992 GTS Centrelock puncture options - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

Hi all, I've managed to pick up a nail in the centre of one of my rear tyres. The car's done 2k miles and the tread is about 5.8mm for both rears. I read porsche recommend changing both if 30% wear (which is 5.5mm). So I'm right on the cusp. Not sure what to do here. 1. Try and get it repaired somewhere and hope they don't damage the rim / have the correct tools for the centrelocks. I presume a repair would be safe? Recommendations of fitters in South West gratefully received if this is an option. 2. Just replace the damaged tyre and replace together as a pair down the line. 3. Replace the pair with PZeros and sell the old ones. 4. Replace the pair with Michellins, leaving fronts as PZero (can you mix on the car)? 5. Replace all 4 with Michellin and sell on the old ones. Any thoughts? Cheers, Meeko

Repair tyre crack on.

Meeko said: Hi all, I've managed to pick up a nail in the centre of one of my rear tyres. The car's done 2k miles and the tread is about 5.8mm for both rears. I read porsche recommend changing both if 30% wear (which is 5.5mm). So I'm right on the cusp. Not sure what to do here. 1. Try and get it repaired somewhere and hope they don't damage the rim / have the correct tools for the centrelocks. I presume a repair would be safe? Recommendations of fitters in South West gratefully received if this is an option. 2. Just replace the damaged tyre and replace together as a pair down the line. 3. Replace the pair with PZeros and sell the old ones. 4. Replace the pair with Michellins, leaving fronts as PZero (can you mix on the car)? 5. Replace all 4 with Michellin and sell on the old ones. Any thoughts? Cheers, Meeko It's 3mm not 30%. Their approved cars have to have at least 4.5mm.

Discombobulate said: Meeko said: Hi all, I've managed to pick up a nail in the centre of one of my rear tyres. The car's done 2k miles and the tread is about 5.8mm for both rears. I read porsche recommend changing both if 30% wear (which is 5.5mm). So I'm right on the cusp. Not sure what to do here. 1. Try and get it repaired somewhere and hope they don't damage the rim / have the correct tools for the centrelocks. I presume a repair would be safe? Recommendations of fitters in South West gratefully received if this is an option. 2. Just replace the damaged tyre and replace together as a pair down the line. 3. Replace the pair with PZeros and sell the old ones. 4. Replace the pair with Michellins, leaving fronts as PZero (can you mix on the car)? 5. Replace all 4 with Michellin and sell on the old ones. Any thoughts? Cheers, Meeko It's 3mm not 30%. Their approved cars have to have at least 4.5mm. I think he means that Porsche recommend changing both tyres on the same axel if it’s over 30% worn. If it’s under 30% then they consider it ok just to change the punctured tyre.

As far as I know, Porsche won’t repair. I had a puncture after a few thousand miles and ended up getting a single new tyre from Porsche. I would have happily had a repair but Porsche wouldn’t and I didn’t want to risk a tyre shop damaging the centrelocks. If it happened again tomorrow I’d use it as an excuse to stick two Michelin’s on (currently Goodyears) but I couldn’t justify that to myself at the time.

A good tyre fitter should be able to deal with the Porsche centre locks ... Particularly if they specialise in tyres for these cars ???

Removing a wheel with centre-locks is not rocket science. All you need is a suitably rated torque wrench.

Whereabouts in the south west are you?

It's my experience that secondhand tyres have a limited value ... and then there is the issue of shipping / collection / delivery ...

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'm based in Bath, so Bristol is my OPC. I'm nervous incase someone damages the wheels though, wonder if just bite the bullet and have the OPC change one. Has anyone had a direct comparison of Pzeros compared to PS4S out of interest? The OPC quoted £420 for replacement. A set of Michellins is £1478 less what I'd get selling the old ones. Edited by Meeko on Monday 12th February 10:11

Redline88 said: I think he means that Porsche recommend changing both tyres on the same axel if it’s over 30% worn. If it’s under 30% then they consider it ok just to change the punctured tyre. Ah! Makes more sense

I despise centre locking wheels, they have no place on a road car. That aside, I'd return the car to the dealership or, a highly respected Porsche independent for tire replacement. We're talking about a £100k car, why would you scrimp on a few hundred quid. Edited by markda on Monday 12th February 17:28

Meeko said: Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'm based in Bath, so Bristol is my OPC. I'm nervous incase someone damages the wheels though, wonder if just bite the bullet and have the OPC change one. Has anyone had a direct comparison of Pzeros compared to PS4S out of interest? The OPC quoted £420 for replacement. A set of Michellins is £1478 less what I'd get selling the old ones. Edited by Meeko on Monday 12th February 10:11 Steve Bull in Devizes will be able to sort you out.

