[Cloud9...68]

I've been very happy with the Sumitomo's. My lap times dropped noticeably (at least half a second on a 40-second lap) when I switched my Goodyear D1 G3 DS F1 SP's, or whatever the heck they were called, for a set ot Sumi's, and I never had an off with them. Faster, easier to control at the limit, and much cheaper. Hard to beat.

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[tamathumper]

TireRack (with shipping) is still about half the price of having the same tires installed locally, well $384 vs. $684 for example. Is there generally a problem finding a good shop to install tires you provide yourself, and do you find the add on fees for valve stems, balancing, and tire disposal make it more of a wash?

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[BeBe]

I've had tires shipped from TireRack directly to a local installer. They have a Recommended Installer program http://www.tirerack.com/installer/index.jsp where they have agreements to how much they charge, etc. In my instance, it was a tire that the local shop did not carry, so I didn't feel bad about not buying it from them. In any case, they did get the business of the install and did a good job. Somehow it still ends up cheaper overall, even with shipping.

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[Chris Vais]

I have about 3,000 miles on Bridgestone S04 Pole Positions. I like them.

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[Qfrank]

I run Sumo HTRIII's, 225/45-17, 255/40-17 for more "street" driving, and also run Yoko AD08's on 17x9's 235/40-17, 255/40-17 for autocross.



Different ball game here. Sumos are a great value, and i do not mind beating them on the street. Excellent grip, good wet traction, and just an over good value....they are cheap. The Yoko's are SO much grippier. They easi.y give me a 2-3 second advantage, almost as if having "R" compund...well almost. VERY happy with them. MUCH pricier tire, at about $208/ per tire. More tramlining though with the added grip. Much stiffer sidewall allows better turn in. I have about 5k on the AD08's, and not much wear with about 8 autocrosses. I can see them lasting 15k. Not so good in the rain...i dont care what anyone says, they are horrible compared to HTRIII's in the wet.



Sumo HTRIII's....can' go wrong, excellent value, great grip, and look great.

YOKO AD08's....if you want grip in a steet tire....this is it!! Totally awesome.

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[Langley968]

Also bought Sumitomo HTR III's from Tire Rack and had them installed by their recommended installer, who did a good job mounting and balancing. This particular installer did not do four wheel alignments on "your type of car" and I was OK with that, since it was a honest statement on their part.

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[bombfactory]

I USED to get my tires installed at my local Sears autocenter, since they are open late during the week - very convenient. Last time in though they gouged one of my wheels pretty good, so now I think I'll be patronizing one of those 'boutique-y' wheel places that are more experienced with, shall we say, 'particular' customers, expensive wheels and even lower profile tires than what I've got.



Oh yeah, on topic: I'm running Michelin PS2's on both my cars. Love em! Though they are way too expensive.

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[tamathumper]

I was told Sumi's aren't available in the "original" sizes for our 16" wheels?

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[kwikt]

Tire Rack Sumi's for the 968 and the BMW for years. Best bang for the buck in my opinion. The Tire Rack local installer is very reasonably priced also.

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[mike]

[quote name='94SilverCab' timestamp='1244563935' post='73574']

I put on Toyo T1Rs last year because I was in a hurry before Hershey. I was always a "Tire Rack" guy. I went to STS and bouught all 4 mounted and balanced for $600 and I have been very satisfied with handling/noise etc. (not enough miles to determine wear).



I definately do not recommend these tires for wet conditions.



Jay

[/quote]

I love the 2 sets of Toyo Proxes T1Rs that I have used. I am now looking for another set and it appears that they may be discontinued. They are still shown on the Toyo website but I have not been able to find a source. I liked my Falken Azenis tires before the Toyos but that model of Azenis was discontinued as well.

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[MLB]

Well, I'm in the market for a new set for the stock 16" cups on my newly acquired '94 cab:

I wonder if a significant part of tire choice comes down to what's available, what's popular, as much as what's truly 'best' with all that entails.

Having said that, I asked a local tire shop (that's conveniently located to where I work) about the Sumitomos mentioned above. Response, they can get them but don't stock them. Okay, so what do they recommend for similar performance?

They suggested Yokohama YK580s or Dunlop Sport Signature.

