Torags

The 52's are the widest profile of the three in the series. Pirelli ice & snow have excellent reports form these boards, check out the wear rating. If its just for snow, get the snowflake on the tire. They may have wider sipes, that might not be good for all year use (dry traction).

k2kv

I had a lengthy conversation regarding XL ratings with one of the people at Tirerack when I purchased my Pirelli Scorpion Asimmetrico tires. According to him, the XL rating only indicates that a tire has a maximum load rating which is higher than normal FOR ITS SIZE. Accordingly, ANY tire with a rating of, say 2000 pounds, will safely carry the same load as any other tire with the same max load rating, regardless of whether it carries the XL rating or not. Max load is max load.

Thought this might be of interest.

Cheers,

Jeff

alex911s

Thanks Jeff,

I guess my only issue is the H rating in case I want to go crazy

this is what i got right now.

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

plianides

Jeff, All other things being equal, an extra load tire can alter the driving characteristics. I went from a 275/40/20 (extra load) to a 295/40/20 (standard load). They both had the same load rating - I assume because the 295's have a somewhat larger profile (the larger the profile, the hight the load rating) it offset the SL rating. Notwithstanding the same load rating, I could "feel" a significant different between the two tires. The xl tires had a much stiffer ride quality.

k2kv

An interesting observation. I do not claim to be particularly knowledgable, but it makes sense to me that "any" 275 tire would normally be a bit stiffer than its bigger 295 brother, if the load ratings were the same.

In the sizes that Porsche recommends, the XL rating is required, to hold the weight of the vehicle. However, if you go to a bigger tire, a standard load rating will suffice, since it will be support around the same weight, but Porsche does not recommend oversize tires for this application, though many of us use them anyway.

Safe driving,

Jeff

plianides

Jeff, I agree.

Though I am not so sure that over-sized tires are intrinsically inferior for the Cayenne compared to the stock sizes. Sometimes I wonder the "reasoning" for Porsche recommending particular sizes. It may possibly have more to do with finding tires for 18", 19" and 20" wheels, with a standard diameter so as not to alter the calibration for the speedometer, odometer, etc..