Dr. C

Good evening.

With no disrespect to any manufacturer...

A few months ago I put 4 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ on my beloved Boxster. It's just my opinion, but to me, these tires are EXTREMELY noisy. Too noisy for my comfort level.

I'm looking at Continential Extremecontact Sports.

Would anyone care to share their opinion on these Continentials?

I have 17 inch wheels, drive the car relatively conservatively, and live in California where the car rarely ever sees driving below 38 in winter, and has only seen snow less than 5 times in 18 years.

Thanks!

Dr. C

dr914

I agree, some tires on a Boxster are very noisy. I would call denny at the tire rack ext 321 and ask him what he recommends for a quiet tire

gth452

I have the Continentals on my 97 and would absolutely buy them again. Noisy is relative but I have the Pilot Spots on my 996 turbo and those are noisy in comparison and although two very different cars, they are also much harsher than the Continentals.

Macster

I ran both 17" Pirelli and Michelin tires on my 2002 Boxster. They were both factory sanctioned tires. I think for Pirelli it was the PZero Rosa but I have no recall as which Michelin tire. I switched from Michelin back to Pirelli some few years ago when Michlelin was switching over and stock of the older style/model tire was low. So maybe the newer model Michelin tires are quite different.

Both tires were quiet when new. I mean relatively quiet. Of the two the Pirelli got noisy when near worn out.

I had much the same experience with 18" Continental and Bridgestone tires on my Turbo. When new relatively quiet but when worn not so much.

I have no experience with using non factory sanctioned tires on either by Boxster or Turbo.

Be sure the alignment is good. Wtih my Turbo pulling into a hotel parking lot late at night and very tired I misjudged and inadvertently nudged a low sidewalk edge with the front tires. A shake down drive the next morning found no signs of any alignment issues and I thought I had dodged a bullet. But after some few hundred miles at 75+ mph there was a very loud howl (best I can describe it) from the car towards the front end. Since the alignment felt ok I suspected front wheel bearing or even the front diff. But a Porsche tech after inspecting the car told me the noise was from the alignment. When I expressed some disbelief he showed me, had me feel, the feathering of the tread block and showed me the roughness of the tread block surface.

Wanted to get an alignment right there and then but service department was booked up (Oh this was at the Porsche dealer in Oklahoma City, OK.) Tech said there would be no real problem driving the car even though I told him I had 2K miles to drive before home.

But based on assurance from the tech I drove the 2K miles struggling to keep the speed below the point the noise was real bad. Got home and ASAP booked car in for a full alignment. Sure enough front toe was out but not by much. After a few hundred miles after the alignment to give the tires time to adapt the noise was gone. And tire life didn't appear to be shortened by any significant amount.

My point is proper alignment plays a role in how much noise the tires make and of course their life span. With the wrong alignment on my Turbo I've gone through a set of rear tires in around 8K miles. With the right alignment 20K miles was the norm and in one case after nearly 23K miles a tire had a puncture but it had enough tread left (3mm) to quality for replacement under some road hazard coverage. The Boxster delivered similar short tire life when the alignment was off and similar long tire life when the alignment was good.

mikefocke

Alignment check.

Never found Michelins to be particularly noisy.

JayG

Pilot SuperSports are great tires Also Sumotomo HTR ZIII

brianmch

I put a set of 4 Conti Extreme Contact DSW's on my wife's 01 Box with 17" wheels. These taller sidewall Conti's are quiet and comfy. They are the all season versions though so the summers may be somewhat different.

I have the identical brand rears on my 01 Box but smaller sidewall and 1" wider 18" wheels. Pilot Sport A/S 3+ s on the front. The Pilots are hard and noisy but they do have about 40K miles on them. They are probably better track tires than the Conti's but this is my daily driver so a modestly softer ride is fine.

kary993

So how many people here have had experience with the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2? It is an (N3) Porsche tire.

Dr. C

Thank you all so much for the replies. They are all appreciated.

This is the first time I've ever really had to pay attention to tires. I've always had Michelin A/S style tires, and have never even payed attention to noise.

I will call Denny and see what his pinion is.

I had an alignment done not too horribly long ago, but I may have it done again before I get new tires.

If I did get an alignment done, and for arguement's sake the rear(s) were out of spec, how many miles would it take before I could get a true reading on noise levels?

