DK570

Hi everyone, I will need a new set of tires once winter is over. I'm looking for anyone who has first hand experience with any of these tires.

Here's my background: 2002 C4 cab, daily driver. I live in Wisconsin, but have a set of Blizzaks for the winter. Car is not track driven. Previous summer tires were PZero Rosso's. I thought they were fine, but I think I can find a cheaper tire that will suit me just fine.

I don't want to spend more than $1,100. Right now, I am considering the Continental DWS mostly because it has the highest wear rating. I think I would rather have a longer lasting tire than one with more grip.

sjfehr

DWS are an all-season tire, and I don't think you'd be happy with them as a performance summer tire. The DW is the summer tire.

There are large tradeoffs in tire compound between traction and longevity. You can directly translate high treadwear to mean "low-grip". For a Porsche summer tire, I wouldn't really consider anything about TW300. Not on your list, but my vote is for BFG Rival: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....=g-Force+Rival

dallison28

i'm getting the htrz III for mine.

Dennis C

I wasn't happy with the Sumitomo HTR ZIII. I won't buy them again. I've got Continental ExtremeContact DWS on the Cayenne. I love them on that vehicle, but I wouldn't want them on my C4S.

My favorite tire on the C4S is the Michelin PilotSport PS2. They don't last very long, but I like them much better than Pirelli P-Zeros.

I'm curious - why aren't you considering the Michelin Pilot Super Sport? They are getting great reviews and they are less expensive than PS2s.

VA951

HTR ZIIIs are working fine for me, no issues on the street. Going to the track next month so we will see how that works out but I do not expect miracles.

Hal

Everyone gives the Sumitomo's good reviews, but why put a lesser tire on a Porsche? Go with either the S-04's or Pilot Super Sports.

jordanturbo

I have run pretty well every tire on your list, as others would say I would disregard any all season since you already have winters and there is a lack of performance in them.

I have had the SumiIII's and not the II's and was pretty dissapointed. I also thought the V12 Ventus was overpriced junk even as affordable as it is. the only thing good about Hankook is that it is cheap and has lots of oddball sizing.

I find that Asymmetric tire designs work well on our P-cars with their agressive alignments etc. I was a little dissapointed in the wear of my Bridgestones (though they were the S-02 that really disapointed me, not soo much the S-04), so out of the choices I would say the Conti DW as it is an asymmetric design, fairly affordable, and provides decent performance. Best bang for the buck tire on your list. I would also consider the Michelin Pilot Super Sport which I have had and will be rebuying in the next month as some idiot employee in my shop threw out my old ones.

If you are still considering A/S tires, maybe consider the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 instead of the Plus. IMO it has a much nicer tread design than the plus (very similar to the PS2) and has been getting very good reviews, though Michelin pretty well outright says that these new A/S 3's arent meant for the snow.

Lastly I would not rely on UTGQ for how the tire wears, the standardizing for this rating is terrible, there are many times i have seen vehicles running a brand of tire with a lower QTGQ rating exceed the milage seen on tires of another brand with a higher rating. I would really look at personal reviews for real results.

As I said before I am picking up another set of tires this summer, so I know what you are going through, this was the list of tires I created for myself to choose from about 9 of the 11 I have owned before, and 7 of them used on my P-car

R 295/30R18 F 225/40R18

Michelin Pilot Sport PS2
N3 rated, 98Y XL rears 88Y Fronts
UTQG 220 A A

Continental ContiSportContact 2
N2 rated, 92Y fronts
UTQG 280 AA A

Bridgestone Potenza S-02 Pole Performance
N3 rated XL
UTQG 140 A A

Hankook Ventus V12
98Y XL rears, 92Y fronts
UTQG 280 AA A

Pirelli P Zero Rosso
N rated XL
UTQG 220 AA A

R285/35R18 F 225/45R18

Bridgestone Potenza Re050a
97W rears 91W fronts
UTGQ 140 A A

Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position
101Y XL rears, 91Y fronts
UTQG 280 A A

Michelin Pilot Super Sport
101y XL rears, 95Y XL Fronts
UTQG 300 AA A

Continental ExtremeContact DW
101Y XL rears, 91Y fronts
UTQG 340 AA A

Pirelli P Zero Rosso
97Y rears, 91Y fronts
UTQG 220 AA A

Yokohama Advan Sport
101Y XL rears, 95Y XL fronts
UTQG 180 AA A

sjfehr

I'm confused... you say not to buy a lesser tire, but then go to recommend two other lesser tires? S-04 isn't Bridgestone's performance tire, RE11 is. And PSS are a luxury performance tire, not a performance tire, and subsequently has tradeoffs to performance. They're good, but not the best. Kinda like HTRZIII. Tirerack puts them both in the same "maximum performance" class, a notch down from the "extreme performance" class you see all the hotshoes wearing at autocrosses and the track.

HTRZIII are 95% of the performance of the top-tier tires (RS3, RE11A, ZII, rival) and damned near equal to/better than PS2s in performance benchmark testing for half the price. So, it's a tradeoff, but you're not giving up that much for them.

DK570

I agree with your grip/longevity tradeoff comment, as noted in my 1st post. I hadn't seen the BFG tire you reference before, and there are no reviews on Tire Rack. Is this a new tire?

DK570

Thanks for the input - that's one vote against the ZIII's.

The Pilot Super Sport's didn't come up when I did a search on Tire Rack. I'll have to investigate what sizes would work for 18" rims.

sparks259

sumi's= cheap, round, not that much grip, but seem to be wearing ok.
already replaced rears, fronts & new rears will probably go at the same time.

Hal

The OP did not list RE-11's as an option. So out of his list I would go with S-O4's.

Now that said, I have RE-11's on my SC and love them. I would buy them / recommend them in a heartbeat if they fit someone's requirements.

Finally, please don't confuse TR's grouping as indicators of quality. Rather they are what the manufacture says they were made for. Therefore, yes, you'll see more guys at the track with RE-11's than PSS's because they have better ultimate performance characteristics. That does not mean they ride better. That is why I have Super Sports as my DD /street tires with another set of wheels and R-S3's for track work.

flatlander

FWIW, I replaced PS2's with Bridgestone Pole Position S-04's ...rookie mistake, I do not like their performance.

The Michelin PS2's are all they're cracked up to be, but don't see them on your list (guess you gotta pay to play?).
In retrospect, I wished I'd tried the Conti's, but after this dissapointment, I'll go back to the sure bet with PS2's

balefire

The summer tire hankook v12 evo have worn very well for me (good tire life).
They also do fine the rain.
They are not so good for autox but I did not get it for that.
They are a cheap DD summer tire. I am getting again for that purpose.

The bfg rival mentioned above is an excellent new autox tire, but probably will not wear well long term or do well in the rain. I am getting it for my autox tire however

sjfehr

Yeah, it's BRAND new, as in, was just released about 3 weeks ago. BFG's had a launch promo in New Orleans; they didn't have timers up, but there's a ton of anecdotal reports. They all say pretty much the same thing, which is overwhelmingly positive: http://www.solomatters.com/2013/02/t...what-it-means/

Dunlop Direzza ZII was released about the same time, and is also supposed to be really good as well. Bridgestone RE11A will be coming out in the next 2-3 weeks, too.