997 tire$....ouch!
 

Geez....that N rating sure hurts. I would love to know the technical differences between an N rated (Porsche approved) tire and its non rated counterparts. N rated tires are nearly twice as much. I went with Bridgestone Potenzas, and it was almost $1300 just for the tires. With shipping + mounting over $1500. Tires of the same size without the rating are under $800 a set.

Gotta pay if you want to play, I know, I know.....

The whole N-rated thing seems a bit overblown. When a particular Porsche model is new, there's at least one tire manufacturer making N-rated tires for it. As the car ages, the tire manufacturer(s) no longer produce N-rated tires for it. So, you're eventually stuck with non-N-rated tires anyway.

That is another reason I love my old 85 911 with 15 inch wheels. I bought a set of four for under $500.

Technical differences..............Porsche has their name on the N rated ones?

Based on what Tire Rack shows, the cheaper S04 are actually rated significantly better than the N rated RE050A (#2 vs #20). I have the S04 on my 996 and love them. All four tires were under $600 in 18" OEM sizes.

I went with Porsche recommended tires because you have only a few square inches of tire riding on the road. Am well familiar with the high prices of tires as I have bought six of them for my Boxster since last fall( 2 snow tires -Pirelli and 4 Michelin a/s ). Good tires are worth it. Cheap tires not so much.....
G:)

I just bought a similar set of 19" N Rated Bridgestone Potenzas and they were also $1300. Most expensive set of rubber bought to date.

I highly agree that you don't want to cheap out on tires. But I don't think the N rated tires are any better. Does that mean Ferrari installs inferior tires because they aren't N rated? Just like buying a Mahle filter vs a Porsche branded filter (made by Mahle), you are paying for the name on the box.

this is why i always buy the car with the smallest wheels possible, tires are way cheaper.

too bad 16 inch becoming a no mans land. 15 is still pretty full up, but 16 inch is quickly becoming a no mans land for high performance tires. i'd love to widen my phone dials in back, cause i run 8 inch wide with a 225 in front, and i'd love to run 9 or even 10 inch widened dials in back, but you can't find any 235-255 in 16 inch ...

I'd love to know how much better 1 tire is from the next on the street. auto-x or a de, sure. But on the street? I dont think so. Nothing at all wrong with the N spec's, they are great tire, but they surely arent a requirement.

I don't know what HD bought, when I looked up a 2005 997S on Tire Rack the Potenza options are the N-rated RE050A and S04. Tire Rack does a great job doing testing to compare tires both on the street and track, apples to apples with the same car, same sizes, etc. The last test they did with the RE050A was in 2004 (that's an OLD tire design) where it finished 3rd to the Goodyear Eagle F1 and Michelin Pilot PS2. The last test of the S04 was in 2013, where it finished 2nd to the Pilot Super Sport. In the max performance summer category surveys the S04 is 2nd to the Pilot Super Sport, while the RE050A is 20th. So in this case, most data seems to indicate that the S04 may be a better tire.

Does the S-04 come in a 'N' rating? Discount tire shows a pair of 285/30R18 rears and 225/40R18 fronts with tax out the door for $982 mounted at my local store. Speed rating is Y.

How fast are you going on city streets? Is it really necessary to push that tire to the max? That's where it counts anyway, right? I used to spend crazy money for the best summer tires I can find only to discovered that it made very little difference on a spirited drives through the canyons even when pushed hard. I am sure the N tires are better, but is it $500 better, I am not sure?

I purchased some Conti DWS tires for my 993. They had a vibration that the tire installer just couldn't dial out, it was frustrating. I bit the bullet and instead went with the Michelin N rated Pilot Sports for the 993 (found on the Michelin web site). Not only did they balance nicely but they rode so much nicer. I'm not sure if was because of the 'N' rating or because they were Pilot Sports but I will be getting the same tire next time.

A coworker of mine mentioned the other day that he needed new tires for his huge lifted 4x4 truck - $450 per tire!. I didn't feel so bad about the price of the Pilot Sports after that.

Agree this all hinges on purpose. I have no plans for tracking my car - simply a fun DD for me. It's currently running on PS2 with ~ 5K miles on them. When the time comes I would not hesitate to mount up S-04s based on the feedback.

Tire Rack shows an N rated S02 ($1138). I don't believe the S04 is N rated, they have the set at $806 which does not include shipping. Y rated is 186 MPH, pretty sure that's sufficient for me.;)

Classic salesman scare tactic.

I did go with the N-rated RE050A over the S04. Thats what prompted this thread. My car came from the dealer with RE050A on it, and I was happy with them.

My concern is ride quality and longevity, not performance. Sad but true. I read some reviews indicating that the Non-N rated tires wore out very quickly. I put 14k on the current set, and could probably squeeze another 1-2k out of them. If a non rated tire only makes it 8k, I figure its sort of a wash.

Matt, I would love to know how long those S04's last on your P-car. I realize there are lot a variables involved there.....

N-othing

From what I read on the forums, the 996 is doing pretty good to get 20k out of a set of tires due to aggressive alignment settings and the inability to rotate. Even though my car is a daily driver my commute is only a few miles, so I don't put many on it. I also run snow tires all winter, so they only get used for 7-ish months per year. My guess is that the tires will get replaced due to age vs mileage. That is if I manage to keep it that long, which I don't seem to be very good at.:cool:

I went with the non-N S0-4 last summer on my CS for the same reason as above. No regrets - works fine for me.