Which tyres best suit 997 C4S?

Mr Toad · Oct 7, 2014

I am about to purchase a 2006 Carrera C4S with only 9,300 miles. The original Bridgestone tyres are on the car with plenty of tread. The car has never been over revved. I previously had a 944S2 which ran on Continental Conti Sports tyres which I found excellent. Having read various comments on the forum about Bridgestones I wonder whether I should consider a change sooner rather than later. I have had the car inspected by a very reputable source and the Bridgestones are in very good condition with no signs of perishing etc.
As I am new to the forum and to ownership of the 997 C4S (soon), can anyone with this model advise as to the make of tyre I should consider? Some manufacturer's tyres may be more suitable to a four wheel drive performance.

tscaptain · Oct 7, 2014

Hi Brian and welcome to the 997 forum. I have always run Bridgestones on mine, 2 x 997S and now the turbo and I find them a very good all round tyre, if you'll excuse the pun!
I sure the Michelin/Pirelli/Conti supporters will be along soon! Whichever you choose I presume that you are aware of the "N" rated tyres?

I presume also the age of the tyres has been checked? I believe most manufacturers recommend binning the tyres at 10 years old. Even though your car is 8 years old the tyres could be somewhat older.

9,300 miles eh? Has it been kept off the road for a long time?

Mr Toad · Oct 7, 2014

Hi,

Thanks for the reassurance. I suppose tyre choice can be subjective in many ways but I'll stick with the Bridgestones in view of your advice. The independant inspector of the car (who will be known to most club members) has confirmed the tyres were supplied with the car but I note what you say about the ten year limit. They are N rated.
The mileage is correct and having spoken to the owner (only one owner from new with full Porsche history) I am satisfied he took exceptional care of the car. It is virtually brand new and it has all the options I would have chosen e.g. sport exhaust sports heated seats Bose sound tyre pressure monitoring system sat nav/ phone module full black leather Artic Silver paint etc I hope to pick it up later this week.
Maybe you can offer advice on a third party warranty as that would provide peace of mind at least until I get to know the car.
Just to get people talking, I don't dry my cars with towels, not because I want to avoid swirl marks, but because I am lazy. I use a leaf blower. Maybe I shouldn't have admitted to that and will probably put an end to my new membership!

Lancerlot · Oct 7, 2014

Many active Turbos here use Bridgestones , which are, of course, also 4WD. Some people like Michelin Pilot Sport which probably offer slightly better performance, but have quicker wear characteristic too. Some say Continentals are very good in the wet. Pirellis don't appear that popular in 997 Register, but having said that, there'll probably be loads of bods along now saying they swear by them. [8|]

Probably the best tyre currently available is the Michelin Pilot SuperSport, a relatively new product and unfortunately not Porsche 'N' rated for 19" rims atm; although it is 'N' rated 20" wheels on 991's.

Those old tyres on your car won't provide tremendous grip, but will be good enough for you to get used to the car. I would run those until you feel comfortable in the car then look at it again.

There's an interesting discussion on 'N' rating here http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=848101&mpage=1&key=Rated%2Ctyres

Regards,

Clive.

Mr Toad · Oct 7, 2014

Thanks Clive. I'll keep the Bridgestones for now as you say. I'm going to check out the site you suggest. Thanks for taking the trouble to help me.

angusc · Oct 7, 2014

I had Bridgestone on my 997.1 C4S and just changed them to Pirellis P Zero (just under £900 for the set). The biggest thing I noticed was the Pirellis are much quieter than the Bridgestone were on the road.

Mr Toad · Oct 7, 2014

Thanks for your comments. I've always liked Pirellis and the PZeros should look appropriate. I've got Bridgestones on an Audi Q3 quattro and whilst I cannot criticise their performance in the wet they do look very ordinary, not purposeful. I appreciate performance comes first but if the tyres match the car in looks then that is a bonus.

tscaptain · Oct 7, 2014

I've never found any tyre that I would call good looking! Side on they all look pretty much the same? Unlike the others the Bridgestones do offer some protection to your (good looking) rims[

]

lowndes · Oct 7, 2014

I had Bridgestone on all my 4WD 997's and thought them a good tyre. As I recall they all had the rim protector which is a handy first line of defence against minor scuffs. Wear I found pretty good and there is plenty of road noise generally with 997 but I couldn't say whether or not Bridgestone exacerbated the problem.

As far as I am aware the main issue with ageing of tyres is that the rubber compound hardens and therefore in many circumstances offers less grip. Assuming you are picking your car up in the next few weeks and that you live in UK, the tyre performance will also fall off as temperatures go down. This too reduces grip. If you do decide to get a few more miles out of the Bridgestones I would just keep in mind that their performance might be sub optimal.

Though perhaps not entirely relevant I have just bought a 25 year old 911. As part of the discussions I said that if the tyres were more than 4 years old I wanted new ones fitted. It arrived with new tyres.

Mr Toad · Oct 8, 2014

Thanks guys for all your observations. As I don't intend using the car until next April I'll consider matters further and check prices. At the moment I am favouring Mitchelin Pilot Sport and Continental Conti Sport. I think you have now directed me in the right direction. Just by way of explanation, when I mentioned the look of the tyre I was refering to the cut of the tread. It may be me alone but I find some suit sports cars while others are more in line with family cars. Just my take on things. Thanks again.

tscaptain · Oct 8, 2014

ORIGINAL: Susan
Just by way of explanation, when I mentioned the look of the tyre I was refering to the cut of the tread.

