Re: Tires for my Boxster.

I am in the process of new tires and would like to go to a set of all seasons. However, I have to go to a 225/50/17 for the front. I have compared that with the stock and the difference seems minimal. Anybody have suggestions??

Boxsters should not be shod with all season rubber.
Porsche recommends Max Performance Summer Tires or Max Performance Winter Tires, not All Season.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

PS: Whenever you need tires, if you click on the Tire Rack banner on top of this page, PedrosBoard gets a donation from TireRack and it does not alter your price or any available discounts.

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

My 2012 base Boxster came with GoodYear tires that were all season tires. I’m close to needing new tires and I went to Tire Rack and, as Pedro posted above, they don’t show any all season tires. This is my third Boxster and my experience with summer tires in the winter was nothing short of scary. On Boxster #1 (2004) I bought winter tires and had them put on in the winter. It was a pain in the neck to change them back and forth so on Boxster #2 (2008) I bought a second set of wheels and had my winter tires on them. The all season tires on Boxster #3 worked well in the summer and they were fine in the Ohio winter temperatures and snow which is why I wanted to get the same tires. GoodYear no longer makes them. I know from first hand experience that summer tires are a real “no no” in the winter. Been there - done that. I’m wondering,however, if winter tires might be adequate for summer driving? I usually drive around 7000 miles a year and having two sets of tires and two sets of wheels seems a bit much for that amount of driving. I look forward to your experience and thoughts. Thanks.

Honestly, I've driven super HP summers in New Jersey winters. Even at 20 deg (F) they are adequate if you realize what you are dealing with. Add some snow and its a totally different story - scary!!!!!!!!. But i have, for instance driven from Bennington VT to Morristown NJ on Christmas day early morning, in my track car (Hi Bruce!) on -- get this -- Bridgestone RE-71Rs. Square 255/40-17 all around. These make "normal" summer tires look like snows. They are autocross tires and the Miata cup spec tires. The hype over how awful and dangerous they (any dedicated summer tires) are in cold weather is over-played, probably to make a key point to clueless daily drivers (who also text and makeup and drink and drive, at once). You simply need to realize that you will lose 30-40% of your grip under those circumstances. Now, how much do you lose going to winter tires in the first place? I don't know, but its a lot.

But why speculate? ---- Learn them! Go out on a vacant road and slam on the brakes. What happens? Now you know the limits.

I also have winter tires on my base/street car on another set of (16") wheels.

You have to ask: "why did i buy one of the best handling sports cars on the planet?" and "is it worth compromising that over a 2nd set of wheels and tires". Or, simply drive it only int eh dry during the winter months.

If you MUST get an all season check out the Michelin Pilot sport A/S. I had them on my Audi S6 wagon. The were pretty nice tires. But, taking my own advice, i replaced them with dedicated snows and SuperSports.

/Rant :-)

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

Well. this is frustrating. I've read with interest the comments posted and very much appreciate the information provided. My 2012 base Boxster came with Good-Year Eagle F1 tires that are marked All-Season on the sidewall They are 205/55ZR17 tires on the front and 235/50ZR17 tires on the rear. They have worked well in both winter and summer conditions in Ohio. I replaced them once with the same tires and I was going to buy a third set. However, Good-Year apparently no longer makes these tires. They still make Eagle F1s but no longer with an all-season formula in my size. I researched Tire Rack and couldn't find any all-reason tires that would fit my car. I called Tire Rack today and spoke with a gentleman who also said it appears no one makes an all-season tire for my car. As I posted earlier, I drive my car in winter conditions in Ohio, but I also spend two to three months in Florida in the winter. I've had three Boxsters and tried to drive my first Boxster with summer tires in the winter and it was scary how poorly they performed. I'm tempted to just buy winter tires and drive them year-round as it seems a bit much to have eight tires for 7-8000 miles use a year and I already tried the summer tires in the winter and that didn't work well. So the question becomes: what winter tire, that comes in my car's size, would work the best in the summer? Sorry to keep beating this horse but I leave for Florida in a little over a month and I need to replace my current tires.

... that's not to be. PA4s felt fine on a trip that started out in mild-for-December weather in NY to 85º in Alabama. Then there was a cold snap down there, and much of the return trip, from Virginia on, was in snow. They showed no discernible wear or compound deterioration.
Unfortunately for you, no PA (or any other high performance winter tire) is available in your size set; the only winter tire being these:
Viking
I would think they're more pure snow tires, and might feel very greasy on dry, especially hot, pavement, and very much unsuitable as an all-around tire for a Boxster.
Keep in mind TireRack isn't the only source for tires, and googling could be fruitful.
One last thing, if your car has PSM and it can be turned off, doing that might actually be helpful with summer (and winter) tires in uphill low traction situations.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2019 07:02PM by Laz. (view changes)

... especially uphill turning stuff, where it's a razor's edge of maintaining momentum and not skittering into a ditch/tree/stone wall, etc. Downhill can be a heart-stopper too, including going straight. And believe me, even an acolyte of Carrie Nation could run into trouble!




