Tyres with a ridge around the rim to protect alloys?

I was talking to someone at the Kirtlington meet [Ross are you reading this?] who had some tyres that had a ridge on the tyre that stood slightly proud of the alloy wheel to protect it from scuffs. Any idea what tyres these were? Thanks

P-Zeros do, but they are fairly useless! (Ask me how I know!). I think Conti SportContact 2's have a more prominent protector rim.

thanks.

I think you will find that all N-rated tyres have this rim protection to a greater or lesser extent. What make the difference is the ratio of tyre width to rim. The more tyre you have, the greater the rim protection. On my 964 the rear tyres were 255 on a 9" rim which meant that the tyre overhung the rim quite a lot, whereas the fronts were 205 on a 7" rim with far less overhang and far less protection. Both Continentals and Pirellis offered a degree of protection but the Pirellis, actually being a much wider tyre in the same size, offered more.

Michelin Pilot Sport have the rim protection too.

Richard, It's not true. It's nothing to do with N-rating, it's just that some manufacturers design the tyre with a particularly heavy moulded bead on the outside specifically to protect the rim. As has been said before, it's not really that effective - perhaps against a mild brush with the kerb but anything with any force behind it will still damage the wheel. My wife's BMW has Bridgestone Potenza RE040 which do have the rim protector and it didn't make the slightest difference when she clouted a high kerb in the multi-storey - still took a chunk out of the wheel!! The Yokohama AVS Sports that I have on the 964 very definitely don't have a rim protector at all - and they ARE n-rated. Regards Dave

Conti and Michelins did, my Rosso's don't [ ] garyw

OK - I stand corrected on that. I figured that the rim protection was somehow intregrated into the reinforced sidewall that these types of tyre seem to have but no. I would still say that, tyre for tyre, the P-Zero offers more protection than the Conti though.

I've got a feeling I was looking at Michelins.

I've just had new Michelins put onto my car, and there is a pronounced ridge, with the tyre standing about an inch proud of the alloy wheel rim Pete

An inch??? That can't be right!! The normal rim protectors are about a 1/4" at most. Exactly what type of Michelin are we talking about here?? Waht size tyre on what size rim?? There's got to be something wrong here surely!! Regards Dave

Dave Thats about the same as the P-Zeros on my 964 - I would say the rim protector stood out a good inch from the rim its-self and that was with a 255/40/17 on the standard 9" rim.

Hi, These are standard 993 NB tyres - 205/50/17 and 255/45/17 Michelin Pilot Sports (I think ...) N2's The inch was an estimate, but it is certainly very noticable, and much more than 1/4 inch I'm away for a couple of days now, otherwise I would put up a photo to show exactly what it looks like Pete

These are my P-Zero Rossos on 18" rims. You could be forgiven for thinking that there is no rim protection, but it is there! Not that it works. If you just kiss a kerb it tends to tear it.

You need to factor in the width of the rim itself too - a 225 wide tyre on a 8" rime will have less sidewall bulge than the same tyre on a 7.5 inch wide rim. Strangley i've seen lots of variation the the RPB (rim protector band) on supposedly the same tyres - some Pirellis have a larde rib, other nothing at all. Some bands are very close to the rim edge, other s are quite a few millimteres away from it. Below pic is 225/40/18 Michelin Pilot Sport on a 7.5" wide rim - RPB clearly visible !

I've just changed from Michelin to Pirelli and the Michelins have the wall but certainly do not help with curbing - also the michelins are really hard.

It was the Michelin Pilot Sports I was looking at. I just went for a test drive in the 997 Turbo and it had them fitted on it.

Running P Zero Rosso's on my sport design wheels, 285*30*18, and the rim protector is very pronounced, almsot an inch. On the fronts it's just under 1/2 inch.

The protection doesn't work, though. Excuse me while I sob quietly in the corner for a short while.

Oh dear . I'm going to get Bridgestones after all. The rears are nearly new bridgestones and the fronts are bridgestones that need replacing soon. I have read some threads and the owners manual about keeping the same type of tyre all round so I'll just stick with what it has on it.