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Porsche 911 Tires and Wheels
Guys, check the inside edges of the rear tires. the amount of neg camber on the rears will hardly produce any wear on the out visible edge but strip the inside bald pretty quickly. i too once thought i would be able to forego the expense of new tires every 10-12K miles but i learned otherwise one day when i lifted my car up in the air and discovered teh inside edge was showing cords.
now the fronts, i usually can get atelast 15K if not 20K out of them, rears - the best i ever got was 12K....and this is sampling with 3 different porsches. don't even get me started on the 20" cayenne tires - ugh
now the fronts, i usually can get atelast 15K if not 20K out of them, rears - the best i ever got was 12K....and this is sampling with 3 different porsches. don't even get me started on the 20" cayenne tires - ugh
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I haven't taken the car to a track and a fair amount of my mileage is highway, so perhaps I'm just being easier on the tires than the average 911 owner.
Also, chromedome - I'll give you credit for self discipline. I find my 911 to be such a "friendly" driver, that it's taken 3/4 of my miles over the last year and my Acura TL 6-speed barely 1/4. My two daughters have logged substantially more miles in the back seat than you have on your car in total. :surprise:
When we all make that choice between our different vehicles as to which car we'll drive, it's often hard to turn down the Porsche. As you said, it is "friendly". I'll add "fun" to the mix.
For me, when the weather is nasty, I notice that I'm less likely to take the Porsche. But living in California, most days are nice, so the Porsche gets the nod, and quite often the top goes down.
And there is definately something to be said for those back seats, cause when the kids are a factor, the 911 still delivers.
TagMan
I am not sure where you drive your Carrera 2s or on what tires, but mine used to do 6k miles on the back and 20k on the front with Continentals. In an attempt to stem the money drain, I have switched to Bridgestones and I might get 10k on the back. I can tell no difference at all on the wet or dry handling or ride. Anybody got any better ideas?
The good news is that I have what appears to be very even tire wear. No difference in depth inside vs outside edges and both rears were the same. However, they are definitely more worn, with shallower tread than the fronts (est. 1/4" for rears, 3/8" for fronts), and my optimism that they would last another 5-7k+ miles may have been premature.
When I get a chance in the next few days, I'll take the car to the local dealer - one of the service techs is a "track" guy - and see what he thinks. My guess is new tires will be needed at 15k+/- miles if I don't want to milk them past optimum performance.
Obviously, how you drive your car makes a huge difference in tire life. My 12k+ miles have been pretty easy - no track time, a little "enthusiastic" driving, 60% highway miles on fair to good roads.
Can I have your cab when you're done with it?
How about next week?
I went to my Porsche dealer today to have the service manager look at the tires and he now claims the rears are ready to be replaced. Pretty odd that, at 10,711 miles (oil change/service) they "look great with lots of tread life left" and now at 12,415 miles they "should be replaced as soon as possible". Sounds fishy, but unfortunately, I think the current assessment may be correct. I'm going to try getting a qualified second opinion from someone that doesn't sell tires. After giving me the bad news on the rears, he did say the fronts "look good with lots of tread life left". :surprise:
In any event, while I was waiting for them to put it up on the rack, I checked out two unsold 911 Turbos they have in stock. GT Silver and Slate Grey, both 6-speeds, with $131,000 to $133,000 stickers. We hit 75 degrees here today, so neither of them looked quite as good as my Cab S with the top down, but they are tempting.
If anyone is looking to "trade up", check out Rockville Porsche. The salesman said they weren't discounting them as they were "extra" allocations from Porsche, but that's the same thing they said in August 2005 when I was Cab S shopping. A little sidebar with the Sales Manager reminding him that I bought from another dealer 50 miles away at a $10,000+ discount in September 2005 ought to loosen them up a bit.
I was hoping for a little more depreciation. 2 years from next week should work.
Guess I'll be ready in about six more years... Maybe about the time you are done with it, fedlawman..
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Replacing just the rear tires with Michelin or another brand is not recommended, unless you replace all four tires. Given that my fronts are only about 50% worn, I don't want to throw them out.
Has anyone run into this issue and/or considered replacing the rears with 305/30's (standard on the Carerra S4)? Apparantly they are in stock, albeit in low supply.
With regard to the 997 Turbo, here are some anecdotal notes. Last week I was stopped at a highway gas station and a gent pulled up in a 993 Turbo. I chatted with him and he told me he had a 997 Turbo but didn't like it and dumped it. Recently I had my Boxster in for service and noticed two used 997 Turbos on the showroom floor. I am not suggesting anything other than my outlook is to be vigilant with all new models. You can take a considerable hit on them. It happened with the 996 Turbo and 996 GT3.
Do what you want but I'd have no problem replacing front and rear with different brands. The logic is to keep symmetry on the axle. Plenty of people do what you are considering when switching brands. Front-to-rear is asymmetrical to begin with when you consider the front/rear differences in tire sizes, suspension settings and wheel angles.
However, my dealer, before finding out the 295/30's were out of stock, quoted me a very good price on the Pirelli's ($360 vs. $440+ at Tire Rack). So I'm going to see what he comes back with on the 305/30's Pirelli's. I have to believe they will fit fine, since they are standard on the C4's and even on the C2's, there is a 5mm "spacer option to push the tires out further in the wheel well. I don't have that option, so I doubt I will have a rubbing problem just going to 10mm wider rear tires. It might actually make my speedometer more accurate, given that it reads 70 when I'm actually only going about 65. Any thoughts on the 305/30's idea?
