996 tyres! What are your experiences? What are the best brand, compound etc you've tried?

Hi team, Following the purchase of my 996 C4s earlier this week the inside of the front tyres seem to have taken some extra wear and whilst they remain legal, I will need to replace them at some point this winter. What are your experiences and choices with respect to tyres, front and rear? Any advice on whether I should be looking for a Pirelli PZ or a Michelin PS4 or a Goodyear F1 etc... would be really well received. Thanks. Mani

Hi Mani I have run Pirelli PZero's.For the past 10 years and very happy with them, and as an added bonus you can get the cash back offer through the club £50 off two tyres. See Porsche post for details, seems like you also have a tracking issue if they are wearing unevenly. regards Andy

Hi Andy, Thanks a million on this. Brian from Jasmine Porsche alluded to this in the inspection. I am so glad I got one with hindsight. I think I will take advantage of the Pirelli offer. I had PZ on my Cayman 981 and was really happy with the wear rate and general performance too. Thanks. Mani

I prefer Pilot Sport over the P-Zeros, my car had PS on when I purchased it. When I needed new tires I opted for the PZ as they were in stock and turned out to be a little cheaper, I only drove on them for a month before switching back to PS

I have pilot sports on, had conti on before that. The pilot are way better than the Conti .

I'm on my second set of Continental ContiForceContacts on my 40th Anniversary C2 996. Grip levels & turn-in for corners are vastly superior to past experience with Pirelli P Zero & slightly better than P Zero Corsa before they stopped making them. Noise is slightly better than the Corsa, but wear rate worse ( approx 5000 miles max!) . They're not bad even when the temperature drops - although you still have be careful. Paul 2004 40th Anniversary

I too much prefer the Pilot sport tyres

I'm on fresh Bridgestones all round, have used continentals but the rears only lasted about 3500 miles ,also used Pirelli p zero , lasted better but didn't feel as good as the contis. 75pno

Had Pirelli PZero on the 996T twice. Noisy but good tyre all round. Softer than most tho - rears wore out after about 5000 miles (even wear), On my other Turbo i run Michelin PilotSport. Seems to be just as grippy, but a better wearing tyre. Road noise is slightly reduced too. If i had to choose again i'd probably go with the Michelin tyres. Price about the same as the Pirelli but they seem to last longer - rears have now done 5000 miles and still have over 3mm of tread left across full face of each tyre. And this includes 3000 miles of European hooning!

Hi guys, to bring the post to a close, I went for the following on the fronts: Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance - came in at £160 inclusive balancing. Not the cheapest but decent performance and ride comfort etc... according to BlackCircles. Mani

Still sticking with Continental SportContact2 N2s on my C4Cab. Like to stick with the same brand & N rating on both ends. And the fronts & rears never wear out at the same time. Just paid £198.78 for a pair of 225/40 R18from Camskill.

Hmm, my C4 some years ago really did not like worn, but still good fronts and new rears ( same brand ) it objected to cornering by applying the PSM ! Not nice, so new fronts fitted and usual service resumed. I'm told the C4 is a bit sensitive in that department, well mine was at the time. 75PNO

Opinions on tyres are largely subjective. However, I'm a big fan of the GY Eagle F1s, and have used them on a variety of different cars, in different sizes, from 2.7RS to GT4. They always come out near the top, if not top, in the various tyre tests (i.e. EVO http://www.evo.co.uk/feat...res-2016-evo-tyre-test ) and they are particularly highly credited for being the quietest (check the dB figures) and most compliant tyre, which on UK roads is a positive asset.

Guys as an update - I didnt get the GY's in the end - I ended up going for Michelin Pilot Sport 4s. I am so glad I did, the fronts feel amazing compared to the Conti N2's I had on the front previously. I know the PS4s arent N2 rated but from what I have heard they are pretty amazing tyres per the reviews also. The rears are getting changed to PS4s this weekend also. The change was prompted by Blackcircles interestingly enough. They kept saying go for the Conti's N2 as that was what I currently had on the car and in the end they themselves stated that if you werent going to go for the N2's that I should go for these PS4s as they were arguably the better tyre at that price point. Great guidance indeed. Extremely happy with the fronts, let us hope this is the case with the rears also. Thanks again all. Mani

PS4 is a great choice.