Stanley Rous said: As far as I know, Porsche won’t repair. I had a puncture after a few thousand miles and ended up getting a single new tyre from Porsche. I would have happily had a repair but Porsche wouldn’t and I didn’t want to risk a tyre shop damaging the centrelocks. If it happened again tomorrow I’d use it as an excuse to stick two Michelin’s on (currently Goodyears) but I couldn’t justify that to myself at the time. You’re right about Porsche being dicks and not wanting to repair a mid-tyre puncture and quoting a ridiculous price for a replacement. ‘Oh it’s not safe sir”- what garbage…. I got I insistent with them and they stated it’s a Porsche GB policy. I said if they ever wanted me to spend another penny with them they’d better just plug it. They happily did so in the end and simply asked me to sign a disclaimer, which I was happy to do.

markda said: I despise centre locking wheels, they have no place on a road car. That aside, I'd return the car to the dealership or, a highly respected Porsche independent for tire replacement. We're talking about a £100k car, why would you scrimp on a few hundred quid. Edited by markda on Monday 12th February 17:28 Load of cobblers, most respected indies don't do tyre changes in house, they remove them, get their local preferred partner to do the tyre swop and refit, OPC won't repair them at all and being forced into a replacement is ridiculous. Plenty of decent tyre places have the appropriate kit and expertise to sort.

Meeko said: Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I'm based in Bath, so Bristol is my OPC. I'm nervous incase someone damages the wheels though, wonder if just bite the bullet and have the OPC change one. Has anyone had a direct comparison of Pzeros compared to PS4S out of interest? The OPC quoted £420 for replacement. A set of Michellins is £1478 less what I'd get selling the old ones. Edited by Meeko on Monday 12th February 10:11 I would only use an OPC. I had wheels incorrectly fitted on a 997.2 GTS after some suspension work. They failed to put the wheels back correctly, and they came loose. If driven loose you need to replace several thousand pounds worth of components. They obviously replaced them FOC as it was their mistake. I doubt they would if a tyre fitter had made that mistake.

Meeko, you may find this thread interesting . https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

OP - I believe OPC have some movement in their prices & may negotiate, so there's that. Otherwise you need to make sure you're using a specialist that has the tools to deal with these wheels. Centre locks need a special socket wrench & tightened to the correct nm settings. You may be surprised the length of the wrench if you've not seen one before. Quite comical imo!

garystoybox said: Stanley Rous said: As far as I know, Porsche won’t repair. I had a puncture after a few thousand miles and ended up getting a single new tyre from Porsche. I would have happily had a repair but Porsche wouldn’t and I didn’t want to risk a tyre shop damaging the centrelocks. If it happened again tomorrow I’d use it as an excuse to stick two Michelin’s on (currently Goodyears) but I couldn’t justify that to myself at the time. You’re right about Porsche being dicks and not wanting to repair a mid-tyre puncture and quoting a ridiculous price for a replacement. ‘Oh it’s not safe sir”- what garbage…. I got I insistent with them and they stated it’s a Porsche GB policy. I said if they ever wanted me to spend another penny with them they’d better just plug it. They happily did so in the end and simply asked me to sign a disclaimer, which I was happy to do. Agreed they have said the same to me ,I didnt use that tactic because i didnt want to get into a situation of having no support on the car

SV_WDC said: OP - I believe OPC have some movement in their prices & may negotiate, so there's that. Otherwise you need to make sure you're using a specialist that has the tools to deal with these wheels. Centre locks need a special socket wrench & tightened to the correct nm settings. You may be surprised the length of the wrench if you've not seen one before. Quite comical imo!