P.S. The Michilins are in the $480 range. A friend has the Michilins on his 911S Coupe, and I'll be darned if I can tell the difference. Supposedly lower road noise, but on a Cab, that's not a major factor.
It seems preferences among owners are split between the Pirellis and Michelins. I've heard that the Michelins last longer. Seems those PZeros melt away quickly in comparison.
BTW, I also heard that TireRack won't be getting Pirellis for the 997 or perhaps all P-cars because Porsche allegedly has an exclusive arrangement with Pirelli. I have no idea whether this is rumor or fact. I read it in the blogs. Seems odd.
Haven't decided what to do on the Pirellis vs. Michelins, as I still prefer not to mix and match brands (not sure why) but at least there is an option. I'm going to try to get an unbiased opinion on my tread life later this week.
Also, I called Porsche North America cutomer service, just to see if they were aware of the situation and had any advice. It took awhile to get the rep to understand that I wasn't asking him to come to my house with tires under his arms. I just thought management should know that I got 5 completely different responses from 4 different dealerships on availability and alternatives. Supposedly, I'm to recieve a follow up call from Porsche later this week after they investigate the matter and give me an "official" response. At this point, I'll just take a free Porsche hat and figure it out myself.
Thanks for your feedback/suggestions. I'll try to get an extra hat for you.
I guess the call to Porsche customer service paid off - they must have rattled the cage of the dealer for giving me some poor information and I'll have new tires next week. But no free hats.
Thanks.
I am replacing the two rears, and presently have Conitnentals all around. The rears are 285/30, ZR 18. I have a price of $782 to install the same tires. Any recommendation on going with something different, including mixing brands? I am interested in the longest life available for the price, but in retrospect, think these probably should have been replaced at 8,000. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
I went with the same OEM Pirelli P-Zero Rossos that were on the car at a price of about $1,050 including tax, mounting and balancing ($80 per tire at my dealership).
Of the three options for my car (295/30 19"), Michelin Pilot Sports were considered by most to be slightly better (handling and tread life) and slightly more expensive than the Pirelli's. A minority prefer the Pirellis for dry handling. But Continentals, although significnatly cheaper, are considered well below either the Michelins or the Pirellis. My selling dealer won't even install them, having had too many complaints about poor performance.
PORSCHE 996 TURBO S OEM 18'' WHEELS - FRONT TIRES 295/30ZR/18 .REAR TIRES 225/40ZR/18
235/35ZR19 Pirelli PZero Rosso Asimmetrico N1
(Porsche)
for 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Standard brakes
In Stock 2 $308.00 $616.00
305/30ZR19 Pirelli PZero Rosso Asimmetrico N1
(Porsche)
for 2007 Porsche 911 Turbo Standard brakes
In Stock 2 $445.00 $890.00
Shipping Sub-Total: $52.10
I think it may be something thqt can be tweaked on the rear suspension to increase the camber slightly to prevent this uneven wear. However, I am not impressed with 50% wear on my front set of Michellins with less than 10K miles. Hence the switch to the Pirelli (I'll let you know how these wear over the summer).
The Dealership wanted to charge $400 for load balancing TWO tires. I am having all FOUR done for $200....
No WONDER Porsche forward market earnings expectations are high....
I have Pirelli's on my 911S (same size as yours, except rears are 295 vs. 305). I replaced the rears at 12,500 miles. Fronts are still decent at 18,500 miles. I would have gone to Michelins, but because of a mess up on something else, the dealer gave me the Pirelli's for $440 each (Tire Rack price) and mounted/balanced them for free. Next time, I'll reconsider the Michelins.
I barely get a summer of the rears and I drive my car every single day from home to the office from spring to fall (except in bad ugly weather)
My personal opinion is that they may hold more liabilities turning my wife away, knowingly that she drives with a nail in the tire.........not a very considerate in more ways than one, safety, customer service, and liabilities. please give me your feed back......
Francis
Took the car to my local wrench who serviced my beater and my wife's car and he put a plug in the tire. Plug held up until I turned the car in at the end of the lease. I could no longer drive it at 120 mph but I never did that anyway.
I also have a Porsche 911S, How are those new tires holding up, i am curently looking for a set and I am beginning to conclude I might be better off spending more for a good set of Michelins and Pirellis. I currently have 18600 miles on the car and the tread is good for another 3000 miles.
How is your 911 holding up assuming you still have it. I see you last post was 2008,
I'm a newbie to this forum. I have a 1986 911 Targa that need tires. Tire Rack was suggested as a source. Seems their highest rated tire (I only do summer driving, no racing) is the Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 (Extreme Performance Summer). The tread design is "different" and i was wondering if anyone has had any experiences with this tire. All comments and suggestions are welcome.
Thanks,
Herb
as an aside,, I just put a set of Continental DWS (dry, wet, snow) tires on my wife's Lincoln LS. They have about 3,000 miles on them. So far, very impressed.
There are all type of good comments and reviews about those tires
About how much would it cost to switch out the 19" wheels for 18" wheels?
Just bought a 09 with factory 18" and looking for a set of 19"
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I switched from the Pilot Sport 2's to the Michelin Super Sports, and have at least 75% tread after 10k miles. Make sure to get an alignment when putting on your new wheels. I even have the car lowered on Eibach's and am pleasantly surprised with the longevity of these tires. PSS are a new favorite!