Got my 2011 Supersports today (yay!). The car has a set of brand new OE Pirelli P Zero summer tires. This does not really work for me since I am planning to drive the car pretty much every day, regardless of the weather, and having summer tires does not really feel good when there is a few inches of snow on the ground.

I always bought Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires for all my vehicles. They are all-season, durable, quiet, perform well and can be rotated side to side. I have done some research and realized there are two major differences between the OE Pirelli tires and Continental DWS - speed rating and load rating. It does not look like the speed rating would be a problem, because Continental tires are rated Y (149Mph) and I dont think I will driving with that speed any time soon, even on a track. What bothers me is the load rating. Pirelli is rated for 2039 Lbs and Continental is rated for 1874 Lbs. Since the car weights 5,000 Lbs and 4 tires can sustain an aggregate load of 7496 Lbs, in theory things should be fine, but at the same time this number does not account for higher tire loads experienced while cornering.

Can someone please comment? We have a few inches of snow coming down tomorrow and I am already sh1tting bricks.

 

Do not drive those summer tires on snow or even in the twenties if it is dry. The rubber compounds will be to hard and you could get into a dangerous situation. I did quite a bit of research and went with the OEM tires since i do not drive in the snow. I may however go to a more cold tolerant tire the next time I need shoes.

I would not fool around with marginal weight ratings either. This car is to heavy and to expensive to risk with less than the best tires you can get. I think this car just deserves the top tires so look into it well and do not settle. Let us know what you get. Be safe.

Oh one other thing 149mph is not that fast in a SS.

 

I see you are from NYC. Did you buy the white on red car from manhattan motorcars?

 

Several people told me to stay as far away from Manhattan Motorcars as possible (in terms of both sales and service) so I went with Bentley Greenwich (Miller Motorcars) instead. They treated me like family and they have a complimentary service where they pick up the car from your house in an enclosed carrier and return it back when they are done with it, so you don't need to worry about the logistics. They also have a brand new 30,000 Sqf Ft service facility that they showed me. Very impressive.

The car I got is anthracite with beluga interior. Very subtle and attracts less attention (always a good thing). Red interior is beautiful to look at, but would get tiring after a while. Besides, I don't know what those guys are smoking, asking $224,990 for a 2-year old car (regardless of the mileage).

 

They had another 2011 CGT SS but the 2 seats version that sold a few days ago it was listed at 164k. I thought considering the timing it might have been your car.
I dealt with Miller Motorcars when I serviced my Aston Martin and they were effectively very professional and a delight to do business with.
You heard well on the quality of service from MMC stay away.
Congratulations on your new car!!!

 

Thanks! I admire your car as well - I remember looking at pictures when it came out. Its definitely one of the most unique Bentleys out there. Hopefully we will meet at some local car event so I can check it out in person.

 

Yes definitely!

 

Hey Ek1 I did a search on Tire Rack for the GT and they listed those Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires as recommended. They may be just fine. Have you asked the dealer about the tires? I did the last time I was there and they did recommend some tire but I can not remember what they were.

 

Sorry for late reply, was busy getting married.

>>>Pirelli is rated for 2039 Lbs and Continental is rated for 1874 Lbs.<<<

That is still close to spec, just don't drive at the 'limits', especially hard braking events, and you should be ok. i'd love to see the graph of weight shift (rear to the front) during such maneuvers from the factory.

Since I live where there is much winter, use stock from mid-Spring to late fall, then Blizzak LM60 for winter. As you know, summer tires HATE cold weather... with damp/snow/wet combo being horrible. Slightly walled a Ferrari at the track that way.

 

I just tried to do the same search and I do not see those tires show up. If I select 2011 GT Supersports or 2011 GT Speed, I only get three summer tire setups (all 275/35ZR20). When I select a 2011 GT, I start seeing 19" wheel sizes with all sorts of tires available (all 275/40ZR19), including all-seasons, summer, winter, etc. Also, when Supersports is selected, I see the following warning on the web page:

"Vehicle requires tires with load capacity greater than standard XL, use only tires with 2039 lbs max load."

