"N" rating on tyres
Discussion
, so do you have a 944,928,968 ?tvrman said:
So which tyres are the tyre of choice for a 911 then ? (1982 SC)
Dunlop sports ?
IMHO, anything you fancy.
N ratings were "invented" way after the making of your 911SC, so much about all modern rubber will be far better than the Pirelli P7's that your car drove out of the dealer on. I doubt that any insurance company could successfully argue in court that you had an accident as a result of fitting better tyres than original equipment.
My choice would be the best that you can afford, but I would have a short list of Bridgestone SO2, Pirelli P Zero, Yokohama AVS or Contnental Sport Contact.
From my own experience:
Bridgestone SO2, excellent wear rate v. grip; currently my choice of 'rain tyre' for the track; also excellent in the rain on road;
Pirelli P Zero, seem harder than the S02 and less forgiving on the limit. Excellent wear rate again. Don't seem so good in the wet. But I thought these were good until I tried the Bridgestones....
Yokohama AVS, maybe they've improved them, but tried them some years ago -fantastic on a 2.6 Audi Avant, but crap on a 964 C4 -I couldn't wait to wear them out.
Continental Sport Contact. Probably the best wear rate, good road tyre, but not so good on track. The choice of Bernard Aubry,Porsche driving guru....
Rgds
Mel
Bridgestone SO2, excellent wear rate v. grip; currently my choice of 'rain tyre' for the track; also excellent in the rain on road;
Pirelli P Zero, seem harder than the S02 and less forgiving on the limit. Excellent wear rate again. Don't seem so good in the wet. But I thought these were good until I tried the Bridgestones....
Yokohama AVS, maybe they've improved them, but tried them some years ago -fantastic on a 2.6 Audi Avant, but crap on a 964 C4 -I couldn't wait to wear them out.
Continental Sport Contact. Probably the best wear rate, good road tyre, but not so good on track. The choice of Bernard Aubry,Porsche driving guru....
Rgds
Mel
Thanks for all the advice, and yes on my car it won't make too much difference, but very nice to know what the Porsche community recomend.
Went for P-Zero's in the end, as I have them on my daily use car and find them pretty good. Also Mitchdever did some very nice silver valve sleeves to cover the rubber valve, nice touch. Top service from them too and they know their Porsches.
Ian
Went for P-Zero's in the end, as I have them on my daily use car and find them pretty good. Also Mitchdever did some very nice silver valve sleeves to cover the rubber valve, nice touch. Top service from them too and they know their Porsches.
Ian
Maurice said:
Paul, May I suggest you do a little research b4 sounding off to the PH world ..
The whole N program is based on approving specific tyres for specific models, and for every available wheel and tyre combination for every model since 1988 ....
HTh, cheers, Maurice
Easy m8! Not sounding off, more asking the question - that's why there's a '?' on the end. Thx for explaining it in detail tho, and I stand corrected.
Paul
>> Edited by Paul968 on Monday 5th December 13:59
>> Edited by Paul968 on Monday 5th December 14:01
>> Edited by Paul968 on Monday 5th December 19:00
So - after all that we have learned its a recommendation which hardly anybody knows (certainly not the tyre fitters out there and no one really understands what differences are actually in the tyre, some say its compound, some say construction, some say even rolling diameter.
Anyway Porsche say there is no standard for ZR tyres for speeds above 150Mph, hence the N factor. So if you go above 150mph on non N tyres they could blow up. Would have thought a quick call to Pirelli or Mich could resolve that.
Personally i don't think my Corsa track tyres had a N rating anyway and i would not dream of driving so fast on the road,
Like the idea of altering handling by using different N variations but its too hard to fathom so will be fitting Corsa track tyres as soon as these Corsa System tyres have been burnt off (at Bedford)
Anyway Porsche say there is no standard for ZR tyres for speeds above 150Mph, hence the N factor. So if you go above 150mph on non N tyres they could blow up. Would have thought a quick call to Pirelli or Mich could resolve that.
Personally i don't think my Corsa track tyres had a N rating anyway and i would not dream of driving so fast on the road,
Like the idea of altering handling by using different N variations but its too hard to fathom so will be fitting Corsa track tyres as soon as these Corsa System tyres have been burnt off (at Bedford)
Today I spoke with one of the Pirelli Performance Centres and asked the question if all 4 tyres need to be the same N rating as my rears will wear out before the fronts and I can't get any P Zero N2
There response was
Don't mix N ratings on the same axle
Don't be concerned having say N2's on the front and N3's on the back.
Don't mix brands
The only thing you the driver should ensure is that the tyre is the correct size, inflated to the correct pressure and has a legal tread depth. There is no insurance requirement that you use N rated tyres (check your policy for the endorsements that say you must). Th eonly requirement is that the tyre is fit for purpose.
The owner of the Pirelli Perf centre also commented that a great amount of scaremongering goes on with N rated tyres.
Make of this as you wish.
John
There response was
Don't mix N ratings on the same axle
Don't be concerned having say N2's on the front and N3's on the back.
