My 2014 PTT came from factory with all-seasons (Pirelli Cinturato's). Mounted summer Michelin pilot super sports on Friday- night and day worth of difference on this car! You can tell this car was designed with summers in mind. Steering response dramatically improved. You are doing yourself a disservice driving with all-seasons year-round, FYI. HUGE difference. Love this car!

 

I just got my 2015 Panamera 4 with the std. Michelin Pilot Super Sport 20". Holy cow, do they ever throw rocks onto the car. 1,000 miles and it's all chipped up along the lower 8" or so, all along the side. Totally unacceptable. Any suggestions for a replacement?

 

Keep the tires and install a clear bra in the affected areas.


Any high performance summer tire will have soft rubber, which picks up objects and throws them. You should hear the noises my Dunlop Sport Maxx Race (treadwear 80) make on my GT3.


Switching to any all season or lower performance tire will get you harder rubber and less pebble throwing. And less handling, too. The Pilot Super Sports are really the best handling tire you can put on a Panamera.


As always, you're the person who has to make these choices. But switching to a lower performance tire will mean giving up a lot of the handling that you paid a LOT of money for when you bought a Panamera.


DMoore
'15 GT3
'13 Panamera GTS

 

Michellin Pilot Super sports are the best way to go? I got 20" turbo 2 wheels.. with pirelli all season tires

 

Couldn't agree more. This is the reason why I went back to 20s after having some 22s HRE on. The only 22s tire available is the Pzero Nero GT which is classified as max performance summer but truthfully it's not even close to the Pilot Super Sport. Mine came with the 20s Pzero summer as stock and they were gone in 10k miles. The Pilot Super Sport is lasting longer.

 

I think it depends on the way you drive 99% of the owners on these cars have neither the skill or the guts to push these cars to even 80% of what they can do and I doubt most of owners drive without traction controls on. If you take a L corner at 75mph on a hot July day than those Z rated high performance tires will give you an edge. I have had my 4S two years it came with Pirelli all seasons (I hate traction control) and I have never had the car not be able to do what I asked it to. I am not trying to say that a Z rated HP tire is not better on a hot dry road but I am willing to bet most drivers will never need it to be.

 

I agree, the Pilot Sport is a great tire for the track but not for "normal" driving where there is always debris (small stones, cinders, etc.) on the roads that then gets thrown onto my $100K car! Talked to Michelin yesterday, and they are giving me a 100% credit on those tires and I'm switching to the A/S 3 tire. If I need to go really fast - I'll fly my airplane!

 

Mounted Pirelli Sotto Zeros on the Turbo II 20' wheels in Nov when I got the PGTS and they have been perfect for he clod snowy winter that we have had. Car is at dealer now getting the summer wheels and new MPSS 20's installed on the summer Panamera Sport wheels so I should be able to comment in a couple of days. I was a bit torn on the Michelin PSS's because Porsche spec Pirelli summer (and winter compound) tires for the PGTS. I would not run all season tires on the GTS, as I believe that they are too much of a compromise for my driving.

 

Porsche specs show the MPSS, Continental SportContact 5, Pirelli P-Zero and Yokohama Advan Sport as all being OEM tires for the PGTS -- ours was delivered with the Continentals and I'm looking forward to getting them back on to replace our winter sotto zeros == see, http://files3.porsche.com/filestore....a-001a64c55f5c

 

Just drove with the summer Michelin PSS and the difference between them and the winter Pirellis is quite noticeable. Car corners flatter, although tires are still new so need to scuff them a bit before pushing them. I have slightly wider rear wheels that certainly contribute to the handling improvement.

 

What size is your winter tires? I am planning to put winter on 20' turbo 2 wheels but couldn't find sotto zeros for it on tire rack. I called dealer and they told me they can put on 285 tires the rear 295 rims but thats maybe because they want to get my business. What did you do with yours?

 

The rear Sotto Zeros are 285 and the Turbo II rear wheels are 11". The performance/summer compound tires are 295 and fit the wheels, although I got Panamera Sport wheels the rears for which are 11.5" for my summer tires. Got my SZ's from TireRack in late Nov.TireRack has been very reliable and helpful over the years and the only place I go for tires or tire advice. My recollection is that they did not have Michelin Alpins for the GTS, although others have gotten them elsewhere. The consensus on the forums is that Michelin Alpins are better than Pirelli's, but the SZ's worked fine for me in the harshest winter on record here. In my experience with the PGTS and 991 TTS, Pirelli tires are good, although the consensus is that Michelin's run quieter and last longer for both cars.

 

I fully understand now. My SA told me that he did not recommend going for 285 on 295 wheels, because he said it will not match. I am newbie in the whole tire situation, would you care to explain the effect of doing it. I might go with the alpins then in that case.

Also i do not understand the difference between n1 or n0 porsche spec wheels. What are the difference, also on tire rack i found that there are directional tires?

 

Tires that are too narrow or too wide for the wheels are going to bulge a bit in either direction. I once had a tire shop accidentally put the rear tires on the front, and the front on the rear. It fit, but both looked funny. For some reason a lot of tire shops aren't used to the staggered fitment that's common on performance cars.

N1. vs N0 is a version number. When Porsche first approves a tire design, it gets the N0 designation. If the manufacturer revises the tire, it becomes N1. It's not important.

Almost all tires are directional. I can't recall the last time I saw a tire that didn't have a tread design that assumed the tire rotated in one direction only. This means you can only rotate left fronts with left rears, and if your tires are different widths, as Panamera tires are, you can't do that either.

 

Thank you very much for the information! I fully understand how it works now. So it is safe to put 285 tires on 295 wheels right?