latestart

Sorry if this topic is a "re-tread" (pun intended)...

I have a 1999 996 C2 (recently purchased). I need new rear tires and have been considering options. I have 225's in the front and 285's in the rear installed by the PO. The rims are the stock Turbo Twist I's (I believe, see picture). The rears are Conti's and they are REALLY noisy.

I have an opportunity to get a full set of Pirellis PZero's in 225's front and 295/30/18 rears at a very attractive price. Are the 295's on the 10" rims in the back a mistake? Unsafe?

For now 100% Bay area freeway driving and back roads when I have a moment. 250 miles / week.

Anyway, thoughts are welcome. I need to stop by the seller and confirm the exact tire specs and do an closer inspection. They were mounted, driven for a couple of days and removed and are being sold at a discount -- the owner went for 19" rims with bling. The front's still have the "nipples" on them and the rears show minimal wear though the nipples are mostly gone.

The car was purchased in January with 25k miles. RMS done under warranty at 15k miles, in really great condition with full dealer maintenance records since sale. Two owners, but the second owner had the car from 8k-25k miles over 8 years.

Sorry no pictures -- i am a noob here and no permission to post pics/urls yet.


THANKS IN ADVANCE.

gota911

Latestart - Welcome to Rennlist, the best Porsche Forum on the 'net. Congrats on getting your P-car. I think you need at least 5 posts before you can post a pic, so we will cut you a little slack on posting the pic. BTW - in case you haven't dome much reading here, I am the unofficial (some might say Official) Head of the "Pic Police" and it is my "job" to make sure all "Newbies" post pics of their cars when they first get here. It is all meant in good fun, so don't take my "harassing" personally.

You can run 295/30/18 on the rears. However, with the 225/40/18 on the front, the wider rear tires will induce a little more understeer than if you had 285 on the rear. I currently have 235/40/18 and 295/30/18 and have no problems. P-Zeros are good tires. They grip very well but the rears will wear quickly. All rear tires will wear quickly on the P-cars because of the weight of the engine.

I ran the first set set of P-Zeros rear tires at 44 PSI and the center of the tires wore out more quickly than the inside and the outside edges of the tire. On my second set of P-Zero rear tires, I ran 39 PSI on the rears and that seemed to get me a little more tread life. If the price is good, get the tires.

Again welcome to Rennlist. We'll be waiting for pics, soon!

< note to self: add Latestart to the "Newbie - promised pics" list >

AndyK

I thought the early 996's used 265's in the rear. Why go wider?

latestart

I am running the sizes put on the car by the PO. The tires don't match front to back, so need to make a change, plus the rears are worn out (almost). Came across a full set at a great price, so just wanted a bit of coaching before pulling the trigger.

Thanks everyone...

Will post once the restriction is lifted... (3 posts to go...)

auto-xr

I had 295s mounted on 18x10 twists. They fit.

latestart

Note avatar now has a small picture (1 post to go...)

BillJ

Was searching for info on 295/30/18's and found it funny the the OP never got to the 5 posts min to put pictures up

Is time for me to put new rears on the MY02 10" wheels and wanted to find out if the above size was ok or not. Interesting to note that each tire weighs 8lbs more each! Thats a ton of unsprung weight.

Will be going with Conti's because the fronts are brand new and want to wear them out a little before upgrading to a better tire. Anyone running this rear size with 225 fronts currently? Am i better off sticking with 285's?

Mfletch

I have the Conti's in 225 front and 295 rear. I could not be happier with this combo. I do not have excessive understeer. I have no problem inducing oversteer with a little gas. I think the 295s look great on the back.

BillJ

Have you tracked the car at all? I will be using these for DD nad occasional DE so want to make sure that (other than them being not so hot for the track) they work ok for both.

auto-xr

My car seemed to understeer (ax/de) with the stock 225/265 (turbo twist I). I then moved to my02 5 spokes and tried out the 225/285 combo and it was the same story with understeer. 225/295 will work but you may experience the same thing depending on your driving style. Asthetically speaking, however, 295 in the rear does look great The porsche 996 FAQ says that 245/285 is a very popular setup (https://rennlist.com/996_faq/b.htm). Also note that the overall diameter of 285 is slightly less than 295 so you gearing would be better when accelerating out of corners with the 285s FWIW, I'm running 245/295 but on non stock wheels (8.5/11).

Seeeu911

a very informative thread thanks guys.
A couple questions. 295 is "fatter" so less of a rubberband look on 18's correct ?
what about the speedo variance ? slower or faster ?

auto-xr

295 is right at 25" OD which is what the car was designed for so no speedo issues. In general, stay under 3% if you decide to go bigger or smaller. You can try this site 's tool to see what different tire sizes work.

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

In regard to the width difference between 265 and 295, here are some pics. The first pic w/o a cone is 265 and the second pic with a cone is 295. Hope this helps.

BillJ

Thanks for the info guys. Any clearance issues with the 295 and stock suspension and ride height?

Mfletch

No clearance issues. My car is lowered with the PSS9 suspension and it works great. My previous 996, that I had this combo on, had no issues with the stock suspension.
I plan on tracking my car with this combo.

BillJ

Thanks guys. How is the sidewall in relation to the rim? Is it flat?