On page 153 of the Owner's Manual, the tire pressure for 17" Wheels is listed at 36 psi for both front and rear. Is this correct?

 

Yes.

 

Yes. I just had the rears replaced on mine, and the shop was familiar with 993s and inflated the rears to 44psi as recommended for 18s. Boy the car was squirrely. Unfortunately I did not check the pressures right away as I thought they knew what they were doing. So i replaced my engine mounts to RS (I had already purchased them anyway). It helped tremendously, but I would like to have known how the Continientals compared to the Michelins.

 

I have never heard a good explanation for why Porsche recommends 44 for 18" and 16" rears but 36 for 17".