kkswow12

can someone tell me what i am losing by not getting a tire with the 'N' rating? i see michelin sup sp and then others with ferrari ratings, aston martin, and on and on, and of course even the aston michelins are less expensive than the 'N's, can't see that those would be an inferior tire, it will still have the same speed capabilities, blah blah...and all that other 'stuff', and i also will never even come close to reaching the limits of these tires which would be where the differences within would manifest themselves, i'm thinkin ,again,dangerous, i know, but it all seems to always come down to the 'dolla', and?

Skibum

Ditch the N. It is a designation that Porsche has specifically approved the tire.
Go for the PSS. It is an awesome tire.

PHX 911

+2 on PSS
Pretty sure the wear rating is better, too.

sjfehr

The N rating is nothing but marketing; ignore it. There are better tires out there for nearly every application/mixed use that don't carry the N rating, and most are cheaper to boot.

If you're worried about your dollar, skip PSS, too; it's not a bad tire, but it's very expensive for what you get. The right tire for you really depends on what you're looking for, how you plan to drive it, in what weather, etc.

kosmo

+3

Hella-Buggin'

Just had a full set installed Friday. I've heard great things from trusted sources so I went for it.

gota911

+4

rcg412

This is not true. The n rated ps2 has different tread and treadwear rating, the n is softer.

You don't need an n tire, but the n is not marketing.

sjfehr

I never said otherwise, just that there are way better tires out there than the n-rated PS2. PS2 (N-rated and non) aren't even considered to be in the top tier of performance tires. Nor is the PSS, for that matter. They're "max performance summer" in the same category of Sumitomo HTRZIII, which costs less than half as much and is much loved by the 996 forum as giving PS2 performance (or close to it) for way way cheaper. Or, if you refuse to compromise your car's performance, you should be looking for a "extreme performance summer" tire like Hankook RS3, Bridgestone RE11, Dunlop Star Spec, Yokohama AD08 and Kumho XS, all of which are faster tires that don't carry an N-rating.

Simply put, claims that Porsches should only be shod in N-rated tires is nothing but marketing. "N" doesn't necessarily mean "best". Not does price tag, either. The best performing street tires right now are also some of the cheapest.

yemenmocha

This is what happens if you don't go with an official N-rated tire that has been approved by Porsche for your car:

yemenmocha

Seriously though, I'm skeptical that it's just marketing. Without someone citing respectable source in print here, you're just dealing with personal opinion, rumor, hearsay, etc.

I could just as easily assert the n-rating is blown off only because people want to feel better about buying a cheaper tire and having it put on by Discount Tire instead of a Porsche service place.

Skibum

Here is what Tirerack has to say about N tires.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...0813&techid=26

yemenmocha

That alone refutes the claim that it is just marketing.

Skibum

Indeed.

mdrums

Seriously, you really believe that? Looks like driver error....Think about this...everyone I track with DOES NOT USE N-SPEC TIRES.....

All N-Spec is for is to help people that know nothing and service centers that know nothing about what tires will work on their Porsche. Porsche approved ($$$) certain tires to be used in production and for aftermarket sales in order to help customers pick a tire. However there are other tires on the market that are just as good and in many cases better than so called N-Spec tires. MPSS (Michelin Pilot Super Sport) is one of them. Another great choice and what I ran on my 2009 and did AutoX with and many street miles was the Toyo Proxes1.