2fcknfst

You can never have too many sets of wheels...

Dock

How many of the wheels in your collection have tires on them?

2fcknfst

All of them except 4 19" AMG wheels for a wagon. And I have two 12" ATV tires not mounted, and two Goodyear 37x22.5" not mounted...

Dock

If you don't use the wheels enough to wear out the tires, do you cycle the tires based on how old they are (tire date of manufacture)?

2fcknfst

I do - typically, I cycle various truck tires based upon where it has to go; snow, mud, desert, improved road, etc. Same for the ATV, but it sees mud/bog/improved road/snow.

With all of the cars, choices depend on where they go and how long they go for - in addition to wanting a 12" wide rear wheel, I find the 996s Michelin to be extremely noisy at highway speeds versus a newer PS3 that is on my BMW, so I went with a set of Falkens - waaaay quieter, however, do not have the same speed rating. I found that the P Zeros (Both Porsche and BMW) were probably marginally better in dry grip than both versions of the Pilots, however, once worn or if ever driven in the rain, they suck, especially on the BMW.

I got the AMG wheels for the Benz because I am going to re 'tire' (no pun intended...) the Suburban and use the Benz as a winter travel vehicle, so currently I have a set of Pirrelli all seasons on them. Being round is the only thing going for them, all season tires are horrid.

The Japanese kids get a wide variety of rubber - Kumho, Toyo, Goodyear, Pirrelli, Bridgestone - and, admittedly, I don't drive the Type R very much because one recently sold for $66k USD and considering there were 40 less in Canada than there were in the states for 97, I am thinking it may in fact be more valuable than the 996 at the moment.

I am off to drive through the mountains tomorrow so I have 37" Goodyear GSDs set at 60psi so I can improve traction and comfort.

It is good to be able to run a number of different compounds; I have yet to see a tire that really hits all the high notes in a particular category, but I have also seen a number of tires excel in specific tasks or requirements.

Dock

Are the 996 Turbo's Michelin tires in stock sizes?

Dock

How old are your oldest tires?

2fcknfst

Stock Turbo size, yes.

2fcknfst

I have the OEM set of Bridgestones with the OEM Alcoas for my 2002 Chevy Suburban 6.0, so 17 years I would say...

Dock

Interesting. My PS2 tires (stock sizes) are not noteworthy in terms of noise at highway speeds, at least with regard to their competition with the quality note of my Europipe Stage 2 Loud exhaust. However, a set of P-Zeros I once had were not only a lot louder than the PS2s but they also created pretty bad harmonics when paired with the the EP. At highway cruising speeds the EP is loud enough to dominate any noise produced by the PS2s, with no conflicting ill effects.

Dock

2fcknfst

That is an interesting observation - when I pick up my BMW, my other half and I went for a drive down the coast with P-Zeros on the car. I liked them, and then, just outside of Santa Barbara, there was a a very fresh set of new asphalt and as we drove onto it, the harmonics through the steering wheel and the noise was unreal - I initially thought something was broken, so I pulled over to check. Never have I seen that on a passenger car tire, only on the trucks. Got back in and experimented a bit more - only on brand new asphalt.

With the PS2s, and the open exhaust, I find that the 'harmonic' you refer to not as bad in the 996, BUT, I can totally feel the difference through the steering wheel (vibration mostly) between the PS2s and the Falkens - with the Falkens, I can barely hear the road noise, but I can most certainly tell at 60-70 mph that the Falkens are best, PS2s in second and P-Zeros in third - and wow, the P Zeros are LOUD on the 996... I still have a set, and will most likely get rid of them with this years spring cleaning.

Tires, when you think about it, have a huge amount of engineering and development into them, as they should. I can remember driving on P7s/008Rs as a kid and thinking 'wow, these are GREAT!' Today's rubber is even better... I think it is important to understand and experiment with tires as they are the only thing that connects our toys with the road surface; we rely on them heavily, and we learn to respect their limits so that they don't kill us.

Dock

My steering wheel has very little vibration (none?) at any driving speed.

Do you have your wheels/tires spin balanced while they are on your car?

2fcknfst

It is not a balance issue, perhaps a bit hard to explain outside of I feel that the Falkens are softer, have benefited from current polymer technologies, and provide better feedback than the PS2 design which is somewhat dated. To note, though, both the Falkens and PS2s were bought within a couple months of one another, so both are fresh.

Another contributing factor to vibration could be the Bilstein coil overs - I just think I need to get some more seat time this year and assess the car better; I've only driven it 2000kms since I got it...

autobonrun

New TT fan

Better hold on.

From back when the weather was warmer.