Wheel/Tire , Trade/Change advice
 

My post is inspired by the 'Lister who just put on his 16" wheels and was praising the improvement in ride comfort.

I have gorgeous 18" wheels on my 968 with Pirelli Asimmetrico's - see picture below and in the pic to the left.

My issue is ride quality. It's just too damn harsh and noisy.

Seems I have 2 options.
1. I can change out both wheels and rubber and go to 16 or 17" wheels, or
2. I can keep wheels, but go to a different tire that is rated more for ride quality and quiet.

Has anyone dealt with this issue using option 2? I get all sorts of compliments on the wheels so I hate to get rid of them, but I'm somewhat skeptical of just trading one type of rubber for another to cure my concerns. Looking at TireRack it seems that the Pirelli Pzero Nero M&S tires get great ratings for ride comfort and noise so that might be an option if I keep the current wheels

I don't drive hard, so the M&S option doesn't concern me so much. I don't need true winter tires here in Northern CA although we do get rain.

Love to hear some opinions on what route to take.

Lastly if some of you have some good looking 17 inch wheels and want exercise some type of trade swap etc I might be up for that as well. I'm not fond of the Boxter's Twists, I tend to gravitate to a look similar to what is on the car now although not necessarily with the 3 piece bolts.

Thanks,

Phil

There are definite large differences between same-sized tires of different brand, however, I don't have experience with your exact ones, nor do I know how severe your current noise/harshness is. The best would be for you to try someone else's wheels/tires, but that may be hard to do locally.

The other thing is, you can increase comfort with your current rims, but at the expense of handling/grip. If you go to a smaller rim, you will gain comfort even if you use the same tire in the new size, and not give up any grip.

Sam

I'm not sure if it applies to your case but the new Fuzions I put on last week are leaps and bounds smoother on the highway than the Kumhos 712's that came off. The change might be unsprung weight letting the suspension work better. New set-up is on 17" CCW forged 3-piece 255-40 on 9" and 275-40 on 10". These replaced 17" MM 993 Cups with 215-40 0n 7.5" and 255-40 on 9". It's like day and night how civilized the new CCW/Fuzion combo is. Some tires are just plain hard and it transmits all the way through the suspension components. Your wheels are fairly light and very good looking, I think I would try a different tire first if the Perelli's are close to replacement time.

Phil,

Those wheels look great. I'd try different tires before going to a smaller wheel. The P-zero Assimetricos get really noisy and rough as they age so don't through out the wheels with the tires! I put on Bridgestone SO2's and although they perform very nicely, they are very noisy and ride poorly. Consider the Yokahama ES-100 or AVS dB-2. We had Dunlop SP-9000's on my wife's Audi and found them to ride very quietly.

Tire Pressures
 

What tire pressures are you using? If you are using typical Porsche recommendations (typically 44 psi in the rears) it can ride rough. I might try using some lower pressures (maybe 32 in front, 36 in rear) for more ride comfort without compromising handling much. In my experience, the Pirelli's won't last long anyway. In 18" sizes, I have had good luck with Michelin Pilot Sports (and now PS 2) which ride well, have lower noise, and last a long period of time.

Kurt Veggeberg
1996 993 tt 225/40-18 ft. 295/30-18 rear.

Kudos to Kurt!

I took the car over to a car geek (and I mean that in the nicest way) friend of mine at lunch today and he's encouraging me to keep the wheels and try a few other tweaks to the suspension before I start swapping these.

The first thing we did was check tire pressure and WHOA - the rears had 46 psi in them... fronts had 36 in them. We backed off the rears to 36/37 psi and that seems to have at least taken the "edge" off some of the bumps. I just recently had some service done and wonder if the folks at the garage didn't pump them up higher than I had them previously.

To those that asked more details about the wheels

1. These are BW motorsports 3 piece trubo replica wheels - I don't think they are made any more
2. I don't know the offset...
3. They were purchased at Wheel Enhancement in 1998 and according to the receipt I got from the PO, the wheels alone were $2575.

So, thanks to all who have weighed in with an opinion. I think I'm going to keep them for now and when the Pzero Asimmetrico's wear out I'll go searching for a little quiter more compliant shoes.

Phil

I was thinking about the 46 psi last night and was reminded of the great moment in Fear and Loathing by Hunter S Thompson.

While under the influence of his contnuous binge, Hunter decides that he ride of his Great White Shark (A white caddy convertible) is feeling a bit mushy. He drives to the nearest gas station and demands that the attendant put some outrageous amount of air in the tires to tighten up the ride.

The kids eyes get real big and as he is standing there Hunter looks him in eye and says "It's OK son, these are experimental tires..."

phil0618: Nice car you got there. ;)

:-)

I love my car and you know its true!

Since you've last seen it I coated the doors and hatch area with Dynamat, put in new seals on the doors, sunroof and hatch to help with a little noise and I"ve changed all the fluids - coolant, oil, trans as well as putting in new plugs, new coil and DME. The car just flat out hums hums. I suspect that with the exception of a few rattles the car is literally as good as new. Better if you are an M030 suspension kinda guy. I'm indebted to you and all the other previous owners for taking such good care of the thing.

A subwoofer in the back hatch and Voila! I'm a Gran Touring kinda guy.

This ride/wheel/tire thing had me bummed. I'm sure you experienced the same thing I did - EVERYONE compliments the wheels. So I didn't want to give them up. All is fine now that I have the air pressure down to something reasonable.

And for those who haven't figured it out yet, Mr Borroel is the previous owner of my lovely red 968.

Phil

phil0618: I'm glad you are enjoying the car. I enjoyed it as well but I just wanted to move onto my dream car. I'm glad that I found an inidividual that would take care of a beautiful car.

HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry for reviving this post, but I was going through really old posts and saw this.