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2019 07:03PM by Laz. (view changes)

Pedro,

Thanks for the reply. Due to the size tire for the front I am forced to purchase Michelins. Is there an alternative?

I have the Conti DWS' on my car. I am very pleased with them.
I previously used Michelin Pilots. I like the Michelins fine. But I prefer the Contis. It appears they come in the size you want.

BTW - I reject the notion that all season tires are not acceptable for Porsche. I found the summer tires that came as OE to be terrible. The all seasons I have had since have all been better than good. Obviously, you would not choose them for the track, but for regular street driving.... I never bought into the "N rated" mumbo jumbo. Look at the basic specs and make a determination. Ask others who drive the tires. Based on that analysis, I chose the DWS' and I am very happy.

[www.tirerack.com]

Thanks everyone for the info. I tend to agree with the last reply. I live on the Oregon coast and the weather is wet one minute and dry the next with a little snow or frost thrown in in the winter. I don't track the car and use it for everyday driving and travel. So, the all season just make sense . Sorry Pedro.

If anything, I wish they were more of a true snow tire, as I don't find them to be very good in some snowy situations. (Very dicey driving uphill in slush.) They are excellent for cold weather, and behave, for most any "normal" driving, very well. A few Decembers back I drove from New York to Alabama starting out in moderate, fall-like temperatures. As I got closer to and into Alabama, the temperature was mid to high eighties, and I started imagining I was cooking the PA4s, especially with the indication of their pressures going up dramatically.

Then there was an overnight cold snap. I think it got into the 40s in Montgomery. As snow was falling in the Mid-Atlantic states, for the return trip I drove East to Richmond so as to avoid inland mountainous terrain, and took 95 back North. The PA4s behaved well, and boy, was I glad to have them on, rather than the Goodyear Max Summer tires.

By the way, there was no noticeable degradation of the tread depth or compound from start to finish.

My car is a '13 Boxster S, so there might not be fitments for other years/models, but perhaps PA3s (even n-spec) are available.

I agree with not having to exclusively use N-rated tires. I don't in my car.
N-rated are tires that the manufacturer has submitted to Porsche to have them certify those tires as recommended, but that doesn't mean that there aren't a myriad of tires that would qualify as N-rated if the manufacturer has submitted them and paid the developmental fee.
But I could not disagree more with the use of All Season tires in a Boxster.
The Boxster, being a mid-engined car has different road-holding characteristics as most other cars.
They are more balanced and stable, but they are unforgiving at their limit.
It's your car and you can put whatever tires you want (it's still a free country) but I'd ONLY use max performance summers or max performance winters when it gets to 40F or below.
YMMV.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 311,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

My dilemma is I’ll be driving in winter conditions when I head south for Florida. I’ll spend some time driving in Florida and then I will probably encounter late winter conditions when I head home. I’m still looking for any input from drivers who drove on winter tires in the summer. Tire rack suggested Pirelli Winter Sottozero Serie II as a good winter tire. Thanks.

I drove my '02 to FL on winter tires from Boston one March and even took in the Tail of the Dragon. They were just fine but of course I was not pushing the limits, just normal fun Boxster driving.

In Boston, I run 17" Continental ExtremeContact DWS - 205/50 front and 255/40 rear - for winter driving from mid-Oct. to May 1st. They are Ultra High Performance All Season tires per Tire Rack's categorization. It is unsafe to use summer tires in temps below 45F or so, as they get too hard. My old Box is no garage queen, and I will drive it in winter as long as there is no snow or salt present. The all seasons are fine for normal street driving. I did run them at AX a few years ago before I purchased a dedicated summer set. It was slip and slide city! Actually, quite fun - but non-competitive for AX. I would not recommend driving aggressively with these tires.

For summer, I use the Conti ExtremeContact Sport tires in the same sizes. They are noticeably stickier then the all seasons, and can be driven aggressively with confidence. Tire Rack calls them Max Performance Summer tires.

I think these tires provide a nice mix of performance, wear and value for money.

Gary

2003 Boxster Base - Midnight Blue Metallic, Savanna Beige, Metropol Blue

Thanks. That's helpful.

As stated, I did not like the summer tires the car came with. They were Pirelli, P-zero if I recall correctly. I found them awful in the rain or in any weather in which the temperature is under 65 deg. In CT, that covers roughly 9 mos a year.

In marked contrast, the Michellin Pilot all seasons were better than fine, and the Conti DWS all seasons have been great so far.

Your statement was pretty matter of fact. There must be a reason for it.

On my "winter beater" I switch from summer to winter tires because I NEED real SNOW performance. On the Boxster, I am not driving in more than an inch or so. I frequently drive in "wintry mix conditions" though. I need at least all season capability. One could argue for snow tires. I see little to recommend summer tires in my usage.