[Allen1322]

It's time for new tires and I had a couple of questions for all you experts out there. Currently I have Bridgestone Pottenza's on 17" Turbo Twists that came on the car when I bought it a year ago. They are 205/45 front and 255/40 rear. I read (probably here) that 225's are better for the front.

What size do you all recommend and what brand?

My car is a daily driver w/ spirited driving every few weekends.

I am pretty happy w/ the bridgestones and they fit my budget, but I haven't tried any other tires, so I'm looking for any suggestions as for a better tire (keeping use and cost in mind).



Also, I live in Atlanta and was looking for tire shop recommendations. The one I used to take my truck to sucks and I would never send my baby there. I'm looking for a shop that will do a good job and not round lug nuts, scratch wheels, and correctly ballance a tire. If I can find tires cheap enough online I will order them, but I might loose the discount after shipping and mounting expenses.

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[Super_Marv]

225/45/R17 at the front and 255/40/R17 at the rear, are OEM sizes for 17" cup tyres for a 968. Some people even fit 235/45/R17 at the front to quell understeer.



Do you find that your car understeers with 205 width tyres when pushing the car?



Alot of us Brits swear by Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3. Michelin Pilot PS2 are well rated as well (although I haven't tried them yet)



Marv

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[rd1cobra]

There is a Firestone Shop in Decatur (N Druid Hills Road south of I-85) that does great work. If you want Bridgestone tires - they have the equipment to do the high performance tires.



If you want another brand, Butler Tire handles a lot of high end cars. You may also call one of the Porsche dealers and ask which shop does their work.



I would recommend the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position if you ever drive in the wet. They are Max performance summer tires but do very well in the rain. I am switching to them when my tires wear out.



I had the older Potenza S-03s on my Mustang Cobra and still had plenty of traction in the wet. They were awsome in the dry.



In my opinion there are better dry traction tires but nothing as good in both wet and dry.

As Super Marv mentioned Pilots PS2 are good tires - probably better in the dry but not as good in the wet. Avon and BFGoodrich make very good dry traction tires that you can use in the wet.



Check tirerack.com - they usually have nice reviews and customer input based on real world driving.

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[flash]

to answer the question regarding the front size, how wide is the rim?

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[Larry Currie]

Do you ever get over to Birmingham? Saab Tires down town Birmingham is a great shop where you don't have to worry about your wheels or lug nuts. Charlie Saab who has been in business for 30+ years is also a Porsche guy. He keeps his Porsche in his warehouse along with several other collectable cars. The good news is he will match Tirerack.com price on your choice of tires. If you decide to check him out plan on stopping in Anniston which is about 1/2 between Atlanta and Birmingham and I'll buy lunch and we can talk 968's.

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[Super_Marv]

[quote name='flash' post='29654' date='Jan 6 2007, 02:46 AM']to answer the question regarding the front size, how wide is the rim?[/quote]



That's a good point Flash. OEM 17" cup 1s and 2s are (IIRC) 7.5" wide at the front and 9" wide at the rear. I suspect if Allen has got 205 section tyres on his turbo twists, it might be hard to get 225 section tyres to fit?

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[odb812]

his turbo twists are most likely 7" wide in the front, that's a more common size for 911 wheels. I have 17" wheels that are 7" wide on the front of my car and I have 225/45 tires mounted. there was no problems mounting them nor do i have any problems driving on them. i believe a few others out there who have put 911 wheels with 7" wide front wheels have also bounted 225/45 tires with no problems. it takes the added understeer i got from increasing the rear tire width without increasing the front when i went from the stock 16" wheels to the newer 17". i wouldn't try to put a 235 tire on 7" wheels though.

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[Allen1322]

Thanks for all of the replies and especially to Larry for the lunch offer...except I think Birmingham might be a bit too far to drive for tires.



I am pretty sure that the front rim is 7" wide. And from what it sounds like, that should be fine for a 225 tire.



So I think I will stick w/ potenza's 225 front and 255 rear and probably take Rick D's advice for using the shop on N Druid Hills. I've been there once before, so I'll check it out again and see if they give me the warm and fuzzys.



As for experiencing understeer w/ 205's, I really don't have anything to reference since this is my first 968, and the 205's came on the car when I got it. I have experienced understeer when pushing hard and maybe the 225's will be an improvement. Most of my driving is in the city however and I get very few chances to open her up and toss her around.

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[Anchorman]

I have the aforementioned Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires on my 18" wheels. Shortly after they were put on the car, I had occasion to spend the first day of a DE session driving in rain. I couldn't believe how grippy these tires are - and, on the second day when it dried up, they were equally impressive.

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[mrorange49]

I had the Eagle F1's on my 944 Turbo when I sold it, I really liked them as well. I'm thinking about the Potenza's when the current tires on my 968 go, however. Its good to see other people on here in the Atlanta area as well.

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[rd1cobra]

Allen1322,



What tires did you end up with? Do you like them?

I'm just wondering how the shop worked out.



It time to buy rear tires and I want to know if you ended up buying the Potenzas.

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[Allen1322]

Well, I actually haven't bought tires yet.

I bought a house just before christmas that had a little crappy one car garage, so I am in the process of building a nice 2-car garage.

I parked the 968 over at my parents house while I was having the concrete work done and have been driving my 88 chevy pickup for the past 3 weeks or so. I should get all of the framing done on my garage this weekend.



THEN I can start driving the 968 again and start thinking about tires again. Hopefully I'll still be able to afford tires after building the garage. Whoever gets tires first will have to report back about brand, shop, etc.

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[Straight Four]

oddly enough, if you ever come to clemson. we have a checker lube here that my autox club recommends. i watched the guys put on my tires and they were very careful, when the guy found a scratch on one of my rims he came to me with the rim to show me, to make sure i knew about it. (he didnt try and hide it.) funny how those places that arent considered exclusive can have better service than others. (another place here looks great, has a beautiful shop and everthing, but no one goes there and its on teh verge of closing, b/c the owner treats everyone like s*** and has no respect for the students.)

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[968Z]

There is an independent shop in downtown Roswell (sorry, can't remember the name) that does great work. I think they are on Frazier Street off of Hwy. 9

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[rd1cobra]

I know this is a old post but I just bought the Bridgestones. I got the RE050A Pole Positions.



Tire Rack has a special $131 for the fronts and $155 for the rears. With the Porsche club $100 rebate, I couldn't pass them up.



One of the local shops matched the Tire Rack price and had experience with Porsches.

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