Now, I didn't get as far as discussing actual sizes available and prices, but any comments on these two tire lines in particular?

Also, no sweat to wait for them to order the Sumi's, the consensus here seems to be they would be worth waiting for.

But finally, considering the excellent discussions on this forum regarding tire age, I'm inclined to request (insist?) to know the age codes on the tires before buying, with option to refuse them if they are more than, say, a year old? Is that too strict, not likely to go over well with the typical tire shop, which may have limited control over the precise age of the tires they get?

Thanks,

--Michael

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[tamathumper]

I went on TireRack.com and found they had an installer program with guaranteed pricing. I ordered the tires from them, and they shipped them directly to the nearby shop I indicated on the order, which fortunately had a good reputation for working on older Porsche cars. Easy peasy.

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[Rap]

Isis the same thing. Yoko advan and Dunlop direzza have been my choices. Don't have enough miles on the yoko to say what their like. He Dunlop are good but don't hold up well after just three de. Dd good though!

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[flash]

tire decisions have many factors. what tire is best for wet traction is not the best tire for dry. pricing comes into play when you get into the upper end tires. the sumi is a decent low priced tire. it does not stand up against the top tires, assuming you push the car hard enough to find out.



what size you are looking for may well limit your choices too. that's what happened to me. i am running the michlin pilot super sport on the SL550, which is the best wet traction high performance tire on the market, but they don't make it in sizes for the wheels on my blue 968, so i am running the yoko advan08, which is the best dry traction high performance tire. it's ok, as i don't drive the 968 in the rain, but if i did, i'd have wanted to go the other way.



to make your choice, i suggest you read read read reviews and tests, and then make your choice. hopefully you can get some real reviews from 968 guys, but you many find info there slim and purely anecdotal.

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[tamathumper]

Good point. TireRack.com has reviews, some of them are helpful, and some of them are grain-of-sand, as with any online review-thingy. I'm not pushing TireRack.com, I just remember seeing reviews there that were helpful during my selection process.



When I was looking for new tires, I compiled the following list of tire recommendations from the forums (and the year they were recommended), and here's what I ended up with:





Michelin Pilot (2007)

Bridgestone S-02 (2007)

Bridgestone RE-750 (2007)

Toyo T1R (2008)

Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position (2010)

Sumitomo HTR Z III (2011)

Dunlop Direzza (2011)

Goodyear F1 GS D3 (2011)

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[flash]

yeah - i'm not slagging the sumis either. i have a set of the 2s on the white car. for the money, they are fine. that car doesn't get pushed to the limit either, so again, fine. they are getting noisy now though. of course, they are now pushing 4 years old too, so that may well be a good part of the issue. i'll probably put 3s on that car, if i don't do the super sports.

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[EEZATOY]

I currently am running Hankook Ventus V12 evo k110's and I've been happy with them - pretty quiet and handle well in both dry and wet - so for the price they've been a good deal (daily driver)...haven't tried the Sumi's but when I got the Hankooks it was between the two...bought on-line and shipped to local installer that I like for a garenteed price and appointment.

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[blau]

Bridgestone's new RE-11A is due out next month here in the U.S. - another entry to the "Extreme Performance Summer" category. The reviews so far say that it's leaps and bounds above the RE-11. I'm interested to see how it stacks up against the new Direzza ZII. If I weren't using the car for autocross, I'd probably go with a tire with a bit of a quieter ride, but the Direzza ZI star specs I have on the car drive GREAT.

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[PorscheG96]

I think the best all-weather tire is still the Pilot Sport A/S...I've come to love 500 treadwear and the tires are more than enough for any street driving. If you want a fair bit more street performance [though I think it's totally unnecessary] Continental Extreme DW or Michelin Pilot SS. Hot new max performance tires come out every year so it's nice to have a 2nd set of wheels for these sticky tires that last only a few k miles. Looking like the killer tire this year will be the BFG RIval. I'm buying a set of these in March for 2013 AX season and will report back.

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[DaveN]

I have 4 new Conti Extreme DW's coming so I look forward to changing my rock hard Proxes 4. Hopefully a better experience with road noise than Flash and hopefully MUCH better wet road driving. I live in a moist land. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/3gears.gif" class="smilie" alt="" />

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