911 tires needed this week: Potenza S-O2, SP 8000, Comp TA ZR, or other?


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Posted by T. Korakianitis on July 19, 1997 at 14:24:12:

This is not the usual question "what's the best 911 tire".

My 87 911 targa is lowered and alligned properly for the
amount of lowering. The present set of RE 71s wore coincidentally
down to almost no tread (I have no idea if they were mounted the same
time by the PO; I only used them the last 1/3 of their life).
However, the lowered suspension is so stiff
that I get absolutely no feedback that I can detect from the
frame response when the car is ready to break loose during cornering.
I like the looks of the setup and I don't want to raise the car
to the factory settings.

The sad part is that I can drive the other two family cars
closer to their performance limits because their frames give
tell-tale signals when they are ready to wiggle the rear, and their
tires start to squeal. The (old and hard?) RE71s on the 911
do not squeal at all, and the frame gives no hints. Several
times in hard cornering I have had the rear break loose without
any sign from the frame or any noise AT ALL from the tires.

What I am looking for is a reasonably sticky tire that progressively
squeals louder (but not obnoxiuosly loud) before it breaks loose
so I can drive the car using the
tire sound as a guide. The car is driven sunny weekends only.
I have occasionally entered autocrosses and driver ed events,
but this is an infrequent event (one every one or two years).
I don't need the best autocross or drivers ed performance; I am just
looking for some weekend fun (which may include 4500-6000 rpm in
5th gear on long lonely open-view straight stretches). The car is never
out in the rain either. Reasonably sticky tires means I am not out to
beat anyone else, I just want to safely drive the 911 closer to
its limits in dry conditions. However, here in St. Louis we do get
sunny weekends in the winter, with ambient temps close to freezing.
Do I need an all-season tire for cold sunny weekends?

TIA

PS tire sizes are 205/55/r16 front and 225/50/r16 rear,
7 inch front and 8 inch rear




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