Tyres and Turbo S CS Wheels

[Indi9xx]

Sorry I have not been in here for a while, it has been hectic at the workshop and still is. Have been answering some of you and club members technical enquiries by email and phone, but still feel guilty for not popping in here more often!

Anyway, for once I have a bit of a question.

One of my 944 Turbo's wears what was always a slightly tired set of Turbo S - CS wheels with an aging set of 205/55's and 245/45's, so back in the winter, I decided to have them refurbed ready for new tyres in the spring.

The thing is, I always felt the 245/45's seemed a little narrow for the wheel, even though I have always been sure that they were the correct size.

Has anyone else ever found this? They looked almost stretched, even though they really are just 9J wheels, not any crazy rare 9.5's or anything.

Anyway, about to order a complete set of tyres, probably going for Bridgestone or Continentals with the N rating, just because at some point in the next couple of years it will be going up for sale and a purist might be a potential buyer.

Anyone else found the 245's have looked a little narrow on these wheels? it could be just that the rim edge protrudes a little more than the design 90's perhaps.

Finding a tyre that is wider just by a bit is difficult though, such as a 255 or 265 in a 45 or 40 profile is next to impossible.

It could just be that the tyres that were on there, Firestone I think, may just have had little bulbe to the sidewall or something, but your thoughts would be interesting to hear.

With the refurb, No I could not find anyone able to perform an annodised finish to the same kind of reflective index as the originals, and rather than them end up looking like chrome, or machined and therefore weakened, I have just preserved them by having them finessed, etch primed and painted... Not entirely happy, but it is better to seal and preserve them than have a shoddy job done which could actually ruin them.

 

[Diver944]

Hi Jon, nice to see you back.

When I had CS wheels on my Turbo with 245 rears, I too always thought they looked ever so slightly stretched so I wouldn't worry.

From memory I had Continentals on there and from behind it was almost as if the rim was sticking out a bit from the sidewall just begging to be kerbed! []

 

[Monkeythree]

The dimensions of tyres in Europe are defined and regulated by ETRTO. There is a surprisingly large tolerance on width. I can't remember the precise details but the general gist is that most 235's and 255's could probably be labelled as 245's and still be within definition. So it gives tyre manufacturers some room for interpretation and as a consequence, some 245's will look a bit stretched.

Pirelli P Zero Rosso's have quite a square shoulder for example and if they are available, I daresay that they would give a different appearance on the rim. The problem is getting a vision of a variety of sections. I think the only way to do this is to spend a lot of time looking at a lot of different tyres on a lot of different rims and build up a picture.

 

[TTM]

I say it depends on the type of tyre used.

I always ran the CS with Bridgestone S-02 and yes the outer rims always looked dangerously exposed, but if you measure the actual width of the 245/45 S-02 you may notice it's not much wider if any than its 225/50 counterpart.

The Continental Sport Contact in contrary features an outer lip for protection and the 245/45 looks (is?) physically wider than its 225/50 counterpart and looks right at home on a 9" CS wheel.

When I moved to fully-refurbished 17" Cup 2s I initially wanted to use S-02 again but the lack of lip protection after having scratched a fully-refurbished rear CS wheel encouraged me to fit Michelin Pilot Sport. They actually have saved my fresh wheels both sides on several occasions.

 

[MartinRS2K]

My Turbo S CS wheels are exactly the same on the rear, looking stretched. Whereas the fronts look under inflated but every time I check them the pressures are fine!

 

[Indi9xx]

Thanks chaps, glad it is not just me that feels the rims look a bit exposed and the tyres stretched one these wheels.

Think I might follow TTM's recommendation of the Sport Contact tyres with the rim protectors, which by the looks of it are the N2's my supplier are listing which were on my short list.

 

[Chrishazle]

I've just put Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetrics on the newly refurbished 17" rims on our shopping trolley (MB S204 C220Cdi Elegance Estate) - 225/45 on the front and 245/40 on the rear. They have the rim protect feature (as well as a Euro CAA rating) so the edge of my lovely AMG rims have about 1/4" of rubber between them and the kerb. Sourced from Tyreleader, £307 delivered for the 4, arrived in 4-5 days.

FWIW (I've only driven 25 miles on them so far, including some motorway) I find the car now very quiet, feels far more planted and secure than on either her 16" winter tyres or the original 16" Sport Contact 2's, yet I find the ride quality more than acceptable.

 

[blade7]

Incoming.....[] I had 265/35 Pirelli's on 10" wide rims and they looked stretched, so much so I considered going to 285/30 at replacement time. Glad I didn't as the same size in Michelin Pilot Sports, N rated, look much wider on the wheel.

 

[TTM]

ORIGINAL: blade7
Incoming.....[] I had 265/35 Pirelli's on 10" wide rims and they looked stretched, so much so I considered going to 285/30 at replacement time. Glad I didn't as the same size in Michelin Pilot Sports, N rated, look much wider on the wheel.

Surprised you didn't comment negatively on the Michelins being somewhat expensive.

 

[Indi9xx]

Really interesting comments here, I had never really noticed the CS wheels in relation to the rear wheels and some tyres looking wider on the rims and others narrower by any great margin, and if I had, I would probably have mostly put it down to differences in sidewall shape, but thinking about it, I used to always run Toyo Proxes T1-S back 10 years ago on a Turbo S which was a regular at the nurburgring which litterally had a set all round once a month, so I did get a bit familiar with that set of wheels and I do remember its rear tyres looked a great fit.

Fingers crossed the Continental Sport Contact N2's look right and work well on her..

If I was keeping her she would be getting Barum Bravarius 2's on there, which may seem like a really odd choice, but I was tipped off about them by the Continental Tyres rep about 3 years ago, as Barum are Continental's attempt to break into the Toyo market the way Toyo were ten years ago, cheap, sticky, yet don't melt on trackdays like road tyres do...

However as mentioned before, this car is not a keeper anymore, so at some point it will be sold, so needs some Porsche approved tyres on it to complete the package.

I will be totally honest though... Most of you will know what I am like, not very good at selling cars.. I know I only need one 944 turbo, so three of them need to go!

 

[Frenchy]

Pirrelli's seem to fill the wheels out, i could be in the market for another Turbo, keep me posted, it would be going to a pampered knowledgable life []

 

[Mike_Pollock]

I put some 225/50 Bridgestone RE002s on the 9" rears. They looked stretched and have been put on my 8" 'lids....

Not sure what to put on the CS rears now.....

 

[Indi9xx]

Ohh Mike, they would be a bit narrow for the 9J rears, they are more a size for the 8J, for the 9's ideally you need the 245's as mentioned in this thread, but even those can look a bit stretched out... If there was a decent 255 or 265 option in 16 inch and the right profile, I would probably be going for somthing wider.

I am ordering up the Continental Sport Contacts for the CS wheels, (front) 205/55x16 and (rear) 245/45x16, hopefully they will look the part.

 

[macandsue]

Much to my surprise our rear 255 35 17s Fuldas having just completed about 30k miles were not worn out but starting to show signs of age they were 10 years old and had been on the car for about eight years .This is not Turbo but just bog standard 944 . The cups were on with spacers and looked good . I have replaced them with Kumho 245 40s. They look a bit odd compared with the Fuldas . This is currently our every day car so rarely gets a thrashing and we have had Fuldas and Kumhos on it for most of its life . It is never going to be for sale so it doesn't matter whether Porsche extremists like it or not . This is not an advert for those brands but they are really good value if you just want usable tough tyres .