TYRES (997 TURBO)

[garyw]

ORIGINAL: grover
No point complaining about the wear or cost, we are driving cars that once cost £100k plus (emphasis on ONCE)which are pretty damn quick so for me there is no compromise on the quality or type or cost for that matter of the little black things that keep me safely on the road. I must be alone in that thinking

Not at all.. I was taught it by my Father and believe it even more so now...
Those 4 small contact points are your only bit of grip to the world.

garyw

 

[fireblade]

quote:

ORIGINAL: grover
No point complaining about the wear or cost, we are driving cars that once cost £100k plus (emphasis on ONCE)which are pretty damn quick so for me there is no compromise on the quality or type or cost for that matter of the little black things that keep me safely on the road. I must be alone in that thinking


Not complaining about the cost just trying to get value like my Turbo provides

When I can get over double the mileage for a similar price with arguably no noticable difference in performance with my driving profile, I am inclined to at least investigate (ask others).

I realise that tyres are a compromise and that the best grip tyres will probably be most expensive both in cost and wear terms. I am a biker and understand very much how important those small rubber footprints are to my continued well being. I have the scars to prove it!

Pirelli recommend the Corsa for track days but I have neither the cash nor the inclination to purchase a spare set of wheels and tyres for three or four lesiurely track days a year. My cars do not get hammered.

One of my friends bought the Pirelli Zero Rosso because he liked the little red print on the tyre walls!

My best value tyres were Conti's on four previous cars (including my 996C4S and 964) which never let me down on grip either on the road or track and produced serious mileage. I will probably never need the absolute grip performance of the Michelins that Clive recommended so I am looking for a good all round road tyre. Contis' would be my first choice but I have been told that they do not produce the size rears that I need.

Gary seems happy with Bridgestones and at the moment they seem the best bet. They are the only game in town in F1 so I feel confident that they have done a certain amount of research to ensure a balance between wear and grip throughout their range.

I will have to order soon so if anyone has any further comments / recommendations I shall be very pleased to receive them.

Thanks to all

Cheers

 

[exponential]

Michelin Pilot Sport PS3 is in the pipe line and will be introduce soon. PS3 will be all the way better than PS2. Quieter, better grip, shorter brake distance (this is very difficult but it will be).

It is worthwile to wait for PS3

 

[fireblade]

Thanks, how about wear?

I had some Michelin Sports many years ago on my RX 7 Turbo and the fronts lasted 6000 miles! Goodyear gave me something like 16k but I was younger and drove harder then carving up 924's. Yes they did grip! Never touched them since. I am not after ultimate competition performance, my braking distance is gut wrenching enough as it is!

 

[marlin]

In the nineties the tyre to have was Yokohama's the rears on my 993 had to be changed at three thousand miles, i used to joke that a trip to France necessitated a tyre pit stop. So 12 K out of my Turbo rears is fantastic.

Maybe I drove faster then []

 

[okellyt]

Again most turbo drivers who don't cane their car seem to get 12k miles out of their rears, so don't get your hopes up too much on dramatic increase in tyre life.

Of the 4 tyre types recommended for Porsche's, you said you can't get conti's and you don't want Pirelli again - so its down to Mitchelin Pilots Sports or Bridgestone.

I'd suggest Bridgestone as other turbo drivers seem to like them but the general consensus is they wear quicker than the Priellis. The Mitchelins are supposed to wear better so they might be your best bet.

However, if you only got 12k miles out of the front Pirelli's I'd suggest your driving harder than you think you are, even under casual use the 997TT is quicker most other sporty vehicles. Either that or your tyres pressures were significantly out from the manufacturers recommendations (increase tyre wear)

So on reflection, if it was me I'd go for the Bridgestones.

 

[exponential]

The price whisper of PS3 is ~25-30% cheaper than the PS2 as well. It coming on sale within 45 days.
If the above is true, do you want to wait?

I'ld rather wait for this fantastic PS3 with friendly price[]

 

[fireblade]

Sorry I haven't replied, have been extra busy lately.

