"Porsche Classic" tire recommendations

[craigmakes3]

I don't quite understand the official "Porsche classic" tire recommendations. They only came up with two or three choices, and I don't now what the criterion are. Are they claiming the tires they recommend are closest in performance, appearance, tread pattern etc., to the original tires from 34 years ago? Not what I am looking for, I already have old tires on it!

Please recommend your choice of tire for an 81 sc that is never tracked.

Thanks

[manbridge 74]

Hello.

I've had to mount these "classic" type tires in the last year. I believe the Pirelli P6000 is the current Porsche recommendation for your car. The tread compound and pattern are modern and perform quite well.

The chief advantage in my opinion is the sidewall construction. It is stiffer and more suited to the torsion bar suspension design of the 911.

Not that it matters much here in the US but they are also speed rated.

They also mostly give the car the look it had when new.

There are other vintage/new tires available which may or may not perform as well.

[Oh Haha]

I'm happy with Yokahama S Drives on my SC.

[manbridge 74]

I've mounted S Drives and they seem to satisfy those that are running them. They also have fairly firm side walls. If I recall correctly they are a little harder than Pirelli's.

[zakthor]

I had s.drives for two days. Coming from re50. Hated s.drive and returned them. Squishy especially in back, made me sad to have my car feel like that though not as bad as re940.

Went for Bridgestone RE11A and they are perfect. Best upgrade I've ever made and reasonably priced (all 4 for $660 at Costco). Quiet and great grip rain or shine though they are bumpy until warm when temp is much below freezing (flat spot when parked).

Have been great in Seattle's rain but would be terrible in any snow.

Everyday grip is unbelievable and transforms the car.

[joe payne]

My 78 came with the original P7's when I bought it in 1990. It only had 51,000 miles on it though. Those tires were the bomb back in the day.

[Ferraripete]

Originally Posted by joe payne

My 78 came with the original P7's when I bought it in 1990. It only had 51,000 miles on it though. Those tires were the bomb back in the day.

yes! the cn 36 was another option...not as cutting edge as the P7 of course.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by zakthor

I had s.drives for two days. Coming from re50. Hated s.drive and returned them. Squishy especially in back, made me sad to have my car feel like that though not as bad as re940.

Went for Bridgestone RE11A and they are perfect. Best upgrade I've ever made and reasonably priced (all 4 for $660 at Costco). Quiet and great grip rain or shine though they are bumpy until warm when temp is much below freezing (flat spot when parked).

Have been great in Seattle's rain but would be terrible in any snow.

Everyday grip is unbelievable and transforms the car.

I sure wish they made them in 15s.

It is a REAL challenge to find a decent tire for street use for a 15. Lots of gummy autocross tires but almost nothing for a tire to drive in the rain or on the highway road trip with decent performance.

[rockreid]

yes, I have real piece of crap 15" Michelin Defenders on my 73.5 that are all way too squishy and just wrong for this car. I plan to run them ragged this first few thousand miles then ditch them when this car comes out of storage in the spring 16.

I bought these real pieces of crap just to get something on the rims for registration and bug-runout purposes. The Pirelli tires from 1986 or so were still on the rims and one disintegrated on the tire machine when taking it off the Fuchs wheel.

[wildthing]

So according to Porsche, they recommend the N rated S-02's for my 16" wheels. The RE-11's also show up on the search results in TireRack for my car.

Anybody used the N-rated S-02's lately?

I'm using older RE-11's right now and they seem fine. I think the only difference with the new ones is the thread wear rating. Mine is 180, the new ones are 200. Besides price, there are a few other differences between the S-02's and the RE-11's, as shown in TireRack's comparison tool. But in the real world, do they matter?

[86 911 Targa]

We have always street use only used the Pirelli 7's
thru the '7000 tires over many decades.

Good wear index, and street performance,

and, we don't get much rain here.............

Don't know about the newer Pirelli tires.

Gerry