I did speak to the dealer about the tires, and they said they are not willing to even discuss any tires not approved by Bentley due to liability and safety issues. They did say there are Bentley-approved winter tires for the Supersports, but did not say what brand/size/type.

I just dont get why they require tires with 2039 lbs max load. My previous vehicle was a 2012 BMW X5 M. It weighted 5247 lbs (200+ more than the Supersports), yet Tirerack web site stated that 275/35ZR20 Continental ExtremeContact DWS was compatible with it. One difference is that X5 M's top speed was 170 mph and Supersports can go to 205 mph. But then again...if I do not exceed 170 mph, it should be fine?

Is Bentley just being super conservative about this? I checked another heavy vehicle - 2013 Range Rover Sport Supercharged weights 5,709 lbs, though the top speed is only 140 Mph. It also lists Continental ExtremeContact DWS (though 275/40ZR20) as compatible, so these tires can definitely support a lot more weight than a Supersports.

 

First, congrats on getting married.

I don't really want winter tires because in NYC we don't really have the actual "winter". Temps hover in the 30's, with a rare drop into 20's. We have about 2-3 snowfalls per year, and all roads are plowed/de-iced within hours. Winter tires are soft, noisy and have poor grip on pavement, so I would be suffering needlessly by running them 4 months out of a year. For me, all-season tires have been a winner for the past 10 years. I have used them to go skiing (several inches of snow was no problem), the grip was fine year-round and they are super quiet compared to some OEM tires out there. If I ever have an emergency and have to drive in super deep snow, there is always Auto Sock and snow chains.

Summer tires on my Supersports are pretty bad in low temps, even on dry pavement. I was going into a 100-degree turn a few days ago and hit the gas a bit too early exiting out of the corner. This produced a power slide, which would never been possible with all-season tires (I know because I took that turn at much higher speeds in heavier vehicles equipped with all-season tires). It was about 28F outside at the time and tires were cold (I just started driving).

 

the new bentley gt does a 275/40/20 [pretty big tire]

instead of the 275/35/20

i think the 275/35/20 was bending wheels so they swapped it over to a 275/40/20 because its thicker,

i have a set of mulliner 20" wheels i just got some pirelli 265/40/20 all season.

$856 for the set
and load rating of 1984 lbs

i am picking them up tomorrow

 

I think you just provided a critical piece of info by mentioning bent wheels. My car came with a full set of service records since sold new and there are 2 instances where a bent wheel was fixed. Then I went to Tirerack and searched for tires for a 2012 GT and instantly saw a set of 275/40ZR20 Continental ExtremeContact DWS with a proper load rating of 2094 Lbs (which even exceeds my current Pirelli P Zero summer tires). I think a taller sidewall will actually benefit the car a bit (at the expense of some cornering performance), especially in street driving conditions, plus the difference between 275/35ZR20 and 275/40ZR20 is only 13.75mm in sidewall height.

 

A most humble thanks.


Yup, that sounds right and how the Ferrari got walled. Too cold and damp conditions... Good thing you know your stuff and handled the vehicle during those dynamic events. Yes indeed, you know you really need different tires. Wish i knew more, yet here it is summer or winter, not much between per se and use the Blizzaks up until mid-April or so as we have been known to get mid-April or even June 1 (!) snow event.

Does the dealer have a solution? Sorry if this was covered, am WAAAAY behind in workload so am glancing at this thread. Wish i knew more to help you.

 

Let me be the 1st to say I don't own a Bentley but I use the DWS tires as well and they are fantastic on AWD cars. As for the load capacity, I have seen Damon from TireRack who is on here alot state he did NOT recommend the DWS for the CGT, the car is just too heavy and will chew the tires up quickly.

Since they are not an expensive tire (mine were $128each for my car), replacing them every 12-15k miles is not that bad considering what the stock tires cost to replace.