Troy R

I know there's a ton of tire posts on here, but I'm not very familiar with a lot of the terminology people are posting about (i.e. spacers, offsets, etc.). Last night my rear tire blew out, so I'm getting a new set of tires today.

I'm looking at the Michelin Pilot Sport Rib or Michelin Pilot Sport PS2. For fronts they list 225/40/18, rear 265/35/18 as optional tires. The stocks are listed at Front 205/50/17 and Rear 255/40/17.

I've seen some prior posts where guys are talking about 295 and 315's, etc. Anyone have any suggestions? It's a 2000 996 C4 Cab, all stock equipment when it comes to the tires/wheels.

Thanks!

gota911

Troy - what wheel sizes (17" or 18") and what widths (front and rear) do you have on your car. I am not that familiar with the '99 - '01 996 specs, so I need that info.

I have an '04 C2 and I have OEM 18" wheels which are 8" wide on the front and 10" wide on the rear. OEM for my car is 225/40/18 front and 285/30/18 rear.

I am currently running PS2's 235/40/18 front and 295/30/18 rears and have no rubbing issues. Both the front and rear tires are "N2." There is an "N3" available, but Porsche recommends that the tires that have a matched N ratings front and rear.

Since you are not changing the wheels (at least you didn't mention that you were) then you don't have to worry about offsets and/or spacers.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, let us know.

Troy R

Thanks Tim.

I've got Cooper 225/40/18 on the fronts and 265/35/18 on the rear. No wheel changes (at least yet) today.

Irksome

How wide are your 18" wheels? Not the tires, but the wheels. They are probably 18x8 in the front and 18x10 in the rear?

Troy R

Where would I find that?

When I look in the owner's manual it says they're either 7 and 9, or 7.5 and 10. How do I know what I've got?

Macho Belly

On factory wheels, width (inches) and offset (mm) are cast into the wheel on either side of the valve stem.

Troy R

Ahh... that was easy enough.

Front's are 7.5, 50mm, rears are 10, 65mm

gota911

In the PS2's the front would have to be 225/40 to fit on the 7.5" wheels. The PS2's do not come in a 285 for the rear, so you would have to go with either the 265/35 (non-N rated) or 295/30. I had 265 on the rears on my car (different tire brand), and I didn't really like them that much because, IMO, they were too narrow. However, if you go with the 295 on the rear, the understeer will increase because you can't "upsize" the front to counter balance the "upsize" in the rear because 235 tires will not fit on a 7.5" wheel.

The Pilot Sport Rib comes in 225/40/18 (N1) and 285/30/18 (N1). This combo would be perfect for your car, IMO. If it was my car, and I liked the Pilot Sport Rib tires, I would do this option as opposed to the PS2's.

Troy R

Well, I just got back from the tire place and he's got me the PS2's ordered, 225's for the front and 265's for the rear. They won't be here until Monday though, so I could always change. What's the difference between the PS2's and the Sport Rib's??

Benjamin Choi

The diff is the Ribs are sticky icky ickier