Michelin Super Sport 305/30 x 19 - Where to Buy? - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

Does anyone know where I might be able to source a pair of Michelin Super Sports for the rear of my 997S.2? The car is on Carrera Sport wheels (1/2" wider than normal) that take 305/30x19 rather than the normal 295s. My usual tyre supplier has no stock of this size and when they contacted Michelin (this morning) to try to order a pair, Michelin said that even if they received the order today, they still couldn't supply this size until mid-September! As I don't think my current tyres will last that long and I don't want to put another set of prehistoric tyres (Pirelli/PS2/Bridgestone etc.) on the car, I'm going to need to find some Super Sports fairly quickly. (Unless there's any other tyre that's as good as the Super Sport, but I'm not aware of anything). So far, everywhere else I've tried has been out of stock. Any suggestions as to where I might find a pair of 305s at short notice would be very gratefully received. Ian

Event tyres have some at the moment - £270

http://www.tyreleader.co.uk/ and http://www.oponeo.co.uk/ are both worth a try.

csmith319 said: Event tyres have some at the moment - £270 Sometimes you just have to love PH! Thanks very much for the link and the unbelievably quick reply.

MyTyres - Used them for a set of 4 for the Box, http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110... £269.00 ea plus free delivery.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Tyres on their way to me.

Too late for the OP, but just in case someone stumbles across the thread in similar need - Tyres on the drive are doing them for £258 and you can use code TOTD48 for an extra tenner off the order.

Just had the Super Sports fitted all round by Event Tyres. VERY impressed with Event - tyres I required in stock, competitive pricing, delivery/fitting within 2 days, great service, polite, knowledgeable fitter, wheels left as good as he found them, wheels torqued correctly. Can't fault what they've done at all. Off out for an hour, now, to bed the Super Sports in. Can't wait to see if all the hype's true! Ian

the hype is true, what I found strange on my last set is they took a few more miles to come to life had 3 sets now, but this last set took 300+ miles to wear in or wear the release compound off and even then took a few more to really come to life. My 1st 2 sets were on the money from the off.

Ian_UK1 said: Just had the Super Sports fitted all round by Event Tyres. VERY impressed with Event - tyres I required in stock, competitive pricing, delivery/fitting within 2 days, great service, polite, knowledgeable fitter, wheels left as good as he found them, wheels torqued correctly. Can't fault what they've done at all. Off out for an hour, now, to bed the Super Sports in. Can't wait to see if all the hype's true! Ian Similar experience with Event Tyres...in my case just the supply of MPSC 2's NO spec...on time, no hassle delivery.

Interesting thread - I have spent a couple of hours today trying to track down the same tyres. But with Porsche N rating. I tried al the links above, and Camskills and Black Circles and Mytyre etc etc - could not find any in STOCK. Not event tyres not Micheldever not Bracknell. Ended up with a part used set from eBay to tide me over until the next batch trickles throughout from France(?).

R1nur said: Interesting thread - I have spent a couple of hours today trying to track down the same tyres. But with Porsche N rating. I tried al the links above, and Camskills and Black Circles and Mytyre etc etc - could not find any in STOCK. Not event tyres not Micheldever not Bracknell. Ended up with a part used set from eBay to tide me over until the next batch trickles throughout from France(?). I am pretty sure the you can't get MPSS with N rating at all, they were never type approved by Porsche.

mrdemon said: the hype is true, what I found strange on my last set is they took a few more miles to come to life had 3 sets now, but this last set took 300+ miles to wear in or wear the release compound off and even then took a few more to really come to life. My 1st 2 sets were on the money from the off. Now that's interesting! Having put about 60 miles on my new Super Sports today, I was about to start a new thread on here to say I disagreed with everyone about them and that they are, by a very wide margin, the worst tyre I've ever had on a 996 or 7. These are the first impressions I got from the tyres after about 50 miles of 'bedding-in': dead steering around the centre, no initial response to putting on steering angle, no 'bite' on turn-in whatsoever, indistinct messages about what the front wheels are doing in a turn - even deliberately-provoked understeer wasn't unloading the steering as it should. The feel (or lack of it) is exactly the same as you'd get from a tyre that's 2 or 3 sizes too wide for the rim its on. No, it's worse - they actually make the car respond and feel like a feckin' FWD Audi! However, having now read your post, I'm going to give them a few (couple of hundred?) more miles and see if things change. Maybe I haven't completely wasted a bag-of-sand after all and the tyres just take a very long time to 'wake up' as you suggest. Let's hope you're right! Will report back in a few days. Edited by Ian_UK1 on Thursday 7th August 16:17

Ian_UK1 said: Just had the Super Sports fitted all round by Event Tyres. VERY impressed with Event - tyres I required in stock, competitive pricing, delivery/fitting within 2 days, great service, polite, knowledgeable fitter, wheels left as good as he found them, wheels torqued correctly. Can't fault what they've done at all. Off out for an hour, now, to bed the Super Sports in. Can't wait to see if all the hype's true! Ian Event are great - sounds like all went well... I'm going to try Super Sports later this year... My only thing is whether I have 295 or 305 at the back on sport design wheels...

