alexb76

My personal experience with Kumho, and what I hard about Hankook is that they are mostly one-dimensional... like while you say V12 was faster, they may not be as good in other areas, and whil my Kumho was sticky in dry it was absoltely terrible in rain and had unpredictable handling... great at times, and very slippery at other times, never inspired confidence.

Fin Fever

I have to agree with edgy. putting inferior tires on your 997 makes just as little sense as putting extremely expensive tires on your volkswagen. I think that a balance needs to be struck between the components you are using. If you plan to just sedately tool around town, any tire will do, but I couldn't see spending all the money for a high performance car if I were going to put inferior tires on it to save a little money. I havent had any problems with my michelins, except for one flat tire from a screw which I drove over. My extended tire warranty got me a free new tire. so I definitely agree with atr911 on this.

p-cardriver

I have about 1000 miles on Hankook's rear only (still working down the PS2 on the fronts). However these are off for winter and won't go back on until late April - so I can't give you more feedback than 1000 miles worth for some time (probably end of summer when all 4 tires should be due for replacement).

I use Nittos on the track on 18 inch wheels, but this year plan to try Toyo R888s on 19 inch. So the track is where my most aggressive and spirited driving occurs. Thus my street set get a lot of miles (about 1500-2000 per month) of commuting and interstate driving. Nowhere near the car's limits or any boy racing.

With that in mind, I have been happy so far with the Hankooks. They mounted and balanced without issues, run quietly and have shown little wear so far. Their wet performance has been quite good and they are just fine in the dry for my use. I have seen no mfgr defects or quality issues (such as delam mentioned above in this thread). If things continue as they are now, I will replace all 4 when due with Hankooks all around and use the savings for another set of track or snow tires.

YMMV - this is just a report on two tires out of however many thousands they've sold.

Edgy01

Absolutely do not do that. Never run different tires front from rear. EVER. It's even MORE critical on the AWD Porsches. You could easily kiil yourself if you do that.

p-cardriver

Sorry Edgy, I have to disagree with you on this. But before I do let me state for the record that all tire manufacturers agree with you and want to see 4 tires of the same type (not just brand) on the car.

I would never (except in an emergency for very short miles) put mis-matched tires (size, brand, anything) on the same "axle" of any car.

However I don't see a problem with different front/rear pairs as long as you are careful and mindful of what you're doing. I currently use (summer) Hankook on the rear and PS2 on the front. It is just fine. If my car wore tires at the same rate, I would have 4 Hankooks on now just to try them out. But it doesn't, and I didn't want to spring for rear PS2s (and have the tread depth mis-matched front to rear - Oh! My!), so I took the risk/chance/whatever and put the H's on the rear with the PS2s on the front.

I'm not recommending anyone else do this, just reporting that in my case it seems to be working out fine.

ADias

My 2010 S came with Bridgestone RE050A N1 (notice the N1 rating). It is a great tire and its price is reasonable.

ADias

Dan is right and you are very wrong. 2 different tire brands have different grip and compound characteristics. It is courting disaster to mix tire types from the same manufacturer and pure folly from different manufacturers. PAG tunes the chassis suspension for specific tires for a reason...

tooloud10

+1

Here's a link to the test in question. I think people are making assumptions about the Hankooks:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...12_evo_page_10

FWIW, I stuck Hankook Icebears on my 996 C4 for the winter and couldn't be happier.

p-cardriver

By "courting disaster" I presume you mean that either the fronts or the rears will lose traction, in near-the-limit circumstances, before the other end. In other words, the car will either oversteer more or understeer more. This is likely true - but I drive on the street so far within the limits of the car (and my own) capability that it simply isn't an issue for me. If I was pushing the car harder on the street, which I certainly do not recommend given the quality of drivers around me, I would not consider the front/rear mis-match.

IMO some of this is nannying, some is lawyers, some is marketing, and some is fact. For me and in my driving style and conditions and on my car, it seems to be just fine. That is the extent of any claim or statement I'm making and I am not encouraging others - just reporting my own limited experience.

997, esq

I was thinking Dan was being facetious, but in case not I certainly don't see an issue with different brand tires on front and rear. Most folks replace their fronts much less frequently than there rears. When that happens, the difference in tread on even identical brand tires is significant at certain intervals. Why would it matter if you had Michelins on the back and Bridgestones on the front?

_Nathan

Agree. If I wanted to save a few $$$ I would get RE050A's. Both Porsche and Ferrari uses RE050A's as OEM tires.

ADias

You do save money but you do not compromise. These are top tier tires. I had PS2s and Rossos and these are just as good.

ADias

Even on the street and within posted limits a 911 with correct tires is far more capable than the average car. If you do not take advantage of your car why have one? Looks alone? Please do not answer.

p-cardriver

See my post above. I take it to the track for that. (And although I always drive four tires of the same make, model, and approximate tread depth, I see all kinds of experimentation with sizes, makes, air pressures, etc at the track.)

On the street I prefer safety to thrills.

alexb76

Cannot agree more!

Are you kidding? The different traction level from front to rear can cause unpredictable handling behavious in an accident avoidance manouver and you could totally endanger yourself and others. No matter how rare this situation could be, it's not wise or safe to take that chance.

Hankooks are so much cheaper that I just cannot understand why you didn't do the fronts too!