Hi lads, So a month after fitting Michelin Pilot Sport 4's on the rears of my C4S I have picked up a slow puncture. I then found that Black Circles site had provided me with the incorrect tyre size. They had stuck on 265/30/18 instead of the 295 size. I spoke to them and they said due to an issue with the site they could not supply the PS4s as the tyre did not go up to that size and so went for a tyre that their site recommended! Outrageous. I spoke to them yesterday and they have agreed to refund me in full and I have two new Michelin Pilot Sport 2's (N4). This does mean I have 2 tyres at the front which are PS4s and two at the rear which PS2's. When I went down this path I wanted my car (which was new to me 2.5 months ago) to have 4 tyres of the same size, compound and model. What a shame. I have to say, up to the point that they were fine, the PS4s were fantastic - grippy, responsive and, the one time the back has stepped out (due to some fun with a 997 C2) the response of the tyres was progressive and linear. Lets hope the PS2s will be equally good tyres. Let us hope this is the end of my tyre saga! Mani

Wow, never knew C4S had such monster rear tyres; 295s! My .2 C2 should have 285/30/18s, whereas I believe the pre-facelift C2 (3.4) has 265/35/18 (?). Michelin make a PS4 in 275/35/18, which is what I fitted to my rears; the rolling radius is within 2% of both sizes above (and better than 265/30 for sure, so Black Circles were wrong in many ways).

285/30/18 on the rear of my 99 c4 ,trying Bridgestone's.

Hi guys, I'm looking for two rear tyres and have always bought Pirelli pzero Rossi n4 on 265/35/18. However, after looking on many online sites today, including camskill, kiwi fit etc, none seem to be listed anymore online. Can get at y rated but am concerned that load bearings for the cheaper tyres do not go high enough for a Porsche 996 (1320kg). I'm a little confused. My question is.....does each tyre have to have a load bearing that goes to (1320kg) or do you divide this weight by the 4 tyres. thanks, I've what load bearing is the minimum for a rear tyre, thanks

How about these: http://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-details/pirelli-p-zero-rosso-asimmetrico-265-35-r18-93-y-n4#125768298 They show a load rating of 93 for Bridgestone and Contis too, so provided you choose a tyre with the same, or greater, load rating, size, and speed rating you will be OK.

Thanks Richard. Popped into kick fit today explaining that I can't find correct tyres on their website anymore. The guy couldn't either but did go through their own system and said they would match the price of a similar tyre shown so will supply, balance and fit two rear tyres for £300. Think I may go for this but will contact camskill first. many thanks

Interesting your experience with Black Circles - in my experience you need to watch them very carefully, the prices are keen bu they did the same thing to me and sent the wrong size fronts. All pleasant and cheerful on the phone, but they're in the business of selling tyres first, I'm not sure they are technically that good, and their regard for safety leaves a bit to be desired in my experience. Fortunately the local fitter realized I'd been duped and told me so when I turned up for fitting - he sorted the problem for me, and probably kept me out of a ditch. I would use Black Circles again because they were 2/3 of the price, but next time I will be telling them what size I want, not the other way round!

Not sure how people are doing on pricing tyres. Normally go to camskill for my tyres and then pay independently for fitting. However, as kiwi fit don't seem to list 265/35/18 Pirelli pzero Rossi tyres (n4) ie Porsche specific, the guy in the unit agreed to match the pricing shown for the lesser priced tyre of £150, including balancing and fitting. Even camskill can't beat this as a direct supplier. (£140) supply only. Therefore, had two fitted. Then found out the front tyres also needed doing as I didn't get the tracking done when I worked on my power steering rack, finding out that both tyres were worn too far on one edge. Again, the chap did the same for my 225/40/18 Pirelli pzero Rossi (n4) and did them for £110 each. Way better than camskill. Toal cost for all four tyres balanced and fitted £520 which I don't think is a bad deal. Looking now at getting tracking done on their £60,000 hunter four wheel tracking system. Priced at £95 they will do all four tyres and give you a two year warranty meaning you can take your car back to them and have the alignment done as many times as you like. The chap recommended dropping in around four times a year. Interested in people's thoughts on pricing and any comments on past experience of four wheel tracking. Additionally, anyone had this done at kiwi fit.

Price from Formula One is 125.00 Front 150.00 Rear Far cheaper than the 50 back from Pirelli And they are the correct fit Rossa N4!!

NEED to make sure they are N4 Specialy made for Porsche The other N are the wrong compound I use my local Formula One who are far cheaper than Black Circle and the Supply and Fit so are better

Just bought a C4S. Had a mixture of worn Pirelli and Contis on it when I bought it but have just put on four new Conti SC2s and it's vastly improved...

Has anyone tried using Falken Azensis FK453's and FK510's - they are supposed to be very good value for money at £485.00 for a set of 4 balanced and fitted (265/35 R18 and 225/40 r18 Y rated) but will probably only see a couple of seasons use as their wear rate is significant when compared to other brands? Just to satisfy my curiosity I was considering sticking a set on my 996 track day beastie and seeing how well they performed.