Non- N rate tyres on a Cayenne GTS - Page 1 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

All, I recently purchased a 2013 GTS which just had new Uniroyal Rainsport 5 tyres (correct 107 XL load rating) put on the front by the previous owner. The rears are N rated tyres, but both need replacing. Given the car is now out of Porsche warranty, is there a good reason why I shouldn't buy a matching pair of Uniroyal's for the rear? These are not my first choice of tyre, but not keen on binning a pair of virtually brand new tyres... Thanks in advance, Rog

132 said: All, I recently purchased a 2013 GTS which just had new Uniroyal Rainsport 5 tyres (correct 107 XL load rating) put on the front by the previous owner. The rears are N rated tyres, but both need replacing. Given the car is now out of Porsche warranty, is there a good reason why I shouldn't buy a matching pair of Uniroyal's for the rear? These are not my first choice of tyre, but not keen on binning a pair of virtually brand new tyres... Thanks in advance, Rog Technically could void your insurance? May be worthwhile to check with them.

132 said: All, I recently purchased a 2013 GTS which just had new Uniroyal Rainsport 5 tyres (correct 107 XL load rating) put on the front by the previous owner. The rears are N rated tyres, but both need replacing. Given the car is now out of Porsche warranty, is there a good reason why I shouldn't buy a matching pair of Uniroyal's for the rear? These are not my first choice of tyre, but not keen on binning a pair of virtually brand new tyres... Thanks in advance, Rog N rated tyres are on par with Duty Free as the biggest sucker deals in retail history.

londonlaw said: Technically could void your insurance? May be worthwhile to check with them. How do you figure that? What about the gazillions of Porsches running on non n rated tyres?

Agree with most of the above - the ‘N’ spec thing is a marketing nicety. Most people will stick with it, especially if they extend the Warranty, but technically it probably makes no difference. Think I’d be more concerned about using Uniroyals. Respectable brand, especially in the US, but not a premium brand in Europe.

londonlaw said: Technically could void your insurance? This is not the case. N rated dictates that the tyre was specifically developed between the tyre manufacturer for that specific Porsche. As the tyre changes over the years it will be replaced by an N1, N2, N3 etc. The only requirements to continue with N rated tyres is either to match up a set (if replacing less than 4), to comply with Porsche extended warranty conditions or to give some misplaced confidence to a future buyer. If not fitting an N rated tyre, best advice would always be to always fit a premium brand tyre and most importantly match up size, speed and load rating as it is these factors that might affect your insurance as opposed to being non-N rated.

I will double check with my insurers.

N spec has no issue whatsoever to do with Insurance (only Warranty). If you did ask your insurers they would probably be completely confused by it.

Just confirmed with AIB and all they require a road legal tyres.

londonlaw said: 132 said: All, I recently purchased a 2013 GTS which just had new Uniroyal Rainsport 5 tyres (correct 107 XL load rating) put on the front by the previous owner. The rears are N rated tyres, but both need replacing. Given the car is now out of Porsche warranty, is there a good reason why I shouldn't buy a matching pair of Uniroyal's for the rear? These are not my first choice of tyre, but not keen on binning a pair of virtually brand new tyres... Thanks in advance, Rog Technically could void your insurance? May be worthwhile to check with them. Not this again *bangs head on wall* It won't void your insurance. get a matching set if its outside of warranty

It's only an issue for warranty. I had to fit Latitude Sport N tyres to our Cayenne as it was still in warranty. They barely lasted 10k. Replaced with Latitude Sport 3 and they have already lasted twice as long and have plenty of tread left.

Those saying N-ratings are just a marketing exercise are missing the fact that the tyre OEMs work closely with Porsche and other car OEMs to create unique tyres specifically for individual models. So it's not just a badge, an N-rated Michelin Pilot Sport 4 could be very different from a non-rated version of the same size. Check out Tyre Reviews on YouTube where he tested BMW-spec tyre against the standard version - they were quite different. Something to consider with N-rated tyres is their product lifecycle. They're typically homolgated for ten years but that doesn't mean they're always updated after that ends. In the case of the N-rated Michelin PS2 for the 996, it hasn't been updated since 2008. Tyres have moved on a LOT in that time. A current or recent non-N-rated tyre from one of the big brands will have so much more tech in it than the old N-rated tyre.

WojaWabbit said: Those saying N-ratings are just a marketing exercise are missing the fact that the tyre OEMs work closely with Porsche and other car OEMs to create unique tyres specifically for individual models. No. Easy example being the 225/40/18 or 265/35/18 which was OE on the 993, 986 and 996; three very different cars you'll agree. WojaWabbit said: So it's not just a badge, an N-rated Michelin Pilot Sport 4 could be very different from a non-rated version of the same size. Check out Tyre Reviews on YouTube where he tested BMW-spec tyre against the standard version - they were quite different. Yes WojaWabbit said: Something to consider with N-rated tyres is their product lifecycle. They're typically homolgated for ten years but that doesn't mean they're always updated after that ends. In the case of the N-rated Michelin PS2 for the 996, it hasn't been updated since 2008. Tyres have moved on a LOT in that time. A current or recent non-N-rated tyre from one of the big brands will have so much more tech in it than the old N-rated tyre. Yes and the most important point. Buy the best you can find. N-rating is irrelevant.

132 said: Just confirmed with AIB and all they require a road legal tyres. That's all I susbscribe to and generally their wet/dry ratings. After that I then select the cheapest.