"N" marked or not? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

On my way to pick up a Boxster S secondhand. Had Porsche do a service on my behalf to confirm the cars condition. The only remark they found was that the car had non "n" marked Michelin. Is it wrong of me to consider this of less importance on a 911 than a middengined Boxster? A was thinking I could change next time around If I dont find anything negative with the roadholding. Guess some of you have gone trough some different type och tires. Which ones are preferable performance wise. Not considering the price?

Wrong thread post

Don't worry about not having a "N" tire. Do a search here and you will get a bunch of info, but the bottom line it means virtually nothing. It is of little importance regardless of what car it is and what car has nothing to do with it. As far as tire recommendations, what kind of driving do you plan to do? Outside temperature when driving?

As Jay said, the Porsche N-marking on tires is useless and irrelevant. Your car won't handle better with N-tires and it won't randomly veer out of control killing you if you drive on non-N tires. Non-N tires will grip just as well as N tires given all other factors remain the same. This applies to any and all Porsche's, not just mid-engineed or rear-engined. I don't understand why Porsche continues to perpetuate the N-tire myth. Sorry for the rant but this is one of the few things that irks me.

Hello, i had Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 with N and without N. The N is a little bit more precise – especially steering – if you drive the car very hard. The non N is over all more comfortable. Seems that the Michelin N tyre has a stiffer tyre flank. But the car will drive with all tyres. I think there is no need to have N tyres. Porsche has a list of tyre recommendations for summer and winter tyres for the 986/996: Summer: http://files.porsche.com/filestore/download/germany/none/classic-galleryanddownloads-tyreapproval-summertyres/default/555ddd04-f0d2-11e5-84b6-0019999cd470/%c3%9cberblick-Sommerreifen-Classic-Fahrzeuge-und-Youngtimer.pdf Winter: http://files.porsche.com/filestore/download/germany/none/classic-galleryanddownloads-tyreapproval-wintertyres986-996/default/a2fd233a-f299-4d68-a996-22920691dfe7/%c3%9cberblick-Winterreifen-996-986.pdf Don't know if these tyres are available in the US, but maybe in Sweden. In general tyres in Germany / Europe are different to the tyres in the US / Canada / ROW. Regards, Markus

But , but Walter Rohrl has tested and approved the N tires.

And while we're discussing tires, most 986 owners don't follow the factory size recommendations either - the car will drive much better with a set of 225's on the front rather than the 205's recommended by the factory. Do a search, there are a lot of posts on this.

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I will most likely only use the car on the street. Under all typ of conditions. Early spring to late autumn. Temperatures as low as 8 celsius. If I choose to use the car in colder conditions I will buy winter tires. I know that performance tires are not that good when the temperatures drops. Also we have mandatory law to use winter tires here in Sweden from december to end of marsch. I haven´t decided if I will use the Boxster during those months yet. Had a 5 hours drive yesterday home with the Boxster. The car felt fine with the non "n" Michelins. For normal street use I think I will be fine. When changing next time I might buy "n" marked tires just to see if I notice any difference. Thank you for your replies so far in the thread. I´ve gone trough some tire threads before writing my post and tried to remember some old ones from other forums regarding the same questions but 911´s not Boxters.

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Porsche tests tires & requires them to be optimized for the Porsche they will be mounted on before granting their approval, which is indicated by the "N" designation on the sidewall. "N" tires are the best overall tire for the Porsche's design criteria, not the least of which is safety in a wide variety of conditions.

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Sorry Bypro, Drink whatever Kool-Aid you want There are many great tires that don't carry a N rating. Some better than those that do I suppose you ONLY use Mobile 1 as well?

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Comes from the same knowledge base that solved your slow leak issue, but don't worry I won't be doing that again. Interesting to note you have nearly as many posts as I despite being a member less than half as long as I have. I wonder how the contributions stack up

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That's a hell of an attitude

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You are a fool for inspiring it! Ever wonder why some tread designs are only available on "N" rated tires?

Done some inspirated runs with the Boxster on twisty roads. The tires feels a little soft. Looked att the tires. It's Michelin Pilot Sport 3. I also own a 993tt and drove that the other day. I have more confidens closer to the edge in the turbo than on the Boxster. I'll think I will change next time around to something else on the Boxster. The Boxster deserves good tires. Not that the Michelin Pilot Sport 3 is a bad tire. I dont think it suits the Boxster.