Tires Hankook or RIKEN
Have these on the 944 and they are surprisingly good. Not pirelli p7 good, but good and they hold up. Honestly I have no issues with them. (Riken Raptor ZR summers)
Something I can personally recommend is the Hankook Ventus v12 Evo2. Great tire and around the same price as the firehawks. Going to perform a little better than the firehawk but not supposed to last as long. TireRack has the Hankooks listed as a "Max" summer tire with a life at ~20k miles(Firehawks tire life supposed to be around 30k). I've put just under 15k miles on them with 2 auto cross days and wouldn't be surprised if they lasted longer than 20k. Got them for $460 mounted and balanced, out the door.
Ventus V12 EVO2 is the sleeper tire in this category. A few buddies run them, they are a lot like the PSS, in that they are a summer performance tire with consideration to tire life. But at an even lower cost.
I have RS3's on my S2000 and have for a while now. Fantastic dry grip when they're warmed up but then wet grip is abysmal...I actively avoid driving that car in the rain partially because of that.
In addition to Star Specs, Hankook RS3s are a good and cheap track tire. They withstand heat well.
I just had a set of OEM Hankook Optimos last ~65000 miles. Replaced them with a set of Hankook Ventus S1 Noble2's and all is good so far.
Only have used the Ventus V12 Evo/2 on my Boxster, have been pleased with them.
Used the V12's on my Saab, good wear and quiet and get about 35-40k miles out of them. R-S3's for rain tires on my track TT, they work well for both slightly damp track days and in the heavy rain. On the street they are quiet compared to the Nitto NT-05's and last longer 30k miles normally opposed to 15-20k.
I just put on the Hankook Ventus V2 Concept 2s and the ride and noise level on these are absolutely fantastic for a discount tire. Rain performance is bleh though. I would recommend them for a car you don't corner with every time. Now let's see how long this quiet ride lasts...
VW used the Hankook Optimo tires in Canada as the OEM tire on our Golf Sportwagen. One of the worst performing tire I've ever owned.
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