It is possible to plug a rear tyre with the wheel still on the car - just about And I would imagine most tyre shops have the necessary tooling - just show them the manual as there's a procedure to follow - tighten, loosen, re-righten IIRC.

There are also a couple of good YouTube videos as well. A tube of the correct lubricant and paying attention to the lock in the centre is important. RPM Technik also make a nice tool for sliding the wheel into place whilst protecting the discs ... All I know is that I've watched the video and it isn't rocket science ... so long as you have big torque wrench and a friend the keep the head firmly in place as you torque it up, release and re-torque it ! (That and a low entry jack ... though you can always park the car on blocks if you haven't).

nw942 said: It is possible to plug a rear tyre with the wheel still on the car - just about And I would imagine most tyre shops have the necessary tooling - just show them the manual as there's a procedure to follow - tighten, loosen, re-righten IIRC. Are the butterfly plugs a legal repair ? I did use one on my BMWi3 but I'm not sure I would use one on a 992GTS ...

ChrisW. said: Are the butterfly plugs a legal repair ? I did use one on my BMWi3 but I'm not sure I would use one on a 992GTS ... I’ve used those hundreds of times, including on Cup2’s, Trofeo R’s etc etc. My wife’s brand new Defender picked up a puncture (big nail) two days after we picked it up. I used a butterfly plug on it. It’s now done 50k miles on that repair.

OK ... well it's much better than stripping the wheel. I have heard of them being used for an emergency repair (much better than the hopeless tyre repair gunge that destroys the tyre so that you need a new one anyway (even if it works). Is there any particular brand that you would recommend ?

ChrisW. said: OK ... well it's much better than stripping the wheel. I have heard of them being used for an emergency repair (much better than the hopeless tyre repair gunge that destroys the tyre so that you need a new one anyway (even if it works). Is there any particular brand that you would recommend ? She actually got another puncture this week. I used the same kit to repair that. I’ve used quite a few different kits but the £5.99 ones off eBay always seem the easiest to use. I bought a couple of the big plastic case kits, but the “dog poo” strips tend to be too big for a normal screw repair. This is the one I’ve used most often Screw still in place.

Such a quick and easy repair. Used it on multiple cars of ours, plus garden tractors, friends, and families cars. Have a kit in every car we have. Been a real lifesaver multiple times.

Excellent, thank you ... Sold

jackwood said: Such a quick and easy repair. Used it on multiple cars of ours, plus garden tractors, friends, and families cars. Have a kit in every car we have. Been a real lifesaver multiple times. Yep, works perfectly I've had to use it twice in the last month Once on my Daily Golf, and once on my sons Model Y i took the wheel off both times to make it easier as the cars were on the drive, but there is no actual need to No issues at all since, or the previous times Ive used it

dibblecorse said: Load of cobblers, most respected indies don't do tyre changes in house, they remove them, get their local preferred partner to do the tyre swop and refit, OPC won't repair them at all and being forced into a replacement is ridiculous. Plenty of decent tyre places have the appropriate kit and expertise to sort. My point being they are on the hook for removing the wheels, and refitting them, being a reputable specialist they will have the correct tools use the correct torque settings.

I honestly can't believe were talking about plugging a tyre on a c.£100k car capable of doing 190 mph. This video might be at the extreme end, but I wouldn't fancy one letting go at motorway speeds. https://youtu.be/DQ523MUxbDU?si=qQcbhO04_ZGrqGUV

Have this in you’re frunk if your not into the diy plug option https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... Edited by c4sman on Saturday 17th February 08:27

markda said: I honestly can't believe were talking about plugging a tyre on a c.£100k car capable of doing 190 mph. This video might be at the extreme end, but I wouldn't fancy one letting go at motorway speeds. https://youtu.be/DQ523MUxbDU?si=qQcbhO04_ZGrqGUV I think it could be a very good "get you home" option ...

ChrisW. said: I think it could be a very good "get you home" option ... Totally agree, we have done it before on a motorcycle capable of similar speeds , friend of mine used one in deepest Cornwall and didn’t get it sorted for months after , perfect solution. It’s just reminded me to get a kit in both my cars that don’t carry a spare.