I need some tire advice

Frenchy · 02:57 PM

I need to replace all 4 tires on my '85 911. I'm not planning on racing, but I do enjoy the responsiveness of a high performance tire for weekend drives on winding roads. I'd like to stay in the sub-$150 (per tire) price range. The tire shop recommended the Dunlop SP8000 (205/55/16 in the front @ $95 ea.; 245/45/16 in rear @ $140 ea.). I'd appreciate any advice you may have on the quality of Dunlops and the price.
Thanks,
F.

Chris Bunker · 10-14-2002, 02:28 PM

Frenchy-
It would entirely depend on what your plans are for your car.

cstreit · cstreit's Garage

Dunlops are a decent street tire, but certainly not the best. Bridgestone S03's happen to be my fav..

makaio · 10-14-2002, 03:10 PM

I have only heard good things about the S-03's. RoninLB from the board has them. I know he got quit a bit of mileage out of them as well

.

Chris Bunker · 10-14-2002, 03:45 PM

I had the SP8000 on my car when I bought it. I wasn't very impressed by them (track impressions), however, in all fairness they were quite old and had many a heat cycle put to them.
If Drivers Ed/AutoX is not in the plan, then I would say that for most people doing normal everyday driving, its hard to go wrong with just about ANY of the current crop of high performance tires out there. It becomes a question of price and appearance.

gr8fl4porsche · gr8fl4porsche's Garage

If you have 16" wheels - tirerack.com probably still has the Yoko AVS Intermediates for about $ 60 each. I am running a set now and drove in the rain yesterday for about a hundred miles - I have been pleased with these tires so far - wet and dry.

SO3's are supposed to be awesome but at double to triple the cost of the Yoko's.

Superman · 10-14-2002, 03:48 PM

Don't mount 245s onto 7" wheels. If you have wider wheels, fine. but if your wheels are stock 7" fuchs, then 225 is as wide as you want to go.

Calspeed · Calspeed's Garage

Is it okay to mount a wider and lower profile tire on a 7x16 inch wheel? I was thinking of something in a 40 series tire. Would that be okay?

Michael

dean · 10-14-2002, 04:46 PM

I have the SP8000 on my SC. They are a fine tire for the street. A very good value tire.

Mike Feinstein · Mike Feinstein's Garage

Michael,

Remember, the object of the game is to keep the overall diameter of the tire/wheel the same as stock. So, if you go with a larger wheel, you'll need a lower profile tire to retain the correct outer diameter. If you haphazardly go with a lower profile tire on a 16" wheel...for one, it'll look bad (too small for wheel well), your speedo will be way off and your alignment will be wrong. The only up-side is that you would be essentially changing the gear ratio of your car and would enjoy quicker acceleration out of the hole, but at the cost of a lower top end.

Bottom line....don't do it.

Tyson Schmidt · 10-14-2002, 07:06 PM

Do you see very much rain?

If you see a fair amount of rain, or you are concerned with rain performance, you really should get Bridgestone SO-2's (if they still have them) or SO-3's. They are amazing in dry and wet.

If you never see rain, or never drive in the rain, the Dunlop SP8000's are a very good dry tire. The Yokohama AVS Intermediates are pretty awesome in the dry, but aren't up to snuff in the wet compared to the others.

The Kumho Ecsta's are a very good bang for the buck as well. The ride is great, not too noisy, pretty grippy, but they are lead bricks! Heaviest tire I've ever felt! Probably not an issue for a street car though. They're cheap!

The SO-2's wear out pretty quickly, and get a bit noisy mid-life. Not sure how important treadlife is to you.

Randy W · Randy W's Garage

Bridgestone SO3, Yokohama AO32R, or BF Goodrich T/A KD would get my vote. AVS Intermediates are second tier now and Dunlops do not offer the grip the others provide.

masraum · 10-14-2002, 07:42 PM

A 225 50 16 will ultimately handle better on a 16x7 than a 245 45 16 will assuming the same tire make and model. because the wheel is too small for the tire the contact patch won't be optimal and the sidewall while shorter will actually be more bulbous and so flex more.

If you want more rubber on the ground you'll need to get larger wheels or optimize the tire for the rim. For instance a 225 50 16 Bridgestone RE730 actually has a slightly skinnier tread profile that the same size Bridgestone S-03, I think. So check different tires to see if one lists more tread width, but across brands the measurement might vary.

Calspeed · Calspeed's Garage

Hello,

Thanks for the great information. Yes, in the back of my mind I knew it was not the right thing for all those reasons but I guess I really needed someone to tell me.

As for aftermarket is there a recommended wheel company that will offer something for the early 911's offset? I am looking for something with a nice fat chrome lip. What would the max in width my 911 can hold in a 17 wheel. I do want to go with a 40 series tire. Yes, for looks mostly. I cant lie but I do intend to do tack days with the 911 also. The 40 series tires would definitely be an upgrade.

Calspeed

pbs911 · pbs911's Garage

Quote:

As for aftermarket is there a recommended wheel company that will offer something for the early 911's offset? I am looking for something with a nice fat chrome lip. What would the max in width my 911 can hold in a 17 wheel.

If you go aftermarket, go with a very good quality, lite-weight wheel to replace the Fuchs. (I assume you have Fuchs) Wheel Enhancement and has very good quality wheels, and offers some on special for the early 911. I picked up Fikse FM-10 wheels from them almost a year ago and got a very good price. I went with 7.5x17 in front and 9x17 in rear, running 45 and 40 series tires respectively.

The Fikse F5 wheel is also a very strong, lite-weight wheel that will retain the 5 poke Fuch "look" both have the "chrome" look to the lips.

AS to your intitial question, I am on my second set of AVS tires and like them both on the track and for all-year street driving. But as someone posted, the AVS has been surposed and is probably a second tier tire at this point. S03's sem to be the hot ticket and will be my next tire.

s_wilwerding · s_wilwerding's Garage

How come nobody ever mentions Pirellis? I thought these were great tires - I was looking at getting some P-Zeros for my p-car.

MonkeyBoy · 10-15-2002, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gr8fl4porsche
If you have 16" wheels - tirerack.com probably still has the Yoko AVS Intermediates for about $ 60 each. I am running a set now and drove in the rain yesterday for about a hundred miles - I have been pleased with these tires so far - wet and dry.

SO3's are supposed to be awesome but at double to triple the cost of the Yoko's.

I just put AVS Intermediates on my 90 C4 and am pleased so far. They seem pretty sticky and quiet. The day I mounted them was a very wet one (as was just about every other recent day in Boston) and I wasn't too impressed with how they handled in wet conditions. Perhaps it was just because the tires were so new. I'll probably have them studded this winter, which should be interesting.

vesnyder · vesnyder's Garage

I was considering the S03's, and if price was not an issue would have gone with them. Decided instead on the AVS Intermediates and have no regrets. Great tire for the price!

Calspeed · Calspeed's Garage

Thanks for the info PBS911. I have also considered the Fikse Wheels and now I am looking at Kinesis. More later... Thanks

pbs911 · pbs911's Garage

Calspeed,
I should point out that the 7.5 and 9 " width wheels fit very nice with almost no camber. Recently I went with 1.25 and 2.0 camber settings, front to rear. With these settings It looks like I could have easily gone with 8 and 9.5" wheels. So if you plan on running extra camber you can may be able to add a little more width if you like.