I'm having a tough time with this one.

I have cargraphic 19x8.5's and 19x10.5's on my narrow body 996.

I would like some aggressive street tires that I can take on the track.

Fitment is very weird though to maintain the same diameter as the stock tires.

I have 285's on there now, but need something a little wider.

The wider tires don't come in a 25 profile and 30's increase the diameter by an inch over stock.

Suggestions?

 

whatever you do, stick to Michelin ps2, they are the best. They have alot of good tires out there, in the market but i seemed to ride the best on the ps2. The 285 in the rear are good i think that is pretty wide in the rear you could also go 295 as well. I have a 997 so am able to play with a 315 in the rear. On my 996 i had 19's 235/35 and 275/30 in the rear. I wasn't to happy about the rear width, but i kept them on there for the length of the car, i never switch the size.

 

You may need new wheels (11 or 11.5) to go wider than 285

 

My wheels came with 305-25-19 (Dunlop SP9000). I don't think they make them anymore. And even if they did I don't care for them. They did fit fine though.

Having 19's on the car really limits tire choices.

 

My car is running around 420 to the wheels so I'm trying to squeeze as much tire as possible in there.

 

I'm running 305/25/19 on 11". Pirelli PZero Rosso (there are some on ebay).

 

How do you think they compare to the PS2's?

 

Never ran PS'2....these are real sticky but wear fast....expect ~10k miles on the rears...for the ebay price they're worth it...

 

+1 for PS2s - great all around tire. If you start doing serious track work in advanced groups you will want to consider other options for the track as PS2s get hot and greasy (slide in corners) after 15 minutes or so in higher speed groups. Until then they are great on street and track.

Michelin Sport cups are more aggressive and great for dry street and even high level track - but less forgiving in the wet, rain - which I hear you have a lot of occasionally in Florida. My road and track experience with Sport Cups says fine on damp roads but hydroplane easily on standing water (puddles and water streaming across the roadway) - be very careful if there is standing water. Still, I run Sport Cups on the track in the wet but adjust driving accordingly.

 

Having 19's really limits my options. They look great, but you just don't have the variety of sizes.

I looked at the Sport Cups. They go from 265 in the rear to 305's. And it's a 305-30-19. I did fit a 305-25-19, but I'm guessing the fitment would be an issue in the 30 profile.

This is a great calculator to compare tire sizes to stock dimensions (which you can get off tirerack if you can't remember).

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Here's the results I get when I compare the stock rear tire to the Sport Cup in the 305. I don't know if this would be a problem or not.... The Sport Cup has a 1.5" larger diameter over the stock tire.

 

R6's on some 18"s and call it a day.

 

I found a couple interesting options for PS2's.....

This is an ebay seller who lives a few miles from me. Being that my front Dunlops look brand new after 4 years and 5-6 track events, I wouldn't be scared to pick up a set of used fronts being that I have almost no wear up there. $300 for the pair, but I'm sure that's negotiable being local

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...5204&viewitem=


Here's another ebay for the rears. Brand new. It says they're OEM for the MB SL55, but the tire size is the same. I'm guessing it doesn't matter. Tire rack has them for $412 plus shipping. These are $340 with free shipping. I don't know if they have to be a Porsche specific fitment. I doubt it but I could be wrong.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-2...item439af63722

Thoughts?

It would be around $1600 run them through tire rack or $980 through ebay.

 

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the "N" Porsche designation.

Your concern about changing the diameter is valid, generally best not to change more than a couple %. I have a 997, so 26.2 or 26.3" is stock.

 

What is the N porsche designation? Is there anything different about the tire vs the same size for a Mercedes?

 

From something I found on the web. Could the N designation really be that different from a regular PS2?


'Nx' (x = 0, 1, 2,...) is used to designate tires built specifically to Porsche
specs, determined by extensive testing. Any Porsche dealer will have a
list of tires that the factory recommends for a specific car and rim
size. N0, N1, N2, N3, and even N4 is currently used.

Back in 1985 the 'VR' was the highest speed rating, rated for speeds
of 210 km/h and above. Of course, when considering that an S4 will do
270 km/h or more, this rating might not be sufficient. The powers that
be (i.e. the government) then decided that you had to use specific tires on
specific cars (Porsche told me that this applies only in Germany and
Australia). These tires are specifically stated in the registration
papers (or in an update list from Porsche). Failure to use these tires
will get you in big trouble with your insurance when something goes
wrong, i.e. you might lose your coverage. It would also constitute a
breach of traffic code regulations, i.e. you won't pass TUV inspection.

Anyway, to make sure you use the right tire, Porsche and the tire
makers agreed on this extra designation.

The letter 'N' was chosen arbitrarily (it just stands for 'Nummer' or
'Number'). The numerals 0, 1, 2, etc. are used to designate updates within
one series of tires. Every time they change something in the
construction, the value is increased by 1. N2 is therefore the third
modification series.

ZR has since been superseded by WR and YR, which are rated at 270+
km/h and 300+ km/h, respectively. Still, speed rating is only one
factor in determining whether a tire is suitable for a specific
application, other factors include grip (wet and dry), tire noise,
ride quality, etc. The N-spec will therefore be continued to be used.

An N-spec tire will have the same outward appearance (tread
pattern, dimensions) as a 'regular' tire, but the rubber compound and
carcass construction will be different.

Porsche puts a lot of effort into testing tires and getting the tire
makers to produce tires to their specs. They might be harder to find
(depending on your location), wear faster and possibly cost more, but
I use them - at speed, the last thing I want to worry about is tires.

Testing tires is somewhat of an empirical science, depending on
weather conditions (obviously) and the tester himself (or herself).
For instance, Porsche (other makers might do the same) goes to the
trouble of testing all the winter tires for this year in New Zealand,
where they find suitable conditions in June/July.

Porsche continues to test tires for all models, albeit more frequently
for the current production cars. The current list for the 928 that Porsche
was friendly enough to fax to me is designated '7/11' and dates from
02/20/1998.