spooltime

I'm in need of some new tires due to some wrong-sized (275/45/20) Falken crap tires installed by the PO. Nothing like having over an extra inch of overall diameter to make the gearing even worse.

Anyway, looks like Porsche approves the use 5 different "N" tires on 20" rims, those being:

Continental 4x4 Sport Contact N0
Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport N0
Michelin 4x4 Diamaris N1
Pirelli P Zero Rosso N1
Yokohama Advan Sport N0

Some of the prices are, uh, amazing, but what I'd like is some real world usage opinions on roundness, handling, treadwear, etc. Is there a consensus on which tire listed above is the pick of the litter?

And on the subject of tires, if I decide not to go with a "N" spec tire, is anyone running 295/40/20's at all four corners? From an appearance standpoint anyway, the 275 width looks rather narrow on the vehicle to me.

steve_Cayenne

Disregard

Dennis C

My Cayenne came from the factory with 275/20/40 Continental SportContact 4x4 tires. I was not pleased with them. They didn't last long (~24K miles) and they were very loud towards the end of their life. I've tried several brands since then, and my favorite in terms of ride quality, tread life and noise is the Continental ExtremeContact DWS. It's not a true summer tire and it's not N-spec, but it's still my choice for warmer months. I run N-spec Michelin Latitude Alpin tires in the colder months.

I've never used Pirelli P-Zero Rosso tires on my Cayenne, but I hated them on my Carrera 4S. I believe Michelin makes a better tire.

Cole

Eh...

Lots of people do it for a little extra sidewall, more tire choices, etc. The difference is only about .6 of an inch from most of the OEM size choices.

Then of course lots of people run 285/35/22 or larger without much complaint.

I personally changed to the Cayenne Transyberia Rally car size 265/65/18 for a little fun in the winter. Sure, its a touch slower but not really much for a 530hp rig.

Doesn't mean you shouldn't find nice tires. Just saying the tire size is not really that far off.

JAGMAN1

I'm on my second set of Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sports. They handle great and are super quiet. I ended up getting about 35K miles out of the last set. This is on 275/45/20's.

GVA-SFO

I also do not run on "N", and this since the 2nd set ! (first where Diamaris, 275 on all corners).
I switched to Vredestein, (great looking, better on rain, and lot less "tracking" than the the Michelin).
In term of life time, about same as the Diamaris, i.e.: between 18 and 22k miles/set in our case.
Since the 3 last sets, feeling that the 275 on the rear over the 10 OEM rims were offering rim to curb high risk, I switched to next available size, i.e: 315.
They looks like that :"




Circonf. are identical, i.e.: 315 x 20 /35 = 275 x 20 /40, so OK for the central diff.
Our OEM rims ("Titanium Techno") : 20x9 front and 20x10 rear.

But, IMPORTANT NOTE : ..if your are on non "N", no way to "CPO" the car. To do that, when the original lease was over, I had to buy a set of 18" with "N" tires on them !
(..And resell these later)

4ocious

I had Pirelli's on my 09 ML550, hated them! The Conti DWS is rated the best all-around tire for a performance SUV. I would have no problem with them. I'm also a huge fan of Michelins and currently have them on my GTS (ZR Latitudes). Unless you're going to track your SUV I wouldn't be too concerned about putting non-N-spec tires on it. I recently replaced the tires on my 997.1 TT with non-N-spec Milchelin Pilot Super Sports and love em! And, I'm going to track my car this year.

Andy E.

As 4ocious mentioned, N-spec tires are over-rated and over-priced for everyday non-track use.

hahnmgh63

But do make sure whatever tire you end up going with is "XL" rated, they don't call her a Pig for nuthin.

spooltime

Is it possible to mount a 315/35/20 on a 10" wide rim? Yes.

Is it a smart thing to do? Not really. A 315 tire is designed to be mounted on a wheel with a minimum width of 10.5". For example, Michelin, Pirelli and Bridgestone all specify a 10.5" rim for this size tire. When you mount a tire on a rim narrower than what the tire was designed for, you compromise the structural integrity of the tire's sidewall because it's pinched inward. The fact the Cayenne is large and heavy increases the probability of a bad outcome when a tire is mounted on a rim the tire wasn't designed for. I'd settle for a little curb rash over an unexpected blow-out any day. Now if only the Sport Techo wheel were available in a 20x10.5 fitment . . . .

Andy E.

A good web-based calculator to try out different tire-rim variations:
http://www.rimsntires.com/specs.jsp

GVA-SFO

Well, one thing is very clear: I'm much less "off" with the 315 on the 10" ..than with 275 on these 10" !
And, when you look at the shape/angle of the walls you have with 275 on 10" rims, I hope you would agree that it is quite odd !
I was very surprised that the factory let it be this way, when I took the car brand new, with Michelin Diamaris (all 275) on it.

Sure, I agree, that ideally, the rims should be 10.5 on the rear to be perfect with these, (like it is the case on the BMW X5).
Please note that if you do a quick math, you will see by numbers that with 315 on 10", I'm extremely close to the ratio when having 275 on 9", and if you look at the tire wall angles, there is no way to see any angle difference by eyes, between the front and the rear.
The same math will also tell you, that with 275 on 10, you are then pretty far out that ratio !!

That math shows that to have the same ratio as the front one on the 9, the rear tires should be 305 !
So, it is very easy to observe ..that 315 is much closer to 305 (10mm “off”), ..than 275 is (30mm “off”) !

Now, another important point, I'm on the 3rd set with about 22'000 miles with such config, and the way they get used, is very regularly. They just wear right !

Dennis C

Interestingly, the winter wheels for my Carrera 4S are 18x10 and the Porsche recommended width is 265. In the summer, I run 295 width on 18x11 wheels. I realize this is totally different than a Cayenne, but it just shows that it can be done. A 10" wheel width is 254mm wide. A 265 series tire is 265mm wide. There's plenty of clearance for a 265 or 275 tire on a 10" wheel.