ejdoherty911

I am replacing all four tires in order to hopefully address two issues: road noise and traction. The tires are 7 years old and not even close to being worn out, about 50% tread remaining with perfect wear across all tread surfaces. I suspect due to age the rubber is drying out and contributing to the road noise and loss of traction. I have no idea if new tires will really make a difference but i will report back my findings this weekend when i can take the car on a good drive.

DTMiller

But today, smoky burnouts and powerslides.

sweet victory

420blazeitbrahhh

ejdoherty911

Damn. I wish I had thought of that before dropping the car off!!! I have always wanted to do some parking lot power slides.

gnat

Had 6 year old PS2s. Had no idea how bad they were until we replaced them (sun damage). Night and day difference that I will always remember and never allow to occur again.

thebowl

My car came with 4 year old Contis that had plenty of tread, but zero traction on wet pavement. Scared the $%^& out of me untli I figured it out, and got rid of them.

Seeeu911

good ! you wont even need a good drive.. you will feel the improvement immediately

pongobaz

Just replaced my 7 year old Bridgestone S02A's with new Michelin PS2 N3. HUGE difference! Tires are quiet and I can hear the PSE again! And the ride is much more compliant...old tires had gotten as hard as hockey pucks.

rymerc

Tires are perishable. Even after 4 years of being garage kept and only 6k miles, I've noticed a significant dropoff in traction- it's hard to stay hooked up in first on a good surface.

Something to think about when dropping big money for tires you won't use... I'll take a fresh htrz3 over a 2 year old mpss any day

dkraige

Yep, there are articles written saying tires should be replaced every 6-8 years regardless of mileage. Not sure I necessarily believe that, but you will certainly feel a difference with new rubber. Be prepared that it may actually feel WORSE in some regards. With softer rubber and taller tread blocks, there will be more ability for the tire to squirm around; effectively it makes your suspension softer in the vertical direction and sloppier an the lateral direction. So don't be shocked if the car feels a little more wiggly, it's not a problem.

AnthonyGS

I just replaced the tires on my corvette and the difference is night and day and I was technically going to a lower performance higher treadwear tire. The new tires are way better.

gnat

I will say, however, I do kinda miss how I could get it to slide around on those old hockey pucks.

There was a spot on my way to my old job where I could turn PSM off and get it to slide nicely around a corner. If I forgot to take PSM off, it would freak out horribly. First time after getting the tires replaced I hit that corner and forgot to turn PSM off. No fuss nor muss, it just took all the power I gave it and made the corner with no sliding or PSM antics. It was kinda disappointing in a way (and that was when it hit me how bad the old tires really were).

ejdoherty911

The verdict is in...new tires reduced the tire noise significantly and improved the traction, especially the traction in wet conditions. So if you have ever wondered if age alone can impact your tire's performance and comfort, my experience is yes. My old tires were 7 years old and not even close to worn out. They seemed noisy to me, but it's hard to know for sure if the noise is the tires or wind or what. It was the tires. In wet conditions I would lose traction very easily on the old tires. Problem solved.

sfv_rider

I replaced the 10-year-old Bridgestone RE950AS tires with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires in the same sizes on my 2002 C2 yesterday, and in the four mile drive home from the shop, the difference in tire noise and impact harshness was profound.

I'll adjust the pressures and post more thorough impressions once I get a few hundred miles on them, in differing conditions. But the initial impressions are very positive.

dan_189

Just about to replace some old Pirelli P-Zero N4s with Michelin PS2s I think they are well past their use by date...