rennmax

I'm going to be putting a new set of tyres on the car.
I bought a set of 944 s2 wheels so I have 7" wheels on the front so I was going to fit 225/50-16 all round.
What are the tyre at the moment?
I hear a lot about the pirelli zero's, but I've had pirelli's on a bmw that were great when new but bloody horrible after 18 months.
Thanks.

Twood

I am running Toyo RA 1's front and back and they offer me reasonable milage, good grip and I believe compared to the Bridgestones and Yokhama's and esperially the Pirelli's and Michelins, excellant value for money.
The car is used for a daily drive car and occassional track day 4-5 rimes per year.

shesminetoo

PO fitted Federal SS535 to mine when I bought it. Boy do they last. I reckon they're about halfway now with almost 30k on them. Daily (enthusiastic) drive. Grip in the wet is not great (thanx for awd) but dry grip is not bad at all. I always thought I'd fit expensive rubber when these run out, but considering the mileage that I do and the type of driving, I'm seriously reconsidering. The bill for four tyres were $840 at the time. Very good value, and I honestly don't think safety is compromised. I've had no balancing issues or anything. When "wheels" magazine did their performance tyre shootout test last year, the Federal's performed about mid field in most tests.

shesminetoo

PO fitted Federal 595's to mine when I bought it. Boy do they last. I reckon they're about halfway now with almost 30k on them. Daily (enthusiastic) drive. Grip in the wet is not great (thanx for awd) but dry grip is not bad at all. I always thought I'd fit expensive rubber when these run out, but considering the mileage that I do and the type of driving, I'm seriously reconsidering. The bill for four tyres were $840 at the time. Very good value, and I honestly don't think safety is compromised. I've had no balancing issues or anything. When "wheels" magazine did their performance tyre shootout test last year, the Federal's performed about mid field in most tests.

shesminetoo

Apologies for the double post, I actually corrected the model of the tyre, so second post is the right one.

David P

I've got Continental Sport Contact 2's on mine. Absolutely excellent. Good in the dry and the wet, and OK on the track.

Where in Melbourne are you?

David P

rennmax

I would prefer to put Michelins or Continentals on, but I'm open to all suggestions.
David, I'm in Donvale.

rennmax

I have ordered some Kumho KU31's, going to be fitted tomorrow, $165 each.

AB-Oz

Very interested in what you think of the Kumho's, I'll be needed some new fronts very soon.

I'm holding off on a wheel alignment + some suspension adjusting until I get some new hoops on.

Cheers
Adam

JohnMetro

Hi Rennmax. I have been watching this post with interest, as I am also due for tyres soon. I'm a little confused though. If you prefer Michelins or Contins (as you said above) why did you go for el-cheapo Kumho's???

I have tried many tyres on my previous sports cars (both mid-engine and front engine) and found that these two were consistently best.

I am expecting that I won't get much change from $250-300 per corner for a top quality tyre.

My priorities are grip/handling/wet weather. Wear comes last as I don't do many miles per annum, so tyres will last me a while.

rennmax

The tyres are fitted.
I went with the kumho's as they seem to be popular with p people in the states, and I couldn't argue with the price.
I bought them as an experiment as well because I have gone to 7" wheels on the front with 225/50's all round and I was worried about tramlining with the wider front wheels and if it didn't work out then I didn't want to fork out another $500 for a front pair of tyres.
The verdict is that they are very smooth and quiet compared to what I had on and there is a hint of tramlining, but not too bad.
The ride quality is so much better than what I had that I thought the tyre fitter had underinflated the tyres, but checking them when I got home they had 46psi in the rear and 42 in the front. So they are just a smooth riding tyre.
The front end grip is better and the tyres still need some scrubbing in so I expect the grip to get better.
For the price I am very happy, we'll see in 12 months if I'm still happy as I've had tyres go from great to ****house in that time.
I have Michelins on my old merc wagon and they are great.
So if the Kumho's go downhill I'll say lesson learned and put the Michelins on.
Thanks,
Grant.

JohnMetro

Thanks for the feedback Grant. I can see your logic.

I'll keep an eye open for future posts after you have run them for a few thousand K's

Cheers
John

boxsey911

Do you guys never consider Continentals? These have often been original fitment on Porsches and therefore are highly regarded by Porsche themselves.

For road use I personally look no further than Conti Sport Contact 2 (N2 Porsche rating). A brilliant all round tyre IMO and slightly cheaper than Michelin PS2s.