Macster

Just so it is clear it is normal (though granted not exactly pleasant) for Boxster tires to get noisy as they wear, even if the alignment is ok. For me and my Boxster (and Turbo) my Boxster was noticeably quieter after fitting new tires. Really the change was remarkable. In one case after new tires were fitted could hear what proved to be a noisy wheel bearing.

My point is any new set of tires is going to be really quiet, barring as I touched upon in a previous post an alignment problem. But also as this new set of tires gets near the end of its service life the will get noisy again.

My experience with my Turbo and its alignment was after I got the alignment sorted out in just a few hundred miles of driving the noise was gone. The tires quickly scrubbed in and adapted to the new and correct alignment. The alignment wasn't super bad. I drove the car over 2K miles with the alignment out and while the tires were noisy and showing signs of abnormal wear they didn't suffer much wear. The tire life was not seriously compromised. Normally front tire life was 40K miles. That is I'd fit a new set of tires, drive 20K miles then replace worn out rear tires and drive another 20K miles then replace all 4 tires. Over 317K miles in my Boxster and 151K miles in my Turbo this was the routine unless a flat tire required replacing both the flat tire and its counterpart on the other side.

My point is if in your car's case the alignment is out how long it takes the tires to adapt to the new/correct alignment depends upon how long the car was driven how long the tires were run with the incorrect alignment, and how bad the alignment was out, and thus how much wearing in the tires will have to go through in order for you to make an accurate assessment of how noisy they are and realize maximum tire grip.

I can tell you that if the tires were run a good amount of time with the alignment out if the tires are not replaced my techs told me it was difficult to get as good as an alignment with used tires compared to new tires.

If you start out with new tires and a proper alignment normally it takes the new tires just a few hundred miles of use before they are "broken in", mainly due to some heat cycles have lost some of the more volatile compounds from the tread rubber and no longer have that "greasy" feeling. After these initial couple of hundred miles then the tires should have obtained a state in which their true noise level and grip will be evident.

BFT3.2

For two summers I ran the Conti ExtremeContact Sports(summer only tire) on my street legal 986 track car (not to be confused with the Extreme Contact DWS or DWS06 all-season tires). They are fantastic for performance and longevity but are definitely loud and would not use for a daily driver. I love them on track though..

This Nov. I put narrower Conti DWS06 on the Boxster for winter driving. Immediately upon driving I found them to be 100% quieter then the "Sports" and much more supple for a softer ride but with considerably more tire squirm when I was out of curiosity "testing" their side to side response. In practice though for a daily driver performance car where noise and ride are very important to someone, they would be a perfect choice. Will be much better in standing water then the Sports.

On my 2004 Audi Allroad I have the Michelin AS3+. While they are a all-season tire they are also a high performance one and were noisier and firmer then I expected but completely fine for me, they actually made the heavy Allroad much more fun to drive.

The AS3+ are more noisy and firm then the Conti DWS06 but less then the Conti ECS. The Conti ECS and the Michelin 4S are near identical tires for reference.

Byprodriver

Same here and that includes the 3 years I worked at 4 different tire stores.
That's also why I buy Michelins for all my cars.
If a tire becomes noisy it's usually because the driver has allowed the tread design to be altered by lack of maintenance, misalignment, wrong air pressure.
If you monitor treadwear & see uneven wear, usually you can maximize tread life by adjusting air pressure to redistribute load away from excessive wear tread blocks.

Dr. C

O.k., progress is slow but headed in the right direction.....

Called Denny and he wouldn't/couldn't talk to me. He said he only works with other businesses. He did transfer me to someone who apparently deals with sales to individuals like me. This other gentleman was very kind and professional, but didn't offer other insight that wasn't already in their various online reviews. Great guy though.

I found an alignment shop that is supposed to be pretty good. Will be using this new shop soon.

Before I go any further, the plot thickens......

If I push the left rear of the car downwards and release it, it's pretty squeaky..... someone suggested the control arm is bad.

May I assume if this component is indeed bad, it may play a major part in my noise situation?

If so, is the excessive noise being caused by alignment issue caused by a failing control arm, or is noise being transmitted to the body through the failing bushings?

Thanks for your insight.

Geof3

Byprodriver

1st step is to feel your tread, you can feel irregular tread wear well before you can see it. 1st insure nothing on the tire will cut your hand, spraying the tread area with a water hose greatly reveals the tread condition.