Don't mix brands
The only thing you the driver should ensure is that the tyre is the correct size, inflated to the correct pressure and has a legal tread depth. There is no insurance requirement that you use N rated tyres (check your policy for the endorsements that say you must). Th eonly requirement is that the tyre is fit for purpose.
The owner of the Pirelli Perf centre also commented that a great amount of scaremongering goes on with N rated tyres.
Make of this as you wish.
John
John, probably best advice so far... I would add that going below 2mm on the rears and hitting any sort of water is dangerous to your health... cost the insurance co £13K when i aquaplaned on a straight road and buried the car in some trees. Had virtually no throttle on and the tiniest steering angle but it was down a 1 in 7
Police said "Is it your first Porsche" - nearly hit him as he was right of course.. not the sort of thing you repeat.
Police said "Is it your first Porsche" - nearly hit him as he was right of course.. not the sort of thing you repeat.
993Targa said:
Today I spoke with one of the Pirelli Performance Centres and asked the question if all 4 tyres need to be the same N rating as my rears will wear out before the fronts and I can't get any P Zero N2
There response was
Don't mix N ratings on the same axle
Don't be concerned having say N2's on the front and N3's on the back.
Don't mix brands
The only thing you the driver should ensure is that the tyre is the correct size, inflated to the correct pressure and has a legal tread depth. There is no insurance requirement that you use N rated tyres (check your policy for the endorsements that say you must). Th eonly requirement is that the tyre is fit for purpose.
The owner of the Pirelli Perf centre also commented that a great amount of scaremongering goes on with N rated tyres.
Make of this as you wish.
John
Sorry to resurrect an old thread.There response was
Don't mix N ratings on the same axle
Don't be concerned having say N2's on the front and N3's on the back.
Don't mix brands
The only thing you the driver should ensure is that the tyre is the correct size, inflated to the correct pressure and has a legal tread depth. There is no insurance requirement that you use N rated tyres (check your policy for the endorsements that say you must). Th eonly requirement is that the tyre is fit for purpose.
The owner of the Pirelli Perf centre also commented that a great amount of scaremongering goes on with N rated tyres.
Make of this as you wish.
John
I've just had 2 new rears replaced on my Cayman S (N4 rated Michellin PS2's to replace the old N3's).
The fronts were checked and have about 1500 miles left but as I'm off on an 8 day 4000 mile trip down to Italy at the end of the month I decided to order 2 new fronts as well.
No N4 rated tyres in front sizes anywhere so N2's are being used.
My tyre guy (personal friend who kindly lets me have tyres at near cost) has spend the morning speaking to both Porsche and Michellin who echoed the points above. No problem in having different ratings on the front and back but they should be the same on both axles.
I am not far off ready for 4 new tyres myself and have spent a little time considering the options.
Taking into account that by my estimation I am never anywhere near the limit of performance of the tyres (or any other part of the car really - except the aircon on a hot day maybe!), then absolute performance is less important to me than someone who extensively tracks their car.
As this car is under an OPC warranty just now and as I intend to renew the warranty through to at least March 2012, I have to go N rated.
Warranty aside, would I? Probably I would. The manufacturers involved have too much at stake for N spec to be a total sham - at worst the N spec will be the same tyre as the non N spec and, maybe in some cases, it is a modification to reflect the nature of the car that its recommended for.
There seems to be a decent enough selection out there and the cost difference between an N and non N equivalent isn't enough for me to do so for financial reasons.
Sizewise, I have 235/40 ZR18 (91Y) on the front and 265/40 ZR18 (101Y) on the back.
So, its either some more Bridgestone Potenza RE050A all round or maybe a set of Conti Supercontact 3. I will leave making that decision until the time that I make the change.
Taking into account that by my estimation I am never anywhere near the limit of performance of the tyres (or any other part of the car really - except the aircon on a hot day maybe!), then absolute performance is less important to me than someone who extensively tracks their car.
As this car is under an OPC warranty just now and as I intend to renew the warranty through to at least March 2012, I have to go N rated.
Warranty aside, would I? Probably I would. The manufacturers involved have too much at stake for N spec to be a total sham - at worst the N spec will be the same tyre as the non N spec and, maybe in some cases, it is a modification to reflect the nature of the car that its recommended for.
There seems to be a decent enough selection out there and the cost difference between an N and non N equivalent isn't enough for me to do so for financial reasons.
Sizewise, I have 235/40 ZR18 (91Y) on the front and 265/40 ZR18 (101Y) on the back.
So, its either some more Bridgestone Potenza RE050A all round or maybe a set of Conti Supercontact 3. I will leave making that decision until the time that I make the change.
Porsche Tyre ratings - the N debate - If you are 88 and older no probs use anything you like. I would use N rating where poss but I have been told that there is nothing stated about N rating in handbooks which presumably means as long as the size and the load rating is correct there is no prob. I suppose that insurance companies would expect Porka owners to use premium types.I used to own a garage and assessors only used to check the tread depth
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