996 wheel tyre question - Page 3 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

Am I going mad, the car has 285/30/18 tyres on the rear. Now when shopping for tyres using the online car registration system they suggest a 265 tyre? What's recommended I have a 2002 996 C2 with what I think is the standard wheels on them...

265/35 or 285/30 both fit fine. 285 fills out the arch better and gives more rubber on the road, but adding more grip to the rear carries the possibility of making the car understeer a little, this can be dialled out when having the geo done though.

265 it is then. Thanks

2002 is a cut off year. Pre-facelift is 265, post-facelift is 285. However, either is fine and I prefer 265 handling wise.

thanks

ortontom said: 265 it is then. Thanks Hang on, read my previous post and consider the implications. If you have 285s on now and it handles well, that may be noticeably altered by switching to 265s, so either stick with 285s or you'll probably want to book a full geo set-up to optimise the handling on the narrower tyres. This will certainly cost more than any saving made buying the narrower tyres. FWIW I run 285s on my 1998 3.4 Carrera and the way the car's set up they work very well (as well as looking better).

Goose - it might be that he has become used to understeer. I'd put the car back to how it should be, i.e. 265/35 especially as he has more choice in tyres in that size. ps I was confused for a while as that is a photo of the front wheel

yes but on track days the front washes out and the rear rarely steps out. Think id rather have the rear step out a little as understeer is no fun at all. I have cheap tyres on there at the moment, so F1's to replace these will work well.

ortontom said: yes but on track days the front washes out and the rear rarely steps out. Think id rather have the rear step out a little as understeer is no fun at all. I have cheap tyres on there at the moment, so F1's to replace these will work well. Ah, now that you've mentioned that I can see your logic in trying the smaller tyre first rather than get a geo done. I was on track at Oulton in mine on Friday, no understeer, but that's because it's been set up properly. It went very well for a road car but admittedly *most* GT3's and Turbo's out there were quicker.

has your 3.4 had the bearing done? im liking my car, it appears to have gone up in value this year.....

OP - how much time do you spend on the track? This might be worth a read (though it is last years EVO test) http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2014-EVO-Max-...

not much Supercar day at dunsfold and the Thruxton in June. Its my wives car, i have the family runner - the RS 6.. Just ordered through Asdatyres for £282 for two tyres,,

...240 on oponeo for next time

thats not fitted.

just checking - yes its fitted and all that for £280....for two

you havent met the wife have you. Wheels refur = wife re re furb them. Asda price fitted by Halfords auto centre so better than most but probably not the best, and £280 fitted cant argue, Would cost a further £100 over the price, and even then they dont usually like you turning up with your own tyres and charge more than they would if they supplied their tyres. Im 43, and have had just as many cars i think. Its a proven route, thanks for the heads up but.....this car is here until a black 997 coupe with sun roof comes close to my budget.... Last 4/5 cars bought and sold without loosing a penny in value...

True, and forgive me here but your front wheels need to be refurbished, so perhaps the rears do too? If you factor-in the saving of buying from (say) Oponeo and then adding the difference to offset the cost of getting the wheels refurbished and new tyres fitted by your local specialist proper acid-bath/etc/etc/etc/bake refurbisher (not someone who turns up in a van with some sandpaper and a rattle-can) , you can have 'new' wheels *and* new tyres... ...and not some local tyre monkey subbed-out from Asda carving a few chunks out of your rear 10J alloys. Edited by Orangecurry on Monday 23 March 09:44

Understand completely. Just to clarify - the refurbishing company that I use don't sell tyres, they just refurbish and then fit your tyres, new or old. With new tyres, they even try and line up the yellow/red dots with the valve to minimise the number of balance weights needed.

ortontom said: has your 3.4 had the bearing done? im liking my car, it appears to have gone up in value this year..... 3.4 has a stronger bearing than the 3.6 M96. Late in 3.4 production Porsche dropped plastic coated pistons - leading to premature bore wear in later M96 units. The early 3.4 is the M96 to have apart from a properly relined (i.e. Nikasil not steel liners) and rebuilt engine. I run 265 on my '99, bought them from http://www.tyreleader.co.uk and had them fitted by an local who took chunks out of my wheels. Edited by was8v on Monday 23 March 10:26

when i was looking i did drive a 3.4 i found it not torqy enough for my liking, I tried to get the best for my buck. A 2002 3.6 C2 manual drop top was the answer, as the wife needed to be brought along on the journey....would of got a coupe but Convert made the transition easy for the other half.

My IMS bearing, despite being the early supposedly more reliable/resilient item, was luckily heard as being rather noisy (by virtue of the fact it was running on a ramp with an experienced technician (Mike from Sports and Classic) listening) so was replaced before it had chance to fail. The problem with the car on track is that the brakes overheat after 2-3 fast laps. As expected though.

