Porsche "approved" tires - how important?

I need new tires and am considering a set of Bridgestone S03's based on the large number of great reviews by 996 owners on tirerack, Rennlist and other Pcar forums, and several other Internet sources. However it seems that the S03's are not "Porsche Approved" whereas the S02A's are. What does "Porsche Approved" really mean and how important is it? Based on the very large volume of 996 drivers who have the S03s and are having great success with them, is there any reason not to get S03s? Thanks...

Supposedly, Porsche does extensive testing of tires to determine their recommendations. here is the link to a Christophorus article that reads like an ad for their tire choices. It is informative if not a little propaganda. Christo tires One thing I find funny, of many, is that they don't recommend the Pirrelli Asymmetrico tire for "18 C2 anymore but last year they did and, it is the OEM tire on my car. ? I have not heard exactly why Porsche recommends some tires and not others. I guess we are to believe that they thoroughly check all this stuff and we should just trust them.

Hi, because of the rear-engine concept (amongst other things), P-cars impose demands on their tyres which are different from other cars. That's why most (all?) Porsche-approved tyres are made specifically for Porsche, which you can tell by the N0, N1, Nwhatever specification. The first Porsche-specific tyre of a certain tyre model is called N0. If they further adapt the tyre, it becomes an N1, N2, and so forth. These tyres are physically different from standard tyres to such an extend that you're not even supposed to use different N-specs on the front and rear axle. It seems that for the Bridgestone S03s no Porsche spec has been manufactured yet. Does that matter? Well, it depends. If I'm cruising down an English motorway at 80mph, I probably wouldn't be concerned, so long as the tyre is black, round and touches the road. If I'm doing 290kph on a German motorway or nail it down Fuchsroehre on the Nuerburgring, I'd like to make sure that tyre and car work together as well as they possibly can. And the only way to be sure of that is a Porsche-specific (approved) tyre. Cheers, Uwe

Forget the S-03 PP, it's not as good as people think. The S-02A is much better but both the Michelin Pilot Sport Rib and P-Zero Rosso Asimmetrico are great tires too.

Viken everytime the S-03 comes up you seem to have strong feelings about it. am curious as to why. many seem to like it (those that have it). the wheel enhancement guys seem to like it as well. they seem to deal with many different set ups and if it was so bad why would they rec it? thoughts?

I really don't want to start another war in this thread. But, I like the tires on my P-car to perform as they were intended to. This is a sports car which is highly capable of being driven fast under most conditions. Why compromise its abilities by installing a sub standard tire? Like the others said, if all you do is go in a straight line, just about any tire would do. But, if you want to get the most out of your sports car, a tire with maximum performance handling characteristics is called for. Personally, I think the S-03 does not have the dry grip, steering response and the overall feel of other maximum performance tires. I've driven enough miles on them and on the others to be able to tell the difference. You may want to browse through these two lengthy threads: SO3 Tire Problem New tires and wide body wiggle

I don't know why they recommend that tire. It could be that they read too much?

I've heard a lot of people complaining about Pirelli tires and going out of round after a few thousand miles. I've had Pirelli's on other cars and they don't wear that well so I'm not a big fan of them. I've got Michelin Pilot's on my C4 and they seem to work well. Im gonna get Goodyear F1-GS D3's next. Bobby

I speak for myself, as does Viken, and I found the S03's to be great tires on dry in terms of grip (I do not care about confort or road noise at all) and excellent on wet (personally, I specially love and enjoy pushing the car on wet/rain conditions, so strictly summer tires are out of the question for me). I have taken the S03's to 290kpm many times on the highway and every week to least to 250kph and specially I drive my car very hard on the corners everyday since I'm blessed in that the local traffic, police and road/highway conditions allow me to take advantage of the car and use it for what it was maid for and I not limited to ocasional weekend DE's. I ussually go thrugh a set of 4 tires before they reach 8,000miles if just street use. Overall I have only come across a better tire for me, the S02's, which would last me 6,000miles. The S03's BTW take quite a bit to start gripping when new, maybe 1000km unlike the S02's which were practicly briken-in from the start in comparison, so be careful at the beginning I had a couple of scares the first time. So to each his own, it not only depends on the driver, but also on the surface type of the roads of the country and car model and setup, so best to try for yourself on this one.

Umn, No offense, but are you for real?? That was a content free response. Just a bunch of blather about trusting the Porsche factory gospel. I suspect they recommend tires based on who gives them the best deal for the supply at the factory.

While that may be the case with other manufacturers, it's not true with Porsche. PAG does extensive testing with tires that are submitted by the tire manufacturers. If any given tire meets their criteria, they put a stamp of approval on it. It's that plain and simple. Oh, and by the way, Porsche does NOT insist on you using only N-spec tires. See for yourself:

All I can say I MUCH prefer my S03s to the P-Zeros that were on my car from the factory. I didn't know about the S02As when I put them on though or I would've gotten those.

Did someone say lowest bidder or marketing deals?

Do you know for a fact that they are "structurally different"? I doubt it? By the way, Ferraris (including the ENZO) do NOT use N Spec tires - and I daresay, they can at least stay with most Porsches at speed without fear.

Yes, they are. Usually the carcass is different (particularly the side wall), and some manufacturers also adapt the compound and the actual width of the tyre. I don't know what Ferrari does or Maserati or anybody else, nor do I care. I was talking about Porsche. Cheers, Uwe

Of course, they don't. A Ferrari is not a Porsche. However, each Ferrari does also come with a specific Ferrari approved tire. The Enzo comes with the Bridgestone "RE-050A Scuderia" which is quite different from the other RE-050's.

Thanks for the input everyone. Let me ask a followup question: Due to an ear injury years ago, I have a slight case of "hyperacusis" which is an increased sensitivity to loud noises. As such, things like road noise affect me more than most. One of the things that had attracted me to the S-03's were their good noise ratings. My priorities in tires are as follows: 1. Great dry performance (I leave the car in the garage if it's wet) 2. As quiet as possible 3. Comfort Based on this, what max performance tires would you all recommend? Thanks

I am sorry to hear of your hearing problem. Personally, I don't think there is enough noise difference between the various tires to make such an impact on your problem. However, if you feel that there is, I suggest you change tires more often as they always become substantially louder after 1/3 of the thread is gone. If it were me, I would not want to sacrifice performance for comfort. I may even resort to things like ear plugs if I had to. Good luck!