Edward

is the Hankook Ventus? The Sumitomo III? Kumho?

Talk to me folks, I'm doing walrod bushings, alignment, and new tires. Help me on the latest and best daily commuter skins for our lovely beasts. And not interested in wet weather whatsoever.
BTW, that's NB stock Cup IIs in 225 and 255-17.

For reference, long ago I had Kumho MX for several iterations, then the Hankooks are on now. Please share your experience. Big TIA, all!

EDIT: having just read Bill V.'s thread on the RE71, I'm wondering what's the mileage folks are getting with these?

Edward

NYC993

Hard to beat sumi price of under 500 for he whole set for street driven car.

EDIT: I've been happy with Bridgestone S04. But I haven't tried much else.

Edward

Hmmm, just saw the 200 treadwear on the RE71R ...too aggressive for my purpose here.

Anyone have thoughts on the Potenza S-04? Looks like that one is somewhat in line with the Sumi III and Hankook v12 in terms of grip/treadwear/price? Thoughts and experience, most welcome, please!

Edward

Donster

My 993 came with Sumitomo HTR ZIII tires. I hated them. They were noisy and the fronts were even out of round, causing a non-resolvable tremor at 90km/h. Couldn't get rid of them fast enough. Replaced them with Michelin PS2 and immediately noted better ride and handling, better grip in wet conditions (which I understand doesn't matter to you).

It baffles me why anyone would invest tens of thousands of dollars in a Porsche, then put cheap discount tires on it.

Quadcammer

So you got a car with bad set of tires on them, and you're gonna swear off on reasonably priced tires? Your precious sets of Michelins also have bad ones on occasion. I've run Sumitomos for 30+K miles and they are fantastic for the money.

On the street, if you tell me you can tell the difference in performance, I'm ready to call you a liar.

Cactus

Second set of S04's. Happy.

Spyder_Man

I've got some S-04s on my 17" Cup 2s and have no complaints at all. Great performance and great price point. I've run Sumi IIIs on my 986 Boxster and was pretty happy with those. That said given the choice now, I'd probably buy another set of S-04s.

In fact after reviewing your initial post, I am running the exact tread widths that you're looking at as well. Slightly up-sized front tread width. 225/45R-17 front and 255/40R-17. Nothing but ahead! Just make sure you're alignment is set up properly.

JM993

Well go ahead and call me a liar too. Like Don, it's obvious to me that Sumis are a large step below Michelins and Bridgestones. The difference in steering response and grip (both lacking) is very apparent. I wouldn't bother with them.

race911

I just wonder where you guys are driving on the street where you can notice the difference between .95 and .98g. (I'll guess up-to low intermediate at a DE doesn't even see .8g on any but second gear corners. Some day I need to just go drive at that pace, and look at data.)

A couple of years ago I had occasion to work with a warmed over (gasp) 996 on HTR3s. Did they pretty much suck? Yeah. Fiddled with pressures, worked on how I could drive them. Then went back to the garage and mounted some NT01s I had sitting around. Driver of the car did not improve his time. I didn't drive it, but I was about 5 sec/lap quicker than him on the Sumis.

helmet993

I'm going to go with Falken FK-453 tires next time out. Currently on PS2 tires, which are fine but I switched to Falkens on the other car and love them.

JM993

You don't need to drive at the limit to detect a lack of sharpness in the steering. But, yes, sometimes I push a little on street where I deem it's safe.

fatmike

I just put some Continental DW's on my rig (literally today). Very happy.

/

golfnutintib

op asked for every day street driving and the best value tire in dry conditions

yes its a discussion forum but it's all better if we remember what the topic actually is, fellas!

my reply to op...

yes imho lower end high value tire is still sumi htr3 - just can't beat the price and what u get for the money spent... half price or less of michelins... do you give up performance? of course... but they are fine for sporty street driving, they last, and they are safe...they do flat spot when parked long time and they get a little rougher with age, but i have a fresh set on one of my 993's and they drive very very well 7-8/10ths...

next step up in price/value street use tires are b'stone s04 and conti dw... 200-300 more a set than sumi's, but still 300-400 less than mpss... these tires give marginally better handling in daily driving, sharper handling near limit, but folks used to the harder side wall michelins (super sport or ps2) will still say these are sloppy when driven hard... i run conti's on my other 993 wb and they are compliant and grippy but less sharp on turn in than the best performance tires but for 993 air cool pleasure driving i like them a lot... don't have s04's on 993 but have had them on street driven 997 gt3 they are very decent, long lasting, good handling sporty street tire... to me the downside of s04 (and most all b-stones) is they are 3-4 lbs heavier than conti or michelins each corner... that can be felt when accelerating hard and taking sharp bumps

last i checked hkk evo v12's did not have 993 wb sizes... i feel they are decent road tires maybe a notch below bridgestone and conti... got a set of evo v12's on a 993 already aged tires, they don't drive better or worse than aged sumi's to me

track worthy tires for guys who track a lot... totally different conversation

Edward

FWIW, I've had the hankook v12s now and they're ok ...just ok, though turnin felt more squishy and less settled than my old kumhos, but heck, that may just be my flawed memory. And YES, I am still talking about pure street driving and daily commuting! I was thinking of rolling the dice with the S04 as the price is pretty close to the kooks, but am hoping for maybe more sidewall/carcass stiffness to sharpen it a bit? But this is, admittedly, splitting hairs.

And I don't know if this is flawed logic but I'm personally thinking of bypassing the Sumis only because it's getting old, and as you all know we go through 2 sets of rears for every front set so I'd rather not have the Sumis disappear from the marketplace mid-cycle (which is exactly what happened to me long ago with the Kumho MX).

Edward

nile13

Couple observations:

- OP doesn't say what Hankooks he's on. That's a problem. Hankook RS-3 are very, very good tires. V12s are blah due to a very soft sidewall. The rest pf tires Hankook makes are unadulterated crap. So, what are you on now?

- The statement "I just got XXX today and am very happy" makes less than zero sense. For two reasons. One, you probably replaced old tires in unknown shape (well, hopefully, roughly round). You are comparing apples to... condom factory donation material? Second, they still have mold release compound all over them. Which means, frankly, that you are driving on a tub of Vaseline that has not worn off. Other than the smell, what is it that you like about them, then, and how is it related to their ability to adhere to asphalt?

- Treadwear numbers, especially 200, are a complete misnomer. 200 is there for a very specific reason. Which has nothing to do with actual reality of RE-71R wear. Nor most of UTAG ratings, anyway.

- Kumho MX... was an OK tire 15 years ago. In today's world it's a pretty crappy tire that had no stick past the first 2-3K miles and was not really a god fit for a 993.

So... what should you get? Depends on what you need and want. My daily driver and very occasional autocross car for GF has been on Dunlop Direzza I StarSpec for the last few years. They are pretty good all around tire. Michelin Pilot SuperSport might be OK for your use. I personally dislike them and they are overpriced, but they are fairly quite and comfortable. Aforementioned Hankook RS-3 are on par with StarSpecII. You don't need RE-71r for your usage. You might look at Toyo R1R, which I like a lot, or Yokohama Ad08, which is a great all-around tire. A new Kumho V720 might be something, depending on price but probably too aggressive for daily driver.