996 wheel tyre question

[ortontom]

Am I going mad, the car has 285/30/18 tyres on the rear. Now when shopping for tyres using the online car registration system they suggest a 265 tyre? What's recommended I have a 2002 996 C2 with what I think is the standard wheels on them...

[thegoose]

265/35 or 285/30 both fit fine. 285 fills out the arch better and gives more rubber on the road, but adding more grip to the rear carries the possibility of making the car understeer a little, this can be dialled out when having the geo done though.

[ortontom]

265 it is then. Thanks

[hygt2]

2002 is a cut off year. Pre-facelift is 265, post-facelift is 285. However, either is fine and I prefer 265 handling wise.

[ortontom]

thanks

[thegoose]

ortontom said:

265 it is then. Thanks

Hang on, read my previous post and consider the implications. If you have 285s on now and it handles well, that may be noticeably altered by switching to 265s, so either stick with 285s or you'll probably want to book a full geo set-up to optimise the handling on the narrower tyres. This will certainly cost more than any saving made buying the narrower tyres.

FWIW I run 285s on my 1998 3.4 Carrera and the way the car's set up they work very well (as well as looking better).

[Orangecurry]

Goose - it might be that he has become used to understeer. I'd put the car back to how it should be, i.e. 265/35 especially as he has more choice in tyres in that size.

ps I was confused for a while as that is a photo of the front wheel

[ortontom]

yes but on track days the front washes out and the rear rarely steps out. Think id rather have the rear step out a little as understeer is no fun at all. I have cheap tyres on there at the moment, so F1's to replace these will work well.

[thegoose]

ortontom said:

yes but on track days the front washes out and the rear rarely steps out. Think id rather have the rear step out a little as understeer is no fun at all. I have cheap tyres on there at the moment, so F1's to replace these will work well.

Ah, now that you've mentioned that I can see your logic in trying the smaller tyre first rather than get a geo done. I was on track at Oulton in mine on Friday, no understeer, but that's because it's been set up properly. It went very well for a road car but admittedly *most* GT3's and Turbo's out there were quicker.

[Orangecurry]

OP - how much time do you spend on the track?

This might be worth a read (though it is last years EVO test)

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2014-EVO-Max-...

[ortontom]

has your 3.4 had the bearing done? im liking my car, it appears to have gone up in value this year.....

[ortontom]

not much Supercar day at dunsfold and the Thruxton in June. Its my wives car, i have the family runner - the RS 6..
Just ordered through Asdatyres for £282 for two tyres,,

[Orangecurry]

...240 on oponeo for next time

[ortontom]

thats not fitted.

[ortontom]

just checking - yes its fitted and all that for £280....for two

[Orangecurry]

True, and forgive me here but your front wheels need to be refurbished, so perhaps the rears do too?

If you factor-in the saving of buying from (say) Oponeo and then adding the difference to offset the cost of getting the wheels refurbished and new tyres fitted by your local specialist proper acid-bath/etc/etc/etc/bake refurbisher (not someone who turns up in a van with some sandpaper and a rattle-can) , you can have 'new' wheels *and* new tyres...

...and not some local tyre monkey subbed-out from Asda carving a few chunks out of your rear 10J alloys.

Edited by Orangecurry on Monday 23 March 09:44

[ortontom]

you havent met the wife have you.

Wheels refur = wife re re furb them.


Asda price fitted by Halfords auto centre so better than most but probably not the best, and £280 fitted cant argue, Would cost a further £100 over the price, and even then they dont usually like you turning up with your own tyres and charge more than they would if they supplied their tyres. Im 43, and have had just as many cars i think. Its a proven route, thanks for the heads up but.....this car is here until a black 997 coupe with sun roof comes close to my budget....

Last 4/5 cars bought and sold without loosing a penny in value...

[Orangecurry]

Understand completely.

Just to clarify - the refurbishing company that I use don't sell tyres, they just refurbish and then fit your tyres, new or old.

With new tyres, they even try and line up the yellow/red dots with the valve to minimise the number of balance weights needed.

[was8v]

ortontom said:

has your 3.4 had the bearing done? im liking my car, it appears to have gone up in value this year.....

3.4 has a stronger bearing than the 3.6 M96.

Late in 3.4 production Porsche dropped plastic coated pistons - leading to premature bore wear in later M96 units.

The early 3.4 is the M96 to have apart from a properly relined (i.e. Nikasil not steel liners) and rebuilt engine.

I run 265 on my '99, bought them from http://www.tyreleader.co.uk and had them fitted by an local who took chunks out of my wheels.

Edited by was8v on Monday 23 March 10:26

[ortontom]

when i was looking i did drive a 3.4 i found it not torqy enough for my liking, I tried to get the best for my buck. A 2002 3.6 C2 manual drop top was the answer, as the wife needed to be brought along on the journey....would of got a coupe but Convert made the transition easy for the other half.