SimonK

Once and for all let's settle this...

My 944 Turbo S is overdue for some new tires. Currently on my baby I have Bridgstone Potenza SO2 pole position (f)225/45/17 and (r)255/40/17 but no N designation on them. I like them but I am wondering is there anything better out there as an ultimate performance tire and what is this must have NO or N1 designation? Thanks guys.

PS: Bridgestone recommends Potenza RE730 or RE010 for our cars.

Dwayne Williams

Don't know about ultimate, but I just put a set of Michelin Pilot Sports on my 86 and they are excellent tires. Great grip, smooth ride, less noise. I'll have to see how they wear, but for now I'm thrilled. Got them from Tire Rack.

gatorbait

This doesn't answer your question directly, but I've had experience with both Pilot Sports and SO3's, but not on my 951 (had them on my previous car, a '98 BMW E36 M3, which I'm still in mourning for). On that car, I was running 225-17-45 front, and 245-40-17 rear.

They're both geat "summer" high performance tires,and both handled extremely well in the rain. My favorite tires by a hair were the Pilot Sports. Crisp turn-in, good straight line stability, comfy ride, reasonably quiet and they wore reasonably well. Only nit to pick with them is that they understeered more than I would have liked at the limits.

The SO3's were also comfortable, quiet, cornered a bit better than the Pilot Sports, understeered less than the PS' and were cheaper as well. The only thing that I didn't care for was their tendency to tramline, so straight line stability suffered (IMO).

My 951 has tires put on by the previous owner (Dunlop 9000's, with staggered stock tire sizes). When I burn the Dunlops to the cords, I'll put Pilot Sports on the car.

ninefiveone

I've run a number of tires and I consider Bridgestone S03's the best 3 season street tire to date.

Definitely one of the best for traction in the dry (as good as or better than michelin MXX3's that were the Tire Rack's previous king of dry grip) accompanied by good wet traction, quiet, soft ride and good turn-in (which usually never accompanies soft ride). They maintained that grip as they've worn as well. Slightly less wet traction as the tread wears down but good, nonetheless.

They're terrible in the cold/snow as is to be expected. They didn't take track beatings as well as the MXX3's either but only marginally worse.

My next meats will be Michelin Pilot Cup Sports which approach r-compound grip, are still DOT legal and apparently wear much better than most r-compounds. I hear good things about their wet traction compared to other r-compounds but that's probably not saying much compared to a true street tire.

I've also heard good things about BFGoodrich KDD's in the dry but they're a heavy and expensive tire.

I wouldn't sweat the N designation. They do reflect additional properties that Porsche has helped the tire engineers build into the tire but it's been many a year since Porsche had a 951 in mind when they spec'd a tire. Not to say those properties aren't good but I wouldn't consider them critical.

sybelix

no point of mentioning high performance summer tires and snow in same sentence..

Cause they are two different things all together..

Anyway, I think, that Pilot Sport are great tires, far better than they MXX3. But have you guys tried the Uniroyal Rain Sport 1 ?
I'm getting those in a couple of month,
225/40-18 & 265/35-18.

Any experiences..?

steve g

Has this forum group ever considered doing a 'group buy' for tires from one of the major distributors ? I'm in the market for new tires for my 89 951. I would be happy to take the lead in contacting the major distributors. My guess is that if we could narrow our choices to 1 or 2 the vendors would be easier to approach. My choice is the Pilot Cups Spots.
If anyone is interested please send me an email. I will let you all know either by email or posting here.

jason952

I think the s-03 are the ultimate. kuhmo ecsta mx if $ is the bottom line. the N designation just means that the tire companies paid big bucks to have the tire approved by the manufacturer, and that same tire costs you more. I wouldn't worry about it. tires are tires.

Jason

Matt Sheppard

My bet is the Firestone Firehawk SZ50 EP's. Moderately priced, much longer wearing and the best "feeling" tire I've ever had. Rated very high on Tire Rack survey.

the RE730's you mentioned are not a bad tire but not as sweet a feel and NOISY.

dmoffitt

anyone running A0-32R (advan / yokohama) on a street car?

Brian S.

I'll need a set of Pilot Cup Sports soon....If there is a group buy, let me know.!!!

ninefiveone

Ditto on the cup sports group buy.

pedro951

I ran the AO32R for street and autocrss. They had amazing grip, but i guess any r compound tire would compared to street tires. Autocrossing i was 5 or 6 seconds faster, on a minute track, based on my times compared to the competition.

They were no good in the wet and dangerous in the snow, but i dont have an LSD and my car always gets loose in the wet. The tires lasted almost a full autocross season but there was absolutely no tread at the end. They also made a couple 1000 mile round trips. About half way through the life they developed a howl. One time i picked up a nail, and the sidewalls held up the tire with absolutely no pressure.

I got another set, but this time just for autocross.

dmoffitt

so peter, you think they could last me a summer of autox (like an event every couple of weeks) + driving roughly 5-8k miles?

what about the pilot cups' life expetancy?

Matt Sheppard

I ran the Advan 032R's on my '87 Turbo and, yes, I think they are the best R compound tire for street use. They are a blast to drive but go away quick (UTQG=60).

The Open Track Challenge last year, everybody that was even close to competitive ran that tire as they had to travel between the tracks on the same tires. My racer buddy who had a new tweeked WRX loaned him from Subaru for that series just got creamed using sticky street tires.

ninefiveone

Pilot Cups have developed a reputation for good wear at the track but a mediocre one at best for auto-x.

It takes a good lap or two at the track to get heat into them and people who've tried them for auto-x find they can't get them up to temp and hence, won't stick well.