I have contacted my local tyre man who hadn't heard of the new Michelin SP3 (no criticism) I have tried to find out abouth them on the net and the Michelin site has a funny graph showing an improvement all round but this is only marginal on wear and is only (obviously) compared to the SP2. I can find no details as to when they will be available nor the price.

Anyone heard anything?

Cheers

 

[fireblade]

ORIGINAL: okellyt

Again most turbo drivers who don't cane their car seem to get 12k miles out of their rears, so don't get your hopes up too much on dramatic increase in tyre life.

Of the 4 tyre types recommended for Porsche's, you said you can't get conti's and you don't want Pirelli again - so its down to Mitchelin Pilots Sports or Bridgestone.

I'd suggest Bridgestone as other turbo drivers seem to like them but the general consensus is they wear quicker than the Priellis. The Mitchelins are supposed to wear better so they might be your best bet.

However, if you only got 12k miles out of the front Pirelli's I'd suggest your driving harder than you think you are, even under casual use the 997TT is quicker most other sporty vehicles. Either that or your tyres pressures were significantly out from the manufacturers recommendations (increase tyre wear)

So on reflection, if it was me I'd go for the Bridgestones.

Thanks, The rears are worse than the front and those are the ones that do need changing but if I change brand I will need to get a full set. I accept that the rears will wear quicker but generally my driving is easy on the tyres with most driving being done below 40mph the legal limit in Jersey!

Strange abount the Michelins, most people I speak to think that they are great tyres but wear quicker! As you can see there is a new Michelin out shortly.

Cheers

 

[Alex L]

Just as an update from putting a few hundred miles on my new Pirelli N-3 tyres:

They don't seem to give you as much grip under 10 degC in the damp/wet as my old Michelin N-2 tyres (PS2) did. I am hoping that once things warm up a bit then the grip will return. I know anything under 7 degC and I should be running winter tyres but anyway...

Me thinks I will be switching to Michelin PS3's in 10,000 miles time.

 

[Alex L]

ORIGINAL: fireblade

[FONT=arial"]Sorry I haven't replied, have been extra busy lately.
[FONT=arial"]
[FONT=arial"]I have contacted my local tyre man who hadn't heard of the new Michelin SP3 (no criticism) I have tried to find out abouth them on the net and the Michelin site has a funny graph showing an improvement all round but this is only marginal on wear and is only (o[FONT=calibri"]bviously) compared to the SP2. I can find no details as to when they will be available nor the price.
[FONT=arial"]
[FONT=arial"]Anyone heard anything?
[FONT=arial"]
[FONT=arial"]Cheers

Only what I have googled: http://www.event-tyres.co.uk/news/new-michelin-pilot-sport-3-ps3-232.php

I don't see Porsche N-rated on the list though: http://www.event-tyres.co.uk/news/new-tyre-sizes-michelin-pilot-sport-3-ps3-255.php

...in fact not even in the same size ([size="-1"]235/35 ZR19 fronts and [/size][size="-1"]305/30 ZR19 rears) as a 997 Turbo runs - so it will be at least after October 2010 before you can get them for this car[/size]

 

[robert997]

Hi All, I asked Steve Dolby of Michelin about PS3 at the Autosport show. He explained the PS2 will remain the premium performance tyre for Supercars, and that PS3 is targeted at the market below, for hot saloons etc and modified cars.

 

[fireblade]

Thanks Alex for both replies.

The Michelin graph is the one I saw and I couldn't find our size tyres mentioned either so it looks as if the SP3 is definitely out this time around.

I guess my most practical way out is to get new Pirellis for the back now and replace the fronts in another few thousand miles to spread the cost but I quite like the idea of starting the summer with new boots all round as that is when I do most of my off island higher speed driving.

Winter tyres are not really necessary here except for the one or two snow days a year and our average daytime temperatures apart from about six weeks or so are as close to 7degC as makes no difference.

Cheers

 

[fireblade]

This sounds like salesman's puff, since according to their site the SP3 is much better all round!!. (and alledgedly to be cheaper)

He is just trying to protect the market for SP2 as they probably have a mountain of them somewhere or perhaps it is an effort to make us pay more because we own "supercars"

Cheers