arr0gant

Me and a friend we're on our way to Chicago for a bachelor party. About 120 miles into the trip, decided to go fast. Hit about 135 for about 10 seconds, then slowed back down to 80. After about 5 minutes, realized a tire was gone, so pulled over. Driver-side rear... Long story short, put on the donut and headed back to St. Louis driving 65 in the slowlane, trucks we're passing us. No bachelor party... Good news? Found out I get over 30mph!!

These we're brand new tires. Only about 1500 miles on 'em. Was gonna match the fronts, not anymore. Gonna pull the other rear and put it in my garage for a spare. NOT FUN trying to put this tire in your back-seat!!

Went ahead and ordered Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position. Seems like a good value for a good tire. Eff those Neova's!!

CosmosC4S

You're lucky it didn't blow when you were doing 135!
Glad you're okay.

djantlive

This is why I stick with N spec tire and pay a premium.

SpeedStateG35C

I find that weird. Sold a lot of Yoks in the past and have had nothing but good luck with them. Customers with all sorts of high end cars (including P-cars and AMs) have had Yoks on them.

Is this just with this particular model or do porsche guys generally have probs with Yok?

jsaindc

I have AD07s on my 996 and so far so good. Have the shop check them out, with only 1,500 miles on them there may have been a defect. These tires are very soft and pressure needs to be watched; however blow outs are not a good thing. I also had ES 100s on my 944, no problems.

I still do not buy into this N rated crap. AD07s are OEM equipment on the Elise and are used on so many sports cars. Buy the way, you don't always have to pay more for N rated tires. The Conti IIs are N rated and I think the biggest piece of crap on the market. They cost half as much as the AD07s.

LVDell

Then maybe you don't quite understand the N designation and the reason behind it?

Here is a great (short) read/explanation on the N-Rated designation:
N-Rated Explanation

It's not just a fancy stamp like Mobil1 (rec'd but not REQUIRED). If you run a non N-rated tire and have a failure that results in your needing a trip to the dealer for warranty work they can deny coverage if deemed caused (or contributed) by the tire failure.

When it comes to tires (the most important part of the car's suspension system) I go with what the R&D department and engineers have suggested. Don't care to save a few bucks and gamble.

Russ Murphy

What caused the air loss? Should be easy enough to find. No tire is a match for the right piece of jagged metal.

Wellardmac

Glad that you're okay. Close call.

You'll like the Bridgestones, they're a nice tire. I have S03s. I'll probably end up buying Bridgestones again... they're not the best tires in the world (Michelin, IMHO), but they're a pretty good balance of cost/performance.

rountreed

As already said, glad you are OK and did not have to test your driving skills at 135!

Holger B

Dell, any r-compounds N-rated?

jsaindc

Dell,

I do understand but respectfully disagree.

Let me first say that I take tires and brakes serious. I think they are the most important parts on your car and I change mine well before they need it. With that said I am not discrediting N rated tires. I do think that Tire Rack left out Politics from the critera by Porsche. I have also heard that non N rated tires can void parts of your warranty, though never met anyone that has happened to. In fact, aftermarket exhausts, intakes, suspension, and other components can void your warranty and in fact DE and Autocrossing can. If one agrees that you can swap out an exhaust, intake, suspension or other component with a non OEM part then why is it different for tires? Like Holger said, what about R compound? I know that with a non N rated tire I am giving up somthing. My Yokos my not last as long and they maybe louder, thus not upto N standards, but these tires stick and thats what is important to me. I think matching a tire is a very personal preference. We all have different driving charicteristics even though our cars may be similar. One tire is not perfect for all.

Wellardmac

Let me add my $0.02

Here's an interesting paragraph from the Tire Rack link:
"Porsche designs and manufacturers some of the highest performance vehicles in the world. Because of the integral role that tires play in vehicle performance, Porsche has integrated tire development throughout their process of vehicle development. To be an Original Equipment tire provider on a Porsche vehicle or be approved by Porsche for the replacement market requires the joint product development efforts of the tire engineers working alongside the Porsche vehicle engineers."

Having worked for a raw materials supplier for the tire industry (I spent time in the tire business unit, but do not regard myself as an expert) I can tell you that is true of every auto manufacturer. An incredible amount of resources go into becoming approved by the OEMs for vehicle production (up to 5 years ahead of production runs!). A lot of money can be won or lost all based on getting RMs into a tire that is selected by an auto makers for their car. Traction, road noise, wear, etc. all go into the decision and that's no different from auto maker to auto maker. An auto maker has a lot of interest in getting you to select "OEM-approved" parts. Thankfully, it's not the case that you have to use these parts, as it is very often the case that equal, or higher, performance can be gained at lower cost be selecting "non-approved" parts.

There is a lot to be said about the fact that the 3rd party parts market would not exist if buyers did not select their parts. For a close to home example, just look at your own p-cars, many board members have modded their cars - I'm pretty sure that those mods happened because of the third part market and are not all performed with OEM parts.

In the case of tires we're talking about a complicated and high performance product (believe me, I've hand made a tire during a tire building course), but not so much so that you can claim that the OEM should have the market wrapped up. A simple look at UTQG (and other) tire specs. will tell you equivalent tires because the tires will be tested under standard conditions. Tires tested under standard conditions will perform the same, regardless of if they're N-rated.

LVDell

To each his own WRT the choice of to N or not to N. It's your car and your choice so choose as you feel comfortable. Personally, I like the N-rated choices and like knowing they have been developed with my car as part of the process. The problem I have with most people's position on the N or no N tire choice is that they choose a non-N b/c it is cheaper. That is the main point I tried to make. DO NOT SKIMP ON TIRES!

Wellardmac

The exception to my comments above include road noise. Tires will vary in road noise, depending upon how aggressive their tread pattern is - otherwise, UTQG is the best starting point for traction, temperature and wear.

BTW, making a tire is very hard. My tire was within Vredestein's specs, but there's no way that I would put it on my car.

Wellardmac

Check this out.. this is a cool looking tire.. wonder if it's available in the US.

http://www.vredestein.com/Banden_Ban...ionID=98220026

...actually, looks like there are a suprising number of dealers in the US. These guys make good tires.