I recently contacted my local independent shop for tire recommendations. I want a good all-around street tire that will offer good dry handling, good wet traction, not too much road noise, and has a decent treadwear life.

They came back with "Continental Sport Contact."
Front 205/55R16 $150 each mounted
Rear 225/50R16 $170 each mounted

The salesman said that this tire is OE on some Porsches (911??), and that there is a special "N1" designation for the tires that meet Porsche specs.

Any thoughts or comments on these?

 

I have them on my 996. They are quiet and have a decent tread life. Other than that, they are not known to be much of a performance tire, relative to a Michelin Pilot Sport xxxx, or Pirelli P-Zero, etc.

I do not plan on getting them again, YMMV

 

I wouldn't do that, you can get a much better tire for a lot cheaper price. What kind of driving do you do? Do you drive it year round? What kind of weather does it see?

 

Yes, I thought that these were quite pricey myself. I also thought that I could trust the shop to offer an unbiased recommendation, not something that they could markup $$.

I live in Chicago, so the weather is typical Midwest. I will be driving the car from Spring through Fall, dry and wet weather. Most daily driving (50 miles round trip) is at highway speeds with the usual stop and go traffic during peak times. I will also be driving the car on weekends for cruising/road trips.

I may take the car on the track ~occassionally~ in the next year (maybe an autocross or DE), but I'm definitely not looking for heavy track duty.

I have read a lot of good things at this site about the Bridgestone RE-730s. What are these like on the 951? One previous thread mentioned excessive road noise which would be a concern for me.

 

I have a set of Bridgestone RE730's with ~500 miles on them. 205/55-16 front tires and 225/50-16 rears. I measured the tread after I took them off...they've got 9/32nds left across the board[10/32nds new]. I'll sell them to you for $350 plus shipping...send me an e-mail at PorscheG96@yahoo.com and let me know if you want them. This way you'll save about $200 on tires if you'd bought the Continentals [which really suck IMO] and I can get rid of an extra set that's just laying around [I'm using my Yokohama A032-R's on my 16" wheels so I don't need the Bridgestones].

FYI, Tire Rack has these tires for $112/ea for the fronts and $119/ea for the rears...total ~$462 + shipping. You'll still save ~$100.

 

Well, going by what you said about your driving conditions I would go with the Toyo Proxe T1-S. This tire is an incredible dry AND wet tire. The traction rating is an AA and the tempurature rating is an A. The tread wear is somewhere below 300 I believe, can't remember of the top of my head. This tire is a Japanese tire and is very smooth and comfortable tire. Toyo even has a 500 mile or 45 day ride trial offer. So if you don't like them you can return them for something different, but I doubt you will not like them.
Just look at this tread design and tell me this won't keep you planted to the road!

 

Yokohama AVS intermediates. They are great wet tires and used to be near the top of the heap for dry as well. Tire Rack clearance priced at less than $60 per tire. They have 205/55, 225/60, and 245/45 at those prices.

<a href="http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes.jsp?make=Yokohama&model=AVS+Intermediate" target="_blank">http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes.jsp?make=Yokohama&model=AVS+Intermediate</a>

Eugene

 

Tirerack.com's reviews of the Continentals make them sound pretty sucky.

 

BTW I had SportContacts on my old 99 528 sport. Great wet traction, good dry, nice ride, horrible tramlining and they literally evaporate into the air as far as treadlife.

Eugene

 

The Contis came OEM on my company Ford Taurus. That's all I'll say. Look at the Tire Rack for Kuhmo or Sumitomos maybe.

Frank