Whats coming for new tires for the LX platform?

[MattRobertson]

A couple of weeks ago I was a vendor at the annual convention of the Porsche Club of America, the largest single-marque car club in the world. As such, the vendors pull out the big guns (including Porsche themselves, who pulled a surprise rabbit out of their hat and privately unveiled the new Panamera there... *incredible* car!).

Anyway... big guns... vendors. Tire manufacturers! The performance guys are all there, and I gave them my annual 20" tire grilling.

Bridgestone is coming out with something new and cool for SRT fitment. Should be a 255/45/20. Might be the RE-11, which would be incredible for track performance on stock wheels. I say "should" and "might" because the guy told me they were definitely coming out and, when he went to get details he came back and told me he had to completely clam up.

Pirelli is providing OE fitments for the new Panamera, and this means they are offering a 255/40/20 in the uber high performance P Zero. The Porsche version will differ slightly from the already existing (and massively reinforced) Bentley version, and the slightly wider Mercedes version, in that it will be a hair narrower in cross section and one pound lighter than the Benz version, at 27 lbs. Tire Rack just listed it, but its not yet in stock.

The 255/40/20 was intro'd on the GT-R and I have been waiting for that size to proliferate for some time. It should be a *perfect* lower-profile, double-duty, track-and-street tire for SRT fitment. Up to now the only ones avalable were runflats weighing about 38 lbs. Look for this size to become a bit more prevalant as now there are four major sports and luxury cars using that size. Me, I'm probably going to the Pirelli's as my next street tires/wet track tires.

[Charg-um]

Still wishing for a nice raised white letter option on tires...

[Bud]

"If" they do end up being the RE-11's, I'll be one happy camper. 180 tread wear rating vs. 200 (Nitto NT05's), and a stiffer sidewall would give this tire a notable advantage. I'd say trading in my 275's for these 255's with it's advantages would be a worthwhile compromise.

[Fargo59]

i had contacted michelin a few months back. their current offering is a grand touring tire in the 245/45/20 size. they said they had no intentions of making a pilot series in a size like that. "but would pass