MrTickle said: R1nur said: Interesting thread - I have spent a couple of hours today trying to track down the same tyres. But with Porsche N rating. I tried al the links above, and Camskills and Black Circles and Mytyre etc etc - could not find any in STOCK. Not event tyres not Micheldever not Bracknell. Ended up with a part used set from eBay to tide me over until the next batch trickles throughout from France(?). I am pretty sure the you can't get MPSS with N rating at all, they were never type approved by Porsche. That's what I've been told by my dealer too, and that fitting them would invalidate the warranty! Is that right, or are they scare-mongering?

csmith319 said: Event are great - sounds like all went well... I'm going to try Super Sports later this year... My only thing is whether I have 295 or 305 at the back on sport design wheels... On the Sport Design wheel (11" rim) I'd stay with 295s. It's only the fact that the Carrera Sport wheel is wider (11.5") that requires the wider tyres. 305's on the narrower rim would be working less than optimally and would also change the car's gearing slightly. I've also never worked-out why the Carrera Sport wheels are wider than the other wheel options for the C2S (other than for cosmetic reasons or 'I've got wider tyres than you' bragging rights for the mentally challenged)! The cars certainty don't NEED more rubber - the rear, especially, is probably over-tyred anyway.

andywaterfall said: That's what I've been told by my dealer too, and that fitting them would invalidate the warranty! Is that right, or are they scare-mongering? Using non N rated tyres has the potential to give a dealer a 'get-out' of standing by a Porsche extended warranty. It does not have any effect on the first 2 years (I used MPSS on my GTS before the extended warranty kicked in at year 3). It is unlikely to be brought up for a few bits being done with your service - but it would be a risk if the engine went bang and the warranty underwriter wanted an excuse to dodge the claim. In reality, I think you would have a good reason to challenge it legally, as strictly speaking the warranty says 'no non Porsche approved parts' (or something similar) and I would argue tyres are not parts but consumables. However, could you really be arsed with the potential hassle for the sake of the tyres? MPS tyres are the choice for extended warranty users, MPSS for the ones without

MrTickle said: andywaterfall said: That's what I've been told by my dealer too, and that fitting them would invalidate the warranty! Is that right, or are they scare-mongering? Using non N rated tyres has the potential to give a dealer a 'get-out' of standing by a Porsche extended warranty. It does not have any effect on the first 2 years (I used MPSS on my GTS before the extended warranty kicked in at year 3). It is unlikely to be brought up for a few bits being done with your service - but it would be a risk if the engine went bang and the warranty underwriter wanted an excuse to dodge the claim. In reality, I think you would have a good reason to challenge it legally, as strictly speaking the warranty says 'no non Porsche approved parts' (or something similar) and I would argue tyres are not parts but consumables. However, could you really be arsed with the potential hassle for the sake of the tyres? MPS tyres are the choice for extended warranty users, MPSS for the ones without Sounds like sensible advice, thanks.

Ian, has your experience been any more positive after more mileage?

LF11 said: Ian, has your experience been any more positive after more mileage? Yes the tyres have improved to a degree, but still aren't quite what I'd expect. I've got the car booked into Center Gravity again in a couple of weeks so we can experiment with setup to get the best from the Super Sports. I'll do a write-up of what works (and otherwise) after I've been there, as it may help others get the best from these tyres. Ian

