I bought my car back in June and i think it had PS2's on it. The car felt pretty good but generally speaking they were very worn down especially in the front.

I replace them with a set of Bridgestone Potenza S-04's. I have them on my S4 and like them...they were a pretty good price...and ranked well in tests by Tirerack.

Truth is...every single time i drive the car now...i absolutely hate the tires. They probably have about 1000 miles on them. At the limit they grip well, the ride is quiet and comfortable...but there is this element of "Squish" to them i can't get over. As if the car is on Marshmallows. I also feel like the car has lost it's responsiveness when make twitchy moves. There's always this "Squish" i can't get past.

I drove a friends new GR3RS yesterday. And while i get the fact that they're very different cars...it brought back that "Planted" feeling i remembered about the 911 when i bought it. That car had PSC2's. It was magnificent.

I am looking for a new tire. I don't care about the wear rating. The car only gets a few thousand miles a year. Hell i DD my GTR with 888's on it. i know the PSS is a popular option...so is the RE-11. Then there are the super expensive PSC2's out there as well. But i'd love to get some feedback about other tires or other suggestions. I'm looking for a tire that is responsive. I'm not concerned with performance in the rain..but i'm not putting 888s on it as i don't need two cars that howl like an airplane.

Thanks in advance.

 

If you want the OEM feel, you need to look at N rated tires. That said, the 991 generation cars have a completely different feel than the 997s. If the 997 feels planted, the 991 GT3(RS) cars feel like they are glued to the road. It's the only car I've owned with limits noticeably higher than the GT-R's on the street.

 

Pilot Sport Cup 2 would be perfect for only a few thousand miles a year. Otherwise I would do Super Sports.

 

PSS would be my recommendation, went through 3 sets of PS2's on my 997 and changed to PSS with a noticeable improvement in feel.

 

Pushing it in the wet is a good way to get a bill for a light pole from the city.

 

Pilot Super Sports if you drive your car year round (except on snow covered roads). You can wait for the Pilot Super Sport 4's to come out and they are much better in colder weather (below 30 F). I drove my Pilot Super Sports on my turbo in rain, weather around 10 F, a little snow, all summer weathers and did about 24 days of track days before changing them because they hit the 5 year mark. The threads were still in incredibly great condition.

I just put on a set of Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and wow oh wow. Love them, but you cannot even think about rolling those tires let alone driving on them in weather of 40 F or below or on standing water. But wow what awesome tires.

 

I have the PSS on my M5 and really like them. I have the S-04 on my 911 turbo and have put 4000 miles and really like them also. I just put S-04 on the wife's Benz as I was tired of the Pirelli pzero and the way they fall apart drivability wise once you get into last 25% of tread life.
I spent 1/2 day at the Bridgestone test facility in West Texas and speaking to the engineers they said that one tire can be the cats meow on car A but put it on car B and it's a terrible tire. There is a lot going on between the tire and the suspension so what works well on one set up doesn't on another. Manufacturers spend a lot of time developing and testing tires hence the reason you will see a car come from the factory with a couple of choices. I know Porsche will ship cars to a dealer and some with Michelin, some Continental and some Bridgstone ETC....You see discussions on the forums people asking if they can choose a tire pre delivery but oddly it's an option you can't select.....unless the dealer will swap you on delivery.
The N rated tire signifies that Porsche tested and approved that tire for the car, but that doesn't mean to say a non N rated tire will be bad just that Porche didn't test it specifically. My 997 came from the factory with Bridgesone RE 050A which were great....... I saw another post the other day where there is apparently a new Michelin coming out replacing the PSS but not till the spring..... Good luck.

 

If by wet you mean lots of standing water then this is true, but I've driven with them extensively in wet weather and as long as you don't go crazy they're absolutely fine.

 

I've tried most of all the brands. Mpss for daily and track duty are my reco! M Cups are great tires, so are the Dunlop sport maxx race and the trofeos (all more expensive though). I run super sports for everything and love them the most for price and grip.

As an FYI, most places like discount tire ect. will let you return tires if you're dissatisfied. I took a pair back for the same reason you're experiencing.

 

I just put cup 2s on my .2 turbo-- love the insane grip and the feel. Since I only drive the car very infrequently (9k miles in 7 years), tire wear is not an issue. I have tried every Michelin tire on this car and my GT-R and the Cup2s are really my favorite.

 

Im in for tyres too, but too many acronyms here.

 

I contacted Tirerack to see if there was anything they could do. They said there was no type of warranty these could be returned on but the did mention something about some sort of "Goodwill Consideration" Bridgestone might be able to give. They asked me for the mileage on the vehicle and the tread depth on the tires (9/32nds) and they would get back to me. I sent that info Tuesday night. Waiting to hear back.

Technically they don't owe me anything and i take responsibility for my purchase...but at the end of the day the selection was made because of this comparison

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=148

The S-04 came in so close to the PSS i couldn't fathom there would be such a huge difference between the two tires and given the substantial difference in price i figured the compromise would be worth it. Looking back spending the additional $3-400 would have been a no brainer. I drove a friends 997 last night with PSS's on it and the turn in and stability was excellent (exactly what i was looking for). On my car it feels like the tires have a layer of marshmallow touching the road. it sucks.

 

Hopefully they're able to do something for you. Even if you're only able to swap within the brand, I just had a set of RE-11's put on my car due to the delay on the SuperSports and I absolutely love them so far. Definitely a slightly firmer ride than the SuperSports, but the grip is incredible, and the stiffer sidewall will definitely give you the planted feel you're looking for.

 

The thing about our cars (911s) is that you really can't grab the feedback from other vehicles and apply it to them - it is not consistent.
Our cars require extreme stiff sidewalls to keep that feel of responsiveness. The S04s are in fact great tires...but not on 911s. The sidewalls are not stiff enough. Our cars bare a lot of weight on the rear for obvious reasons. If you have tires that flex considerably during cornering, momentum or by applying steering, no matter how small, the car is going to feel, for lack of better terms, weird.
Depending on what mods you have, this could be accentuated even more. I have tried S04s and RE11s and EVOs...and none of them felt right. All great tires but definitely could not do it. I have been favoring PS2s even over the Super Sports a lot of people like. I can tell the difference in tire sidewall stiffness.
I run R888s as well and they are amazing tires, but they do flex a bit more than the PS2's as well. It is manageable, just as with other tires.

 

good post. thanks.