[

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With thanks to Camskill for the images

pwebb · Oct 8, 2014

ORIGINAL: Lancerlot

Probably the best tyre currently available is the Michelin Pilot SuperSport, a relatively new product and unfortunately not Porsche 'N' rated for 19" rims atm; although it is 'N' rated 20" wheels on 991's.

Regards,

Clive.

Sadly not to my knowledge, Clive, yes Cup2 for the GT3 but nothing else, but we live in hope, here's the latest I've had from Michelin, dated June (they do a winter tyre for us, though[

])

Dear Mr Webb

Thank you for your enquiry about N rated tyres for the Porsche 991.

At present we are hoping for the homologation for the 991 on Michelin Pilot Super Sport to be approved at some stage in the next 6-12 months.
Sadly for a number of reasons we can't be any more specific on timing.

That does mean however that we don't have currently an approved "N" rated tyre for your car within our range of summer tyres. Whilst the Cup2 is approved for some GT3 models the other models in the range don't have a suitable fitment at present.

Should you require any further assistance please contact us on 0845 366 1590 (UK & NI) or 0044 (0) 1782 401590 (ROI), quoting the reference number above.

Lancerlot · Oct 8, 2014

Mmmm,

I received that info from a couple of different sources within Michelin, but maybe it's their optimistic rather than fact as I would rather rely on written information than word of mouth.

Since MPSS have now been out for sometime and have been fitted to Porsches used off-road at Silverstone DC, it is rather strange they have yet to achieve the 'N' rating we have all been waiting for.

Incidentally, I was given a similar timescale for 997 homologation by someone on the Michelin stand at the Festival of Speed in 2013 and we're still waiting! [

]

Regards,

Clive.

Lancerlot · Oct 8, 2014

Following on from the earlier posts, I've just taken a look at one of the online tyres retailers' website and lo and behold some 19" and 20" MPSS sizes are now showing N0 ratings, so maybe we need to revise this info once again! [

]

Regards,

Clive.

pwebb · Oct 8, 2014

Well, well, I should have checked first, Clive, they're listed on the Michelin website

http://www.michelin.co.uk/tyres/michelin-pilot-super-sport?fromTyreSelector=true&brand=porsche&selectorMode=byCar&model=911%20carrera%20s&range=911%20type%20991&engine=3.8%20l%20400&year=2011&fromTyreSegment=1&carId=4W147404&dimensionId=pilot-super-sport-03851-991834-166109#reviews

so this might be news that passed me by. I'll double check they're N rated in the morning.

Lancerlot · Oct 8, 2014

They're odd sizes though, so maybe not suitable for our cars after all:-

255/45 R19 100Y N0
265/35 R19 98Y N0
255/40 R20 101Y N0
295/35 R20 105Y N0
335/30 R20 108Y N0

Regards,

Clive.

lamboman · Oct 9, 2014

ORIGINAL: Lancerlot

They're odd sizes though, so maybe not suitable for our cars after all:-

255/45 R19 100Y N0
265/35 R19 98Y N0
255/40 R20 101Y N0
295/35 R20 105Y N0
335/30 R20 108Y N0

Regards,

Clive.

these are Panamera sizes, I think

pwebb · Oct 9, 2014

OK, after some toing and froing with Michelin this morning, let's clarify the situation with Michelin Pilot Super Sports.

Here is the official word on the tyre:

'I have spoken to our technical manager who has clarified that the PSS is recommended by Michelin and is a perfectly suitable and legal fitment for the Porsche Carrera, in fact, there are numerous Porsches running on these tyres, however, they do not carry the N "approved" marking.

The confusion seems to arise from the wording "recommended" and "approved".

Hope this helps to clarify the matter. '

So it is unlikely that any 991 owners would be running these as they will invalidate the warranty and the vast majority of cars are under the initial three year factory warranty.

The N rated sizes are for the Panamera and Carrera GT btw.

If you have a 997 which is out of Porsche warranty and can find the right sizes then you may not be so concerned about the N rating.

Lancerlot · Oct 9, 2014

ORIGINAL: pwebb
So it is unlikely that any 991 owners would be running these as they will invalidate the warranty and the vast majority of cars are under the initial three year factory warranty.

Hi Peter,

Thanks for clarifying that.

Incidentally, I do not believe running MPSS tyres will invalidate your factory warranty. However, it may prejudice any extended warranty, which I assume would be the third year and onwards for 991's as it was for 997's. This is a third party warranty, basically an insurance contract, dependant upon the vehicle passing its 111 point inspection - which it won't if not on N rated tyres.

So you would OK using MPSS tyres for the first 2 years, but would then need to move on to approved boots for the extended warranty to be effective - of course by that time MPSS's may be homologated too! [

]

Regards,

Clive

tscaptain · Oct 9, 2014

Or you have two sets of wheels, like wot I got, and just put the N rated ones on for the trip to the PC (Pirelli Corsas in my case), get it 111 point checked, get the warranty, drive home and put the MPSS back on. Ridiculous, isn't it?