C4S rear tyre needed urgently! help!!

Hi All I hope there is someone on line today!!! I am stuck in Spain until Tuesday night and apparently my car has a flat rear tyre (its been standing for 5 weeks). I thought I could just get one ordered but of course its Bank Holiday there today! I then got to thinking about the N-Rated question. The trouble is I have NO idea if the remaining 3 tyres are N rated or not and no way of finding out. They are Bridgestone S0 something or others (were these ever N rated?) is it REALLY that important? What happens if I fit an N rated tyre and the rest are not N rated and vice versa? I really need to use the car on Wednesday so any help would be appreciated. If it helps I live in Southampton so any ssuggestions of tyre fitters with N rated tryes would be appreciated! Thanks Ben

Hi Ben N-rated or not? I have seen considerable debate on here about this, and there are sensible smart people on both sides. I'm a bit of a woos when it comes to manufacturers stipulations, so I have stuck with N rated myself. Search is your friend here - try a forum search for "N rated" and see how long it takes you to get bored. That should also throw up a list of N-rated tyre makes that I am sure I have seen one of the players like Richard H post on here before. Tyre supplier? Lots of folk use national on line suppliers with mobile fitters - I used Event tyres ( www.event-tyres.co.uk ) myself and was happy with them, but of course it depends on your local (probably franchised) mobile fitter. Mobile good for you if your tyre already dead as it saves you putting the spare on. Some say Kwik Fit are good and will price match if you speak to the manager, others say they wouldn't trust KF to sit right way round on a deck chair, let alone with their precious alloys, so as usual you just have to take a view. Suspect you need to search the forum, check prices online (eg event) then do some ringing round for availability if you want it done by Wednesday. Hope that's of some help at least. H

N rated tyres are designed to comply with Porsche requirements and must pass the following: Compound mix designed to suit the vehicle handling characteristics Designed for the rear mounted engine placement (there is only so much the suspension design can control without the correct tyres) Designed for factory wheel camber and and toe settings (which put particular stress on middle and inner sections of the tyre). Designed for (relatively) high standard pressures (36/44 PSI F/R) Unlike some other vehicles, which allow mixed axle tyres (same tyres per axle though), Porsche specifically advise against this practice and state the same brand and design should be used on all tyres.

Actually, good point that. Unless your existing rears were more or less brand new, you are obviously looking at buying two new rear tyres - you don't want one new and one half worn on the rear axle. At the risk of insulting your intelligence further, can I assume you have had someone reinflate the tyre and see if it goes down again?

Dear Harry and GT4 I noticed it had gone down a bit before I went away and put a bit more of air in but dissappeared off 2 days later and didn't have a chance to change it. Pretty sure its mullered! Do I REALLY have to change both? Could do without it this month! Anyway, you are right Harry, its get very boring after a while!! I have looked back and found a pic of a wheel (from when I bought the car) and as i haven't changed any tyres yet its accurate. On the tyre dimension it says nothing about being n rated but further round (right next to the "P" of "Potenza") I can see a small elongated circle with what looks like "N3" or maybe 8. Is that what I need to look for? Sounds stupid I know but just want to be sure. I have looked on event's website but they seem a bit dearer than mytryes.co.uk Thanks for your help so far

Found it - you can get the list of N rated tyres here http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=51071

Thanks Harry Very informative, I have noticed that my Bridgestones don't get a particularly good rating on that list. What are you using? I was thinking of the Conti's, I have them on the S3 and they seem very good, not sure what they would be like on the 4S though. Any ideas? Thanks

Mine is running Conti Sport Contact 2 all round (changed in FOURS! - but then my car is a C4).

Hi GT4 I have decided to change all 4 and keep the old 3 for emergencies or may be track use later on. I am thinking about Conti 2's (N2) have looked around the 'net and found Kwik Fit are by far the cheapest at £684.00 all in for 4 or P Zero Rosso for £612.00 all in. I know the problems with Kwik Fit but I guess if I stand over them it won't be an issue. Whats best for a C4S? P-Zero's or Conti 2's? Thanks Ben

I'm also on Conti SP2 N2's - paid £712 for the set, fully fitted, back in Jan. Car is 2 wheel drive (Targa). Fronts are 235/40/18 about £135 each, rears are 285/30/18 about £225 each. I remember being surprised at the difference in price between the two sizes. I like them so far, but I'm no Stig! Before them I had the Michelin SP2s and they seemed to be quite a lot more expensive when I was pricing replacements. Plus Conti's were said to be quieter which matters to me on longer runs (its my daily driver not a weekend car).

Continentals, different league than the P zeros. As regards the 993 anyways. Go Continental.

Apologies to the OP for going slightly off-topic.... I'm sorry but this is clearly wrong. There are so many obvious, common sense reasons WHY it is wrong (like how does a tyre know where the engine is? :wack: ), but the clincher is that the EXACT SAME N-rated tyres are fitted by Porsche to the Boxster. Nothing personal GT4, but where did you get this list from exactly? I'm genuinely interested.

I have a fetish for Continentals. Harry posted the link to the approved (and reviewed) tyres, assuming the grades for the use you require are the same, the determinant is personal choice (or perhaps price if one brand or another happens to have a sale on at the right time). Call Elite in Essex for keen pricing and also Lepsons in Kent. The Lepsons call will be as they are probably the kindest in their treatment of your wheels. Really they are an aalloy wheel refurbisher, but all the high end supercar owners with expensive new and refurbished alloys begged them to fit new tyres too.

The info is from Grant Neal and Peter Morgan's "996 Buyer's Guide". It is in the context of N rated tyres have a specific high performance envelope (in the compound, sidewalls, speed and load ratings etc) in their overall design as set out by Porsche, and then the reason why 911s (with higher loads and very specific "physics defying" suspension geometry) need N rated tyres, rather than the tyres are developed to "know where the engine is". Something is made and this is the reason (in this installation or use) it is required. The real question is why a Boxster (which is one of the best balanced cars made) needs help in the tyre department? In a Boxster installation N rated could well be seen to be "over engineered".

...and the track tyre of choice is the R888..... Sorry - their explanation doesn't add up. Thanks for letting me know the source anyway :thumb: