951Badger

Gotta get tires.

Most likely SP8000 (whole set for about $600) 225 front, 245 rear.

Looking for a somewhat quieter, smoother tire.

Opinions? Are these OK tires?

I have Yokohama A008R on right now. They are ancient and hard as a rock. Terrible ride.

What do you guys think????

PorscheG96

Those tires absolutely suck. They don't grip for ****, the amount sidewall flex is disgusting for a Z-rated tire, and the rears won't last you more than 7k miles. Must be the worst set of tires I have ever used, I was glad to remove those from my car. It's not a very loud tire but it'll have you cussing on the freeway when it's raining out...worst rain tire I've ever used.

JDR944

My dad has these on his '89 911 (225 rear, 205 front) and we're fairly pleased with them. They do seem pretty quiet at highway speeds although I have never experienced that 911 on any other tires so I can not give a good comparison. I can tell you that they worked well when I autocrossed his car in the rain......As for the ride...well, it's pretty rough, but the ride has been rough on every 911 I've ever been in except the 996 so I don't think the tires were the culprits. Sadly he has had two flats in the last 2 weeks (both rear tires) so they are no longer Z-rated and we will have to change them for some new Continentals that we have sitting in the garage(won at a Mercedes event). If we didn't have these continentals sitting around though, there would be no hesitation in buying the Dunlops again.

JDR944

WOW......just shows the different perspectives....they seemed pretty good in the rain to me....but I'm definitely no expert on how the 911 is supposed to behave.

951Badger

Wow...I'm confused now! Anyone else?

triscadek

FWIW at tirerack.com , You can select a tire and read comments from previous buyers.

triscadek

One other thing, I don't remember which #s they are but in the tire serial # there is a manufacture date code month/year and I've read in motorcycle magazines that you could get tires that are 2-3 years old and the rubber gets hard sitting in the warehouse all that time.

But the moral of the story was to see how old the tires are before you have them mounted.

Perry 951

I vote for the RE730 Gen 2's. I have the 1st generation on mine and love them. Friend also has them on his GTI with 22,000 miles on the set and they just get better with age. Little noise, good wear, but they are so sticky. IMHO, you cannot beat the wet weather traction. I have heard the 2nd generation RE730's fixed the noise that appears after 10,000 miles or so.

A set can be had for close to the $600.

Tom Pultz

Not sure why you'd pay $600 for an outdated tire design when you can buy them from The Tirerack for $412 for the set.

I've had two sets of the SP8000. Ran one on my Civic Si for about 40K miles. They were really great on that car and worked quite well in the rain even when nearly bald.

When I bought my S2 it came with SP8000s in 205/55 and 225/50-16. I thought they rode harshly on sharp impacts although they weren't terribly noisy. I drove them on the track 3-4 times and they stuck OK but tended to feel a bit greasy as they warmed up. Wet weather performance wasn't nearly as good on the Porsche as the Honda.

There are better tires available now for the same money. I wouldn't buy the SP8000 unless you were desperate for tires now and need to get them locally. I was in the same boat with the Honda when the 8000s wore out... and I bought the SP4000s locally. Big mistake. The SP8000 was a much better tire.

If the Michelin Pilot Sports weren't so expensive I'd recommend those. They ride smooth and quiet, look great, and stick well.

Z-man

I have SP8000's on my 944S2, and am very please with them. (225/50ZR16 front and 245/45/ZR16 rear) They offer great grip, even on the track!
They are a soft compound and between that, the low tread wear number, and playing on the track, they have worn quite quickly.
I just flipped the front tires (not rotate, but switched rims since they are uni-directional, but symetical you can do that) The outside edge (esp. on the driver's side) was wearing quite a bit, do to agressive cornering on the track & autocross, despite a -1 degree of camber that I have.
I do recommend these tires: yeah, they wear quick, but they are grippy, even on tracks!

Just my $0.42
-Zoltan

dave120

I had Dunlops on my S2 when we bought it that were almost worn out. Went ahead and got the same thing when I replaced them (about a year ago). I thought they had pretty decent grip, not too bad in the rain either. I did a DE with them and they seemed to work pretty well for that too. For the money (about $85 a piece when I bought the set) they're pretty good tires IMO. A little harsh ride but the wear wasn't bad.

When I got my new wheels I went with Bridgestone S03's and they're incredible. They stick like glue even in the rain and provide a slightly softer ride even on 17" wheels vs the 16"'s I had with the Dunlops. I paid about $835 after balance and mounting etc for those..well worth it.

SteveB

I have the SP 8000 on my '86 951. 205/225x16. Less than 1000 miles. They are quiet, medium soft, with good wet driving (little hydroplaning). I don't particularly like the dry handling though. They seem to follow the road imperfections too much (tramling). Maybe due to the very wide tread groves. But the price was right. $450 for the set of 4 including mounting, balancing, new stems, tax and disposal of my old Dunlop D40M2s. But as you can see everyone has his own opinion based on the type of driving they do and the amount of money they can spend.

HTH
Steve

Franco44

Have'em, like'em. Reasonably priced. I actually use that at the track on my BMW. No problems.

Frank

Robby

I've got them- I've NEVER had a tire last so damn long as these- I had an Integra (1st Gen) and I never made it past 20K on ANY set and that was w/regular rotating, etc, which you can't do on our cars (well, w/out dismounting anyway). These SP8000's have about 25K on them so far and the rears have about 10% before I'll be ready to replace and the fronts have close to 50% Now, I'll admit, that I haven't been driving especially hard or anything, but still. For the price, I don't think you can beat them, unless you would prefer AVS Intermediates- they are louder though and don't handle the rain as well IMO....

Anyway, I think I'm going to go to the Bridgestone Pole Position 3 I believe it's called- it's pricier, but still less than AVS Sports, SP9000's (which don't stick as well as SP8000's FWIW), etc... Check out the Tire Rack and see what I'm talking about- they also have tests where they've compared one tire to another, etc so you can narrow it down a little better...