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My wife and I were looking to pick up something faster after selling my sport bike. An M3/M4 mainly. Than we found out about the 996TT. A few test drives later, and the "wow thats cheaper"
This followed us home!
The good news is the other cars aren't jealous!
We picked the car up local from a private sale (in Renton, WA)
Its had a little work done to,
Tint,
PSS10's with the GT2 alignment specs
a tune
stero and amp,
near spotless PPI and only 47K miles
it also came with a set of 20" wheels (cant find ANY tires other than PSS), and the stock suspension.
It looks like it had its fenders poorly rolled at some point :\
The issues? It needs tires!!! the 20"'s are corded, and the 18's are soon to follow
I'm pulling my hair out over tires! I'm a fan of pilot super sports on are other cars, but 295/35/18's or bigger are out of stock everywhere. But i can track down a 285 in a PSS or a pilot AS3...
I can't run a RivalS, RE071's or the like, cause it's still freezing at night. And the car will see plenty of rain in near daily driving... so a proper trackday tire like a TROFEO R or a PROXES R888 I think are out as well.
But Autocross(just for fun), spirited long drives and a track day or two are going to be going on. So something a little more aggresive than a PSS would be great, so long as it can see (not driven in) ~30*F (the R888's would pass this part)
The two options i'm leaning towards is.
1. a 285/235 pilot AS3 on stock rims. And than pickup 18" or 19" rims and run GT2 sized sticky stuff in the summer.
2. run stock or larger sticky rubber on the stock rims, like a PSS or the like.
I'm game for stepping up to larger rubber. Picking up the GT2 fender brackets, or heat gunning the liners. Definitely want to run a 245 up front to help get some more front end grip.
Your about to get an onslaught of opinions... 20's don't belong on a 996 turbo, and people will debate that 19's don't either. I however have 19's with Hankook rubbers. By your pictures, and informed post you look like a "car" guy so just apply your common sense when picking a tire, and your own taste when it comes to wheels. eBay, craigslist , and the classified section here tend to have some great deals on used wheels/tires. Enjoy the turbo, you got a beauty there.
Factory spacer specs:
8x18 50mm, 11x18 45mm.
And for the love of god the turbo trumps the z3 for parking spaces.
Can't help with tire choices. But watch the sizes/diameters. There is a limited range of acceptable diameter differences that will let the viscous fluid coupling work probably and transmit torque to the front diff with out the risk of ruining the viscous coupling.
My standard advice is to check the desired tire diameters/differences/ratios between front and back against the factory sanctioned tire sets and stay within the factory sanctioned diameters/differences/ratios between the front and back tires.
Last edited by Macster; 02-09-2016 at 09:44 PM.
Reason: Changed "running" to "ruining".
My 02 came with 225 45 18 front and 295 35 18 rear Continental EC DWS (should be 40s front and 30s rear). When i look up the diameters it provides the size difference in the wrong direction (smaller front larger rear). the difference is still in the proper range so i will not burn up the viscus coupling. I have not noticed and unusual handling traits on the street. It will be interesting to see how it reacts at Laguna Seca coming up on the 22nd. I am guessing i may get some extra push in the front end as i get back on the gas exiting. I would have thought that going up one increment in series size front and real would maintain the dia. ratio. But i would be wrong. Do your homework first if you use anything but the recommended sizes.
Nice buy! I was wondering if someone on here was going to pick that one up. Looks much better with the stock wheels than the ones it had on it in the ad IMO
The car was posted both on local seattle craigslist, and auto trader. Called the guy took it for a test drive. Drove a pair of other 996's, a M4 and a few others. Got the wife to drive this exact 996. And bought it a few days later.
I looked heavily into tire size issues, seems like 3% with fronts being larger is the max, less than .5" difference is better
Last night i put together a spread sheet with roughly 50 tire combos that should would work. priced um from tire rack, and noted out of stock.
Was going to pull the trigger on the A/S3 in the 245/40r18 285/35r18 sizes. and pick up something sticky in another 3 months.... They went out of stock by noon today! :| no delivery estimate, but i'm guessing 3/31/2016 like the other Michelin tires...
So I pulled the trigger on the Proxies R888's in 245/40r18 315/30r18(will be ordering the fender bracket thing as well) as they can be stored on car down to about 20*f. and driven (SLOWLY) down to 32*f. they don't really have any grip for fun till its above 40-45* out. (so i've read) and they are only .3" larger in the front than the rear!
The sport Cup2 is out of stock on the 295/30R18, and the matching front(to keep the 3% rule) for the 285/30R18 is $400 vs $270. No thanks on spending more for less ruber!
Same feeling on the Pilot super sport, can get it in a 285/30r18 but... id rather wait for the 295/35R18 to come back into stock... but its a good tire... maybe i should have? But I have them on the BMW and the Speed3, They dont die, and i'd love to try something new!
Other options... well a lot are out classed by the PSS or the Cup2 Or the like, are out of stock, or weren't allowed to be stored cold,
I can post up the list of tires if others would like
Below I'm posting Other tires people might be interested in!
Double check tire OD ratios are close enough for YOU to live with.
I tried to stay within 3% and error-ed on the side of larger in front but I might have typo-ed.
Some tires may require Coil overs (PSS9/10's etc...) Or require rolled fenders, and GT2 fender brakets.
All Info was found from tire rack 2016-02-09 4:25pm PST
Not responsible for tires that dont work, dont fit, kill you, or call your pet bad names etc...
This list is ONLY to give people some options to look into themselves! Double check with some one smarter than me before you buy anything
all season tires front size rear size cost issues? min temp
pilot a/s3
245/40r18 285/35r18 1040 OOS 3/31/2016 COLD
max summer tires front size rear size cost issues? min temp
PROXES 1
245/40r18 295/35R18 1000 14*f
S04 pole position
245/35r18 285/30R18 915
225/40R18 285/30R18 900
245/40r18 285/30R18 1040
245/40r18 285/35r18 858
pilot super sport
245/40r18 285/35r18 1082.4
245/40r18 295/35r18 1120 OOS 3/31/2016
auto X / track tires front size rear size cost issues? min temp
ZII star spec
235/40R18 285/30R18 1170
225/40R18 285/30R18 1115
245/40R18 285/30R18 1174
P Zero Trofeo R
225/40R18 295/30r18 1420
235/40R18 295/30r18 1400
02-09-2016, 12:19 AM
New to us Turbo, and tire/wheel questions
