911lnv87

Hi guys, I was wondering what are the best street only summer tire in 17" for my 951 1986. Thanks for your advise of size and brand/style.

911lnv87

I am contemplating the continental extremcontact sport and the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500
In the following size:
205/ 50 17
255/ 40 16

What do ou guys thinks any other or better suggestion advise

Thanks

mel_t_vin

How wide are your rims? Most folks would probably say that 205/255 is too much of a stagger [on a 944] for spirited driving/canyon carving, certainly for track work, and result in excessive understeer. Though, on the street, under most conditions, it probably wouldn't matter.

Regardless, when the factory went to 17" Cups on the 968, they opted for 225/45 and 255/40. Depending on dampers, sways, and driving style, some folks run with even more parity...235/255, 245/255, and even 255/255.

911lnv87

Hi
My current setting is the following:
17x7.5 et23 , 225/45/17
17x9 et15 , 245/45/17

With Cup 3 wheels

911lnv87

Anyone have ever tried the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500? They have some pretty good review.

mtnman82

I just put some Firestone Firehawk Indy 500's on my daily driver (MB c230) and have about 30 miles on them (JUST put them on). All I can say at this point is they are quiet on the road and are stickier than I expected. I'm thinking more of a summer tire than I was looking for, but as long as they're good in the rain and are OK with moderately cold temps I'm OK with them. I looked at many different tires and read lots of reviews. I got them based on the reviews and plan to use them year round (I live in the desert, so rarely see snow but do see some rain, and if it does snow I'll be driving my truck).

911lnv87

Thanks, for the review, I was thinking about those also because of the review of tire rack.

87944turbo

I have square set of 8.5" width boxster twists on my car for the street and picked up 235/45R-17 FIRESTONE FIREHAWK WIDE OVAL INDY 500 XL tires for them last summer from the Tire Rack.

Have been good to me so far. I run these same tires on my DD WRX with my summer wheels. They are not as good as the Star Specs that came off, but they are perfectly acceptable for spirited street driving for me.

Not sure how they would fair in cold temps, but have dedicated wheels/tires for the WRX for winter and never drive the 951 in the winter months.

Tough to beat for the price, when I got mine they were $63.25 each. : )

Laust Pedersen

I have my eyes on the "Firestone Firehawk Indy 500" too and learned that outside the US they are called "Bridgestone (Potenza Adrenalin) RE003".

Bridgestone bought Firestone in 1988 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgestone

Laust

911lnv87

Porvair

I'm running 235/45/7 front and 255/40/17 rear Conti Extremcontact sports. Very happy with that setup, for both street and track days. So far I only did one track day (last Sept @ Pocono) and I found the tires very predictable and the car (1988 951S) was well balanced. No excessive wear or chunking or any of the bad stuff that can happen with street tires on the track.

I was not looking to set any records and have been very happy with this tire setup. Not as sticky as the previous Nitto NT01s (which are R compounds and not good for the street) but I was not expecting them to be. I have not tried them in wet conditions but I imagine they would be fine.

mtnman82

Still happy with the Indy 500's on my DD. They did just fine through a winter here in the desert, where it did get down into the 30's at times.

I have the Star Spec's on the 951 and went with 235/45-17 front and 255/40-17 rear.

911lnv87