thirdageknight

Hi,

My cayman needs new tires and I am having difficulty finding a set of 4 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S N0 tires. I am able to find regular Pilot Sport 4S tires but I am not sure if ride quality and handling would decrease (currently I have N0 tires). Does anyone know what the difference is between the N0 and non-N0 tire is? It looks like they are just tire designs Porsche has tested and approved but I am not sure what specifically they have done to the tire compared to the non-N0 and that if it even much difference. Has anyone have had experience with non-N0 tires and care to comment on the ride quality and handling, especially if you are coming from N0 tires. I do a lot of spirited driving so handling and grip on the streets is very important to me.

zedcat

Have you tried your local dealer? They can often be a source for N spec tires and have prices similar to chain shops. Also if you search here there have been many discussions on N vs non N tires. Some times it makes a difference. For the same nominal tire size some dimensions may differ between Porsche and other spec tires. I found this on MPSC2s a few years ago between Porsche and Audi specs. That said I've had non N tires on 986,987,981 cars without issues.

colnagoG60

They've probably done something similar to what BMW has done:

thirdageknight

Yes I did try the locally dealer and they did not have any Michelins in stock. They did have GoodYear Eagle F1 tires which I am not really interested in. I have spoke with another shop and they suggested to go for a bigger size tire so that is one option, but I am worried that it might offset some system. I am told that making the front tires wider will make the car handle better, won't throw off the balance, and wont rub.

So the shop is recommending these tire sizes if sticking with N0 tires for Michelin Pilot Sport 4s:
Front: 245/35 R20
Rear: 265/35 R20

This seems like an interesting option, but not confident if it is a good idea. Looks like the gt4 uses 245 in the front but in the rear it uses 285, so not sure if I should also increase the size of the rears.

Kancamagus

Well if Zed has had almost a billion cars without issues you should be fine!

Kevin CS

Last time I checked, tirerack.com had them.

cjrhoades

If you go up to a 245 in the front, I'd recommend a 275 in the rear. Those are the sizes I run and there's no issue. A 285 would be too wide for the stock wheel I think.

thirdageknight

Well it looks like tirerack will have the full set available sometime next month. I guess I will try and wait it out for the N0 tires since they seem to be much different then the standard variant. If they are not available next month then I will probably go with the wider tires. I was thinking of doing 245 fronts and 265 rears but many are recommending to go 275 for the rears. It seems like it won't throw off the electrical systems in the car and might actually improve handling which is good.

thirdageknight

Oh cool that is good to hear. How is the ride comfort, did it get worse or better when going for wider tires?

cjrhoades

No change that I could tell.

14boxsters

What an awesome piece on OEM spec tires. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise that BMW and Porsche would go to great lengths to custom design a tire to match their high performance cars. Thanks for posting!!

colnagoG60

No problem "hometown".

What is crazy though, is that most complaints about the newer BMWs is the steering feel, or lack thereof. What the guy in the vid starts describing @ 5:35, about the "delay", is exactly what I experienced when I recently took out an M4 on some twisty back roads (leading up to the Court House in Ellicott City). While the car was planted through the turn, it seemed like when I initially turned in, the car felt like it took a deep breath, and then turned into the corner. I don't remember what tires it had, but I would have never attributed that "lag" to tire layup...alignment, not great steering programming/ratio sure. Of the M3/M4s they had on the lot, some were on Pirellis.

14boxsters

Haha yes. Great thing about living in HoCo is the abundance of roads for both sports cars and road bikes….here are my other “rides”.




I’m coming from four M3’s over the span of 20 years with the last one being a E90/V8 NA engine. I was able to get over the vagueness of the steering on the F30, but just couldn’t get myself to buy a car that amplifies the exhaust sounds through the speakers?!?! I’ve heard that G20 improved the steering but I was ready to move on.

Btw, I’m a huge Michelin fan with all of my cars on them…..except my BS which came with PZ4 N1. I was going to swap out these brand new pirellis for PS4S until I read the latest Tirerack review which ranked the PZ4 a close second in dry and far superior in wet to the PS4S. I haven’t tracked my car yet, but so far, so good in spirited driving….decided to keep them.

colnagoG60

Nice!

Partially out of frame is my Focus Izalco that has 95% Zwift duty:





I've been on all-seasons since week 2 of ownership on my GT4...been eager to get on summers but circumstances over past 2 years didn't make it feasible. Was going to get the regular PS4s until I saw that vid...will stick with N-spec given all this time driving with a compromise. Missed out on N-spec PS4s by a day and a half this spring.

remington

Correct me if I'm wrong but Michelin doesn't even make a 19 inch NO MPS4S . So if you have 19 inch wheels you're going without NO. Ironic since that's the stock wheel size for the Cayman S.