Cayman 20" tyres

[Chris_in_the_UK]

Unless this is sublime evidence of Porsche's sensitivity in respect of the performance comparisons that are always made between the 011 and Cayman. Would dragging one's feet on tyre approval for what may be the perfect tyre for the Cayman be simply buying some time until the 991 'facelift' appears which may 'miraculously' be a little better than the first thus maintaining Porsche's favoured hierarchy....... (conspiracy theory type music playing in the background.........)

 

[Motorhead]

Could be Chris. But leaving aside conspiracy theories, it may be that it's a Michelin commercial decision not to supply tyres to Porsche due to the latter's inability to provide sufficient resources to get approval in a timely manner. With an expanding range of vehicles, Porsche's development engineers undoubtedly are under increasing pressure to deliver. With the true sports cars becoming less important to the company's revenue stream, resources are probably being diverted to the Cayenne, Macan and Panamera ranges. Jeff

 

[ralphmusic]

Michelin are the partner on LMP/ALMS and 918 which is high-end engineering type development work. I think the Boxster-only for 981 Michelin links I gave earlier is a function of (1) slow updating of site and (2) Cayman being the Porsche nobody talks about. Anyway, best wear out those Pirellis so I have an opportunity to choose.

 

[ralphmusic]

I took the Pirelli tyres off and replaced all with N0 Bridgestones. It took my local tyre depot three weeks to source them; on-line I found the rears to be the problem. Anyway £848 inc VAT fitted and nitrogen filled from my local fitters so not too painful - all other pricing was c£1,100 - £1,200. They felt better than the Pirellis at a dampish Silverstone yesterday - so far so good. I now have a surplus full set of OEM fitted Pirelli fronts (235/35/20) and rears (265/35/20) with 7,400 miles and good tread depth 5 & 6mm if anyone is interested but please note in live in East Devon.

 

[chrisH]

Surprised you decided to change to Bridgestones, were the Pirellis that poor on the track then? You did very well to get 7,400 mlx with 5-6mm left. That trust have been on the fronts not the rears. Mine at the rear on the last 987.2 wore out in the centres after similar mileage. Maybe they did something with the compound to make them last longer on the 20's? Chris

 

[ralphmusic]

It was a matter of confidence, or lack of with me and the Pirellis. Others may not have the same issues. The Pirellis' treads look fine and I was surprised at the tread depth when I measured them today.

 

[Buddy]

And from 2015 tyre homologation will be getting more difficult as car manufacturers will have to approve a low rolling resistance tyre amongst their other options. Should prove interesting in regard to Porsche N rated tyres. I currently work in emissions testing in the automotive industry and the effect of tyre sizes, mainly width is significant on fuel economy and so to get a lower rolling resistance option will mean the narrowest option with a hard compound and of course the least grip. Whether Porsche will just identify their base tyre as such or seek out a lower resistance tyre deliberately remains to be seen. Meantime, as before the new large wheel option tyre replacement is difficult to obtain, we've seen that before...