Orangecurry said: Goose - it might be that he has become used to understeer. I'd put the car back to how it should be, i.e. 265/35 especially as he has more choice in tyres in that size. ps I was confused for a while as that is a photo of the front wheel 285/30 is how a 2002 3.6 C2 should be. 265/35 is how a pre-facelift 3.4 996 should be.

jkh112 said: 285/30 is how a 2002 3.6 C2 should be. 265/35 is how a pre-facelift 3.4 996 should be. Doesn't the OP have a 3.4? Anyway, by 'should' I think we might be meaning different things. IMO a 285 is too much on the back of a NB 996 C2.

Orangecurry said: Doesn't the OP have a 3.4? Ahh I misunderstood the post at 9:18 - my bad.

265 is what all the sites tell me when i input the tyre size. Does seem over the top for the 996 a 285..

It depends how the car is set up. I wouldn't choose to change mine to 265 now as it drives so well as it is.

Nose runs wide

As the OP's car is 2002 I assume it is a 3.6. If so the Porsche standard rear tyre size (for 18 inch wheels) is 285/30.

So will 265/35 fit? Are the 3.4 alloys the same width as 3.6?

ortontom said: So will 265/35 fit? Are the 3.4 alloys the same width as 3.6? This is the definite list: will tell you what size wheels you should have and the OE tyre size spec. http://www.porsche.com/filestore.aspx/Porsche-Down... Of course a previous owner could have fitted late wheels to an early car or you might have aftermarket wheels, they should have the size stamped / moulded into them.

ortontom said: So will 265/35 fit? Are the 3.4 alloys the same width as 3.6? From this distance, it looks like you have 8J ET50 so-called MY02 fronts, and these are usually paired with 10J ET65 rears on a NB 996. OE wheels have this stamped either side of your air-valve. It so happens I have those wheels in my 'collection'. Either tyre will fit, as we have said a few times. I have 265/35s on mine.

great ta

Porsche produce many 'definitive' lists - this doesn't mean they are or need to be followed. A friend of mine had a factory-supplied set of 17s on his 3.6 996.2, which is not 'allowed' on that list above.

seems cool with the 265/35 - lets see.

Just so no-one accuses me of confusing you - to be clear the 3.6 996.2 pictured is on 205/50/17 fronts and 255/40/17 rears supplied and fitted by Porsche.

Orangecurry said: Porsche produce many 'definitive' lists - this doesn't mean they are or need to be followed. A friend of mine had a factory-supplied set of 17s on his 3.6 996.2, which is not 'allowed' on that list above. Perhaps they were supplied as "winter wheels and tyres": http://www.porsche.com/filestore.aspx/Porsche-Down...

anonymous said: [redacted] Perhaps - the 265s don't "bulge" out the same as the fronts, so can look mis-matched.

was8v said: Perhaps they were supplied as "winter wheels and tyres" In Surrey? Perhaps not.

Surrey doesn't do winter

tyres fitted - feel much better, better ride etc. So for £280 for two fitted F1's on the rears 265/35/18......even the tyre centre said thats more or less their cost price. Thanks Asda tyres, heres the old tyre nice GASH...said the vicor...

But you have Hankooks on the front (going by your photo)? Much of this discussion is moot if that's the case.

dont understand that at all. Sorry

ortontom said: dont understand that at all. Sorry Well, if you're going to mix different brands of tyre on the car, that have different levels of grip and handling characteristics, then there's too many variables than just whether 265 or 285 rear width is suitable. I reckon pretty much everyone responding on this thread will have reasonably assumed you were fitting the same brand and specific tyre front all round. You could put a low grip 285 on and have it less grip than a 265 width that matches the front. For example, have you checked the standard coefficients on the sidewalls for Treadwear, Traction and Temperature on the fronts and rears? If so, how different are they? What about the new colour-coded data for new tyres these days, which gives info on noise, wet grip and so on? Also, before changing the rears, what was on there?

Not that bothered... Had Nokia Nokias or something on the back worked perfectly well. Never slipped etc

ortontom said: Not that bothered... Had Nokia Nokias or something on the back worked perfectly well. Never slipped etc Oh !! That does not mean the handling characteristics will work. I notice significantly different handling between Bridgestone, Michelin PS2 and Michelin Cup and that's on the same make for front and rear axles. Of course, if you are less fuzzy and don't push the handling, then anything will do so long as it is reasonably safe.

Anyway thanks, cars fine it's gone up in value 997 next year..handling pushed to limits etc Thanks for all feedback