Need new rear tires on my 1999 996 19 inch wheels. Currently have Goodyear Eagle F1 GS 02, 275/30ZR 19's on the rear. Went to the local tire shop and they ordered replacements. They tell me Goodyear no longer makes GS-02 but rather changed to GS-D3. Can anyone tell me what the difference between the 02 and the D3 means? Anyway the tire dealer tells me they will not fit and I need to go with a Continental ContiSPortContact 2 with a size of 315/25ZR19. I would be concerned that a larger tire might rub. I am not a tire expert but this does not make sense to me and also my front tires are very good so I would perfer not to use two different brands of tires.

Received a call from the tire dealership asking what the offset is on my rear wheels. Why would they need to know this for rear tires?? I am totally confused.

I did not actually see the tires they ordered so I cannot verify if they were the 275/30ZR 19's with a D3 on them. Common sense tells me they should fit ok. ANy ideas, comments, advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

 

I have 19" GS-D3's. The diff between the 02 and D3 is that the D3 is specially formulated to handle
very wet conditions. I dunno what your tyre dealer is saying regarding size though. Sounds like
he don't know what he is talking about.....rear offsets???

I have 275/30/ZR19 on the rear and 235/35/ZR19 on the front. I had to bend the front fenders very slightly.

See the tyres/wheels in my Garage on rennlist. Click the link below.

 

Berny..Thanks for the reply. Just got off the phone with a tire expert at TireRack. Very reputable tire company here in the U S. I listed my tires as 02 but they are actually D2. TireRack tells me yes indeed there is a big difference between D2 & D3 and they will not work fit my rears. The D2 & D3 is the composition of the sidewalls and some other technical stuff he mentioned. They also said Goodyear does not make a tire that I can use on my rear wheels so i need to change manufacturers. Hate to do this because the front tires ar in very good shape. From what I understand it is not advisable to run two different manufactures on the front and rear.

 

Wet performance was really missing from the D2, the D3 addressed that problem, 996 Aero - I love your car, looks great amigo....