kc.beach

Is there a good all season tire that will fit the 19s on a CTT?

I replaced my CTT tires with the Michelin P235/60s and they were great last winter.

My wife no longer liked her BMW after driving the Cayenne and just turned it in for a CTT with the 19s and P Zeros. I'd like to get her some good all season tires for this winter.

cobalt

We did the same thing. The BMW did not cut it after driving the CTT. I have heard there is a possibility that they are coming out with 19" snows but would not count on it. I purchased a set of takeoff 18" turbo rims which I will mount either a snow or a M&S tire for winter use and just swap them out. You can pick up rims on Ebay. Just be carefull because there are alot of repros out there.

What did you mount the 235/60's on, 17's? I wouldn't recommend going with a narrow tire on a 9.5 inch rim and you need a 245 or so to fit the 18's and a 265 or larger on the 19's.

bancu

I thought the same thing about the width but the Dunlop M2s in 235/60-18 was the only size winter tired recommended by Porsche last year. I think they key might be that the 18" factory wheels are 8" and not 9" like the 19s and 20s.

I can attest that the 235/60-18s held up quite nicely last year in some solid runs on ice, snow and slush.

Going by this list they seemed to have opened things up a bit this year including adding a 19" Pirelli Scorpion Ice & Snow:

http://www.rennteam.com/showflat.php...0&page=0#51515

cobalt

bancu,

Thanks for the link. I was told by my local tire shop EuroTire that the 19" Pirelli Scorpion tires are not yet available in the US. They also recommended against them for 2 key reasons. 1) as mentioned you don't want to switch tires back and forth for obvious reasons and 2) was their feeling that a 255 was to narrow based on sidewall for the (correction) 9" wide rim. (They claimed they would be very hard riding on colder days and would recommend the extra side wall to soften the ride) Although this appears to be contrary to what Porsche is accepting.

They recommended the Perelli Scorpion 255/55R18 for the 8.5" wide 18" Turbo style rims. I believe this is what I will go with. I paid $699 for a set of 4 New factory Cayenne Turbo rims on Ebay. They list for $2600 new but can be had for a song. Most people swap out their 18" rims for 19's or 20's after they take delivery. This way it is a simple swap twice a year and besides the turbo style rims are easier to keep clean in the bad winter weather.

tahoeblue

k2kv posted on 8/12/04 that he is using Pirelli Scorpion Zero Assimetrico 19" M+S tires, 285/45 ZR 19 107W rated. Has apparently used these for over 6000 miles and is happy (though not yet used in snow).

Anyone else with experience or advice on using the above?

cobalt

Just seems awfully wide for a snow tire to me. Aren't you worried about plowing in heavy snow with all that width?

tahoeblue

You bring up a good point. But seems to me that this might be a good solution for a M+S tire. I don't need dedicated snow much--just hope I won't regret it when I do.

Would love to hear some more feedback on these 285/45/19's.

bancu

Thanks for catching the wheel width. I was thinking of another vehicle. It was also my desire typing. I wish Porsche would offer the 18" wheels in 8.5" and 9". I don't know why Porsche went through the effort to offer two different styles and didn't give us a 9" width option in 18" wheels.

It doesn't surprise me that the 19" aren't in the States. It seems to take a while for us to get things like this. If they're not here yet, I don't hold out much hope of people being able to get them this season.

I totally agree on a separate set of wheels (eBay Cayenne wheel prices do make this very reasonable) and narrow and tall approach. It just doesn't make sense to me not put a bit of effort into the last link to the road when we've spent what we have on the vehicle. I've also seen way to many SUVs flipped in the median in the winter time.

The 235/60-18s (on separate set of wheels) served me very well last year. I didn’t have any problems with them from riding around town on dry streets, to slushy/rutty Interstate sections, to pushing them in subzero to single digit temperatures on pure ice.

