911 Crazy

Greetings and salutations. The latest with Issue #1 on my new 911 is the flat rear tire that is gashed by a razor blade and unfixable. It is quite worn so it's time for a set of new rear tires. The fronts are near new. The fronts are Michelin Pilot Exalto's, V rated. I was told by Girt at Turk's Tires and Bait here in Maine that the Exalto is no longer made and has been replaced with the Pilot Exalto 2, but is a W rated tire. Girt says not to mix the V with W. He also says that I can mix brands as long as I match the speed rating. The size of the gashed tire is 222/50/16 V. Fronts are 205/45/16 V. Here are my questions:

1) Is Girt right?

2) What brand should I consider?

3) I have also been told that with normal driving I'll be changing the rear tires every 10-15k miles and the fronts every 30-45k miles or so. Is this true?

4) Where should I but them from?

5) I hear that my front tire size is wrong and should be 205/55/16. Should I replace them also and if I don't will they cause damage to the car?

Thanks for your input!

whalebird

what size are the fronts? Curious.

ivangene

what are you using the car for.....

I have been happy with my Conti DW's (not to be confused with Conti DWS....S = snow)
D = dry
W = wet

http://www.tirerack.com/index_w.jsp
go here, shop and read....then buy...they ship to your installer and you just show up with the car and eat frosting off donuts and drink luke warm coffee, and thumb through magazines like you care what they are about

911 Crazy

Fronts are: 205/45/16 V

whalebird

I've been very happy with my Falken Ziex 912. It's an all season high performance tire and I drive in ALL seasons so it's a good fit for me. Tire looks good and has performed very well in all varieties of situations. These might be considered a "budget" tire in some circles, but they are not shabby by any means. Grippy and quiet. I think they would be a perfect fit on an older torsion bar 911.
I ask about the front tire size, because it looks like a 205/50-16. You should have 205/55-16 fronts and 225/50-16 rears.

whalebird

fronts are way wrong size.

911 Crazy

What harm would I be doing by keeping them since they are new?

911 Crazy

What does the middle number on tire size mean?

Fonz0

Just had the same issue on mine- not the blade, but the need to get new tires. Car was from FLA and tires were summer only and rears were way worn. I went with Bridgestone Potenza RE970 AS. The folks I spoke with said the Bridgestones were stiffer sidewalls compared with the Conti DWS and that for performance handling they preferred the Bridges.

BTW- my sizes are as follows: Fronts: 205/55 R16. Rears: 225/50 R16

bluetick

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Pavegeno928

From the Porsche Tire guide in 09 (the last time the old 911s were included), three tires are listed. I am running the Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 N0 tires (F:205/55R-16 & R:225/50R-16) and am happy with them. We have Micheln Pilot Sport PS2s on our Cayman and they are awesome as well so I have been sticking with Michelin. I'm sure you can run lots of other brands and tweak the sizes, but I wanted to stay stock as much as possible and just use the car for regular daily street use. I have 15k on my tires and they still appear to have plenty of tread left.

Tire Rack sells two of the three recommended brands. Note that the tire spec includes a "N0" or "N1" etc. This is a Porsche specific tire. Make sure you ask for these as you can buy the same make and model tire and not get the Porsche spec. I have used Tire Rack for all of three of my vehicles and they are always cheaper than going to a local guy even when factoring in shipping. They offer road hazard on the tires for add'l competitive fee. Great customer service.

Good Luck!

JackOlsen

Tires are the number one piece of safety equipment on your car.

1) Always replace your tires with the most expensive ones the dealer has on hand. Otherwise, you're asking for a blow-out at 80mph, which is not easy to recover from, and could harm you and your loved ones.

2) Always replace all of the tires on the car -- and on all of your other cars -- and your spares -- at the same time. Otherwise the tread depths simply will not match. You don't get a hair cut on just one side of your head, do you?



I'm kidding, of course. But for some reason the tire industry (like the mattress industry) has a lot of people convinced of a lot of voodoo.

For a street-driven car, you can run just about any combination of 205/225 tires and be fine. Your tire pressures will be more important, safety-wise, than the brand of tire. And even on pressures, it's easy to get carried away.

salukijac

Pavegeno, that's a great reference. I'm running the Bridgestones on my 87.

Crazy, after putting the effort of finding a car like yours I wouldn't compromise on the tires. Nuff said...

911 Crazy

Will I be doing any damage running the wrong size tires on the front?

Ed Hughes

No damage with the wrong sizes, per se, but I'd run the same tires all around, and go for proper sizes. The diameter is the key. You can run 225/50 or 205/55 up front typically.

I would not worry about N tires. There are great, high speed/performance tires out there that aren't N's. Just don't scrimp on quality, as Jack notes.