remarks by saying that I went against the common wisdom of RL as well as my own preferences. I have eventually put a Michelin tire on pretty much everything I've ever owned, but I'm keenly aware that there are plenty of other good tires out there (right?). I bought my 2000 c2 about a year ago and it came with brand new P-Zero Rosso's. I was prepared to not like them, but was pleasantly surprised. Fast forward 10 months and I while I'm putting the new exhaust on (and take the rears off) I see that the grooves are almost gone on both tires. 6500 miles. I go to the local tire shop and it seems that a pair of those tires will run $800+. No thanks, I was planning to eventually go to Super Sports anyway. So I get the rears and the sales guy thinks having Pirelli's on the front (which look almost new) will be fine. The first two weeks were okay. Then a hard run out west of town and I'm staring to notice a weird swimming at speed. Fast forward two more weeks and I'm getting Super Sports on the front, too (the P Zeros are for sale if anyone wants them). Holy cow!! It almost feels like I've put new shocks on the car or have tweaked something else with the suspension. What a difference. Moral of the story - don't mix your tires (yes, I know...) and man I just ain't sold on Pirelli's - especially at that price point. R

Nothing wrong with mixing tires if the tires are good. With the weight distribution so out of whack, keeping the same brand makes no difference. The front of the car is light so it will act differently than the rear anyways. What you had before on the front were not well suitied for the 996.

New tires on rear increase traction and make the front feel wonky, pretty simple. New Pirelli all around and you would have been singing the praises of the new hot tire. Did this on my sprint kart by accident. got the practice tires mixed up with race tires. front was practice rear was newer race set. Holy smokes it was un-drivable. came back in put the durometer on the sets and got it figured out.

Quotes source post: 12497728

You are absolutely correct! For me, the fact that I had new Pirelli's and thought they were pretty good was better than my expectations going in. But eight bills for a pair of rears was a non-starter - especially knowing I would get 7k miles. I think I paid less than that for all four Super Sports.

And her I am just amazed that you found the the Super Sports at all. I needed 4 a couple of months back and they were backordered indefinitely. Went with Bridgestones instead. So far so meh.

I always prefer 4 of the same. I have the M-PSSs and love them. I had a set of Pirellis on one of my other cars and my impression was too soft and short life.

I like Hankook Ventus V12s. I'm on my 1.5 set (replaced the rears) and like them. Quiet, great control. They recently upgraded to the evo2, which I have on the rears. I get ~8-10K on rears, 15-18K on fronts. Pirelli makes great calendars...

Quotes source posts: 12507569, 12509818

Yeah, it wasn't a problem. Now finding replacement Pirelli's - that was the problem. The price was pretty good, too, so I wasn't complaining. Seems like a lot of folks in this neighborhood like the PSSs and so that was going to be the next stop for me anyway. I've read some Hankook fans, too, and those ones are pretty reasonably priced. I see you're from Texas - I was wondering if my poor tread life might be due to Texas roads/climate, but it sounds like you're getting pretty good tread life. And yes, gotta love the Italian calendars

Are you running 19" wheels? I was looking for 18" Michelin PSS but couldn't find them anywhere in appropriate sizes. It looks like Michelin has discontinued the low profile 18" PSS. I used to run 19" wheels but downgraded this spring back to the OE wheels and sizes. I greatly prefer ride on the 18" wheels but tires are harder to find. I have previously run 2 sets of Michelin PS2s and 1 set of PSS. I now have 5K km on Hankook V12 EVO K110s (the first version). The PSS were the best by far. The Hankooks are a good tire at a great price, but their wet traction is noticeably worse than the PSS and they sidewalls weren't as stiff which makes them a little less precise. I was pleasantly surprised with the V12s at the track though. I wasn't expecting them to match the PSS (and I don't think they did) but they did give very good feedback at the limit. I had them lightly squealing consistently through most of the slower sections of the track. I would buy the PSS again in a heartbeat if they were available. But I think my next tire will likely be the Potenza RE050A if I can find them in 18" based on the reviews here.

Am running Sumitomo's on the rear of my 2003 C4S and Hancook's on the front. I was going to replace rears with Hancook's but my tire guy said he couldn't get them anywhwere (Tire Store). He said it wouldn't matter. I've put 3K on them and he was right. Quiet, smooth and I've taken them up well above 100 and they are smooth. I am going to drive 120 miles down to my mechanic in Newport Beach who is going to do the 4 WD alignment. The cost of the Sumitomos was extremely reasonable so I will probably repeat this when necessary. In the past, I've realized that the alignment on the C4S is critical. - Fast Frank

Good point about Hankook availability. I was able to find a pair of rear V12s in the original version for 18" wheels but it took some digging. But the second generation of V12s don't come in 18" sizes. Should be easy to get 19" tires, but in that case I'd recommend going with the PSS instead.

Quotes source post: 12511648

Well isn't that weird. I'm running stock 18" alloy turbo twists - 225/40 on the front and 265/35 on the back. Had them at the local warehouse - bought them on friday afternoon, got them installed on Saturday morning. $170 apiece for the fronts - a fair bit cheaper than the P zero rossos they replaced. R

Interesting. How do you find the new tires? I looked again at the PSS availability at Tire Rack and they definitely don't carry the low-profile stock sizes. They don't have any 2?5 30 tires. Just 2?5 35. The stock size is 285 30 r18. The closest in the PSS is your 265 35 r18 but the width is 7% smaller and the sidewall is 8% larger. Diameter is ~2.5% larger. I'd still consider that though since a little more sidewall probably isn't a bad thing. On the bright side the speedo would be a little more accurate But on 11" wheels the width might be an issue.

Quotes source post: 12531012

If you look at the spec sheet from Michelin, the lowest they go is 35 on the 18s. They don't make 30s on 18s. I have 285/35-18s and they work great. Actually, this size gives you a more accurate speed reading.