In response to the request above - here's some more feedback on the Pilot Super Sport. Unfortunately, for all the hype, I have to report that the PSS doesn’t work particularly well on the 997.2. My car is a 2010 ‘S’ with Carrera Sport wheels (hence ½” wider front and rear than other wheel options for the car) and I had PSSs fitted (235/35 x 19 F, 305/30 x 19 R) about 1000 miles ago, following on from a set of PS2 N2s. At the time the PSS were fitted, my car had been set-up for ‘fast road’ use by Center Gravity and was running 1 degree of negative camber and 2 minutes of toe-in each side on the front. In this configuration it was truly horrible on the PSS. The steering was completely dead around the centre, there was little or no self-centre torque for the first 1/8th of a turn in each direction and initial turn-in was mushy, lacking bite and slow to respond – all in direct contrast to the PS2. The car was also incredibly sensitive to uneven road surfaces and would dart towards the kerb with some ferocity when there was the slightest of ‘ruts’ in the road surface. Over the first 500 miles, things improved a little, the turn-in improved somewhat, but the – frankly dangerous – response to uneven road surfaces remained. On the plus side, the tyres were quieter than the PS2 with a LOT more absolute grip. Moving forward to the present….. I took my car back to Center Gravity to see what we could do to get the PSSs to behave. The simple answer was not much. I’ve had the front cambers backed-off a little - this has really helped with the sensitivity to road ruts, but has reduced the car’s ultimate front-end grip. Not a compromise I like! Otherwise the on-centre steering feel is still nowhere near as good as the PS2, likewise, the initial bite on turn-in. As mentioned above, though, the car’s ultimate grip is still higher; noticeably so at all speeds compared to the PS2s. The PSS seems to start to work from a lower temperature too. As I’ve become more acquainted with the new tyres, two other issues have also arisen: Firstly, the car is a lot less economical at cruising speeds than on the PS2, suggesting the rolling resistance of the PSS is a lot higher. Does this tyre need higher pressures to work correctly than the PS2? I’ve not had time, yet, to test different pressure to see what happens – anyone else chime-in on this? Secondly (and a lot more worrying) is the feeling at high speeds that there’s some unwanted movement in the front suspension that can push the car off line – particularly over motorway dips/crests. The feeling’s a little like bump-steer but feels un-damped. When I was at CG, we completely stripped and re-assembled the front & rear suspension on the car (to check for any component wear) and performed a couple of damper tests (hot and cold). I therefore know the suspension on my car is performing as Porsche intended. The only conclusion I can come to is that the sidewall of the front PSS is a lot stiffer than the equivalent PS2 (it does have a much higher load rating). The consequence would seem to be that the 997 PASM damping and front suspension bushing can’t properly control the higher-rate ‘secondary, un-damped spring’ that is the PSS side wall – whereas it’s fine with the lower-rate ‘secondary, un-damped spring’ that is the PS2 side wall. The effect only manifests itself at triple-digit leptons, but leaves the car feeling anything but planted: more like one of those mechanical rodeo horses the yanks love so much! Pushing-on certainly takes some cojones...... Hope the feedback is useful.

odd I have had 3 sets of PSS on Porsches, 430BHP Audi and M3's and turn in and control have far out weighed other tyres and PS2 before hand. infact the BMW was not usable until I put PSS on it and it fixed the rear end as all it did before was slide about out of every turn. the 1st thing which gets me is the turn in and bite, the cars turns in so well on all 3 cars, I always run zero front toe. May be that's the harder side wall. but that means you can run less camber, I run -1.2 on my Porsche and it's perfect for the road. My porker will run >170mph with no issue rock solid. My friend ran PSS with stock camber at SPA and the tyres held up no problem where others will just melt and kill the outers . we were amazed how well they stood up on oem geo for the wet well vs a PS2 there is no contest, well there is no contest in the dry really imo. I have not seen any one any where post what you have found in any forum on a hugh amount of diff cars. As you noted they heat up much quicker and on the road this gives even more grip. Gibbo also runs PSS on his 911 and tracks it hard, he loves them. I don't run PASM or mag ride or any of the other daft SUS options though on any car, I like real dampers. they do say "Developed with Porsche" and was tested on the 911 and Caymans even though no N spec.... http://youtu.be/C2g1g7y2OSY again tested at Porsche on Caymans and 911 non N spec http://youtu.be/jlhGwjxwOoo vs the PS2 talk by them http://youtu.be/8SsOG8GUc0Q I am a PS2 fanboy also ran 8 sets of them, always fitted PS2 to all my cars even throwing away quite new tyres from others makes to fit PS2's so not a Anti PS2 person, a great tyre, but I am 100% a PSS convert Edited by mrdemon on Friday 29th August 10:55

PSS has the same fuel efficiency rating in the EU testing as PS2 N2 and also has same 102 load rating. Is this maybe in your head, have you let someone else with knowledge of your type of car try it ? I run SS at 200+mph on Autobahn and they are as good as Cups ever were but I also have B16 billys and solid joints, maybe your stock suspension is not up to what you are asking from it ? Have you tried bit more pressure (than stock) in them I run 0.2 bar extra in the back (mainly because of increased torque) ?

TB993tt said: PSS has the same fuel efficiency rating in the EU testing as PS2 N2 and also has same 102 load rating. Is this maybe in your head, have you let someone else with knowledge of your type of car try it ? I run SS at 200+mph on Autobahn and they are as good as Cups ever were but I also have B16 billys and solid joints, maybe your stock suspension is not up to what you are asking from it ? Have you tried bit more pressure (than stock) in them I run 0.2 bar extra in the back (mainly because of increased torque) ? In my head? Ha! Quite possibly...... I think you hit the nail on the head above, suggesting the stock suspension's not quite up to the job. The 'problems' on my car are at the front, not the rear and co-incidentally the load rating of the front PSS is different to the 'N' rated tyres - 97 vs. 91 for the 'N' (whilst the rears have the same 102 load rating as the 'N', as you correctly pointed-out). My best guess is the standard, soft, PASM damping and standard bushing don't like the extra sidewall stiffness. Whilst the PSS gives more outright grip in steady state, it's over bumps, crests and ridges and on turn-in (where bushing/damping are most exposed) that it falls apart slightly.