Warranty & tyres

I had the car in for its annual service / check-up yesterday. A couple of oil leaks were spotted which will be repaired under warranty and also some other bits and bobs. Anyway, my warranty is due for renewal however I was told the tyres on my car are 7 years old and N1 rated therefore to allow a new warranty to be taken out they need to be replaced...at not an insignificant cost. I have two issues with this. One, the car has done 45k miles and from what I can tell about 30k of those has been i the last 7 years. The rear tyres are on 3-4mm and the fronts on 5-6mm. That is incredible performance if true (I suspect not). The second issue I have is having to throw away two perfectly good front tyres which at least another 10k on them. I guess Porsche have their rules about warranties and it would be pointless mounting a challenge but its frustrating none the less. Oh, and I also need to replace the non standard (Bosch) battery with an OEM one. Thats annoying as the chap I bought the car off in Feb put in the new battery as part of the deal! I thought Porsche recommended Bosch parts?

Your tyres have lasted 7 years? First off - do you need an OPC warranty? Cost for cost, what advantages does an OPC warranty have over 3rd party warranties? If it was me, I'd also be a bit put off by having to replace tyres with reaonable amounts of tread in them but at 7 years old, you have outlasted the tyres by maybe twice over?! Second - the Bosch battery is also what I have in mine (apparently the 'Silver' model is better than OEM). Third - what else needs doing before you are granted a new warranty? I am surprised they didn't mention discs/ pads. ~ Maxie

I need to get to the bottom of where the 7 years has come from as it just sounds bizarre. Does anyone know when N1 rated tyres became unavailable? I've looked into 3rd party warranties and am not convinced. Its like any insurance policy when you have a claim, they do everything in their power to wriggle out of coughing up. With regard the brakes, they were all redone by the previous owner so no probs there.

My 997 has michelin pilot N1s and to my knowledge these tyres are still available and very good. I intend to replace them with the same N1s again.

I'd escalate this with Porsche UK.... I had my motor in for a service and Reading told me that the front rads were leaking and this was due to stone punctures and so not covered by warranty. I took it to Guildford - and they replaced them under warranty. I have to say my dealings with OPC's over the years has not been great and I do think they blag what they can. This is the last year I bother with a warranty - gone up from £850 odd to over £1300!!!! - are they taking the p*ss!

yes :frustrated:

With regards to N-rated tyres, there have been plenty of threads written about this topic. A Michelin N1 tyre is not the same as, for example, a Bridgstone N1 tyre. Some tyre manufacturers are now on N4 designations whilst, as Sidlo mentions, you can still buy an N1 tyre from Michelin today. Whilst some 996 owners on this forum have a warranty, I would guess many more do not. And whilst its good to check the small print of third party warranties, it's also good to call them up and ask them what their policies don't include. My questions would be does the policy include 100% engine and gearbox components, for instance? Currently, I am self-insured; what I have not spent on OPC warranties goes straight into a segregated savings pot to cover unforeseen problems. Obviously, I'd be up the spout if I had an engine/gearbox failure but with places like Autofarm who will look after a tired engine at not too unreasonable a cost, I feel fairly comfortable with my approach. If I had a later 997 car, then I might think that having an OPC warranty would be worthwhile but on my 7 year old Targa, I just don't think it's worth it. ~ Maxie ~ Maxie

You should not run tyres that are over six years old, although not many places actually bother to check. The manual also references this directly. So I personally would replace them anyway. Porsche can decide to provide or not provide an extended warranty for any reason they like as it's outside of EU regulation. I am aware of several cases where extended warranties have not been issued due to tyres, but mainly down to lack of N rating rather than the DOT. You obviously don't need to get them from there and a Maxie says the N rating refers to the minor revision of the tyre. So the higher the N ratin the newer the revision. It's not advisable to mix N versions on the same axle, but front and back are ok (although not recommended on 4wd). Four tyres will cost around 700 so consider how much you want the warranty, but even without that, I'd replace due to the age.

Total 911 have an interesting feature on the topic of N rated tyres this month.

Get a second opinion on the tyres... No way will you get 30k out of a set of rears, or even fronts if they are less than half worn! There is a date mark on the tyre sidewall, so it's easy to see how old they are if you know how to interpret it (any tyre fitter should know). As for warranty, lost count of how many times we've discussed this, but factor in service and routine maintenance at double Indy prices, no mods allowed of any description, add all that to the warranty premium and the price of a set of tyres and you are actually going to be paying about £3,000 for a year's warranty (add another £500 if your clutch goes in the next 12 months). OK, so you might be one of the unlucky 5% that has an engine go pop, but if it doesn't there'll be a dealer, Porsche GB and a Director of an Insurance company drinking champagne at your expense!

Her you go...

No no no no no NOT three digits... well not since 1999 anyway. :grin: Four digits, in an oval shaped-depression, on ONE side of the tyre only, so the datestamps may be facing inwards. Here you can see them - 3404 and 4201. These were made in the 34th week of 2004 and the 42nd week of 2001.

Jayzus - that's just so wrong c: Never believe anything to see on the interwob. :grin: The three-digit code was used for tyres manufactured before 2000. So for example 1 7 6 means it was manufactured in the 17th week of 6th year of the decade. In this case it means 1986. For tyres manufactured in the 90's, the same code holds true but there is a little triangle after the DOT code. So for this example, a tyre manufactured in the 17th week of 1996 would have the code 176 (triangle) After 2000, the code was switched to a 4-digit code. Same rules apply, so for example 3 0 0 3 means the tyre was manufactured in the 30th week of 2003. from http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html