A 255/55-18 setup should provide a good comprise for dry to nasty winter driving. As a reference point, I've run a set of 265/55-18 Dunlop M2s on an ML55 for the past several winters without incident. Honestly, I'll probably go to 255/55-18s on at least the ML the next go round.

k2kv

I seem to be the one loner on the list who actually has these tires, so there is very little performance/usage data available to me (and Tirerack's site has these listed incorrectly).

In comparing the tread of these to the tread of, say, the Michelin MXV4 M&S tires on my wife's RX330, I'd have to say the my Assimetricos look better suited for the snow. And, hers did a great job last year.

That said, I am not planning to use these in the snow, though if we get an early dusting I will feel much more comfortable with these on the CT than if I were wearing summer rubber.

I still have my mounted 18" Pirelli Scorpions stacked in the garage, and they look like they will do a good job for me. The tread pattern is more open and "rugged" looking than the Assimetricos, and the very light experience I had with them last winter left me with positive feelings.

That said, I have nevertheless been considering replacing the 18s with dedicated snows, but am still on the fence.

I have created a little slide show for those who may be interested in seeing the tread patterns of these two tires. It's at:

http://reallybig.com/web_slideshows/pirelli_Scorpions

Best wishes,

Jeff

alex911s

The Pirelli Scorpion ice/snow are the only ones i see that has good rating on the 19's , but also comes wider at 285/45 19's. I was going to recommend my tires the geolander ht/s 052 snow/winter rating is great only $135 but no 19's jumps from 18 - 20's sucks...I'll check the yokohama site..Alex

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....r+H%2FT-S+G052

alex911s

From the yokohama site, maybe they ran out of rubber what's up with no 19's

The Geolandar H/T-S (G052) is available in the following sizes.

235/65R17 108H, 275/55R17 109H, 255/55R18 109H, 265/60R18 110H, 285/60R18 120H, 305/50R20 120H, P275/45R20 106H,, 305/40R22 114H, 285/50R20 112H

kc.beach

What did you mount the 235/60's on, 17's?

I have the 235/60s on my 18" turbo wheels (recommended & installed at dealership). We took a family trip from Delaware to Smuggler's Notch Vermont last February and the tires were exceptional in the snow. That was the best car trip of my life. Cruise control up and down the mountains with no rpm change (just slow movements of the turbo indicator back and forth). We decided on another one for my wife during the trip.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. It looks like the best approach is to go with another set of 18s for this winter.

BenLee

Based on k2kv's post, I also decided to go ahead and try the Pirelli Scorpion 285/45 19s on my S. So far, I've put ~1000 miles on them with no issues except that Wheel Works had some initial difficulty properly balancing the tires (i.e. steering wheel vibration at 65+ mph). The Pirelli's are pretty quiet and the ride is less harsh but at the expense of overall grip compared to the Continental 4x4s. I realized these are pretty wide for the snow but had no choice. I live in Northern California and expect to drive in light snow (if any) when we drive to Lake Tahoe in the winter once or twice per year. If I needed serious capability, I would probably purchase a spare set of 18s.

I also heard that all-seasons were coming out in 19" size for the Cayenne but couldn't wait. I had 19,000 miles on my S with very little tread remaining.

tahoeblue

Help me better understand the impact of tire width on snow performance.

If we look at the 19" tires available, one can get snow or mud & snows in sizes 285/45 or 255/50 (the latter apparently now Porshce approved).

I assume that the 285/45's will be less desirable in the snow (but maybe more desirable on dry roads?). But if both tires have equally capable winter tread patern, would one have significantly less confidence in snow with the 30 mm wider tread? Some non-Cayenne owners are apparently running this width successfully in the snow on lesser cars.

I also find it interesting that for 18" wheels, the tire sizes recommended for summer and winter are the same. But when we move up the the 19's, Porsche recommends a reduced tread width. Is this due to physics, or just tire size availability--i.e. would they recommend a 275/45/19 for winter use if this was available?

Hope someone with more snow experience than me can lend some more info.

jase700

I just put Toyo Proxes 275/45/19 All-Seasons on my CS. they look great and ride great. would highly recommend. they carry the same load rating as the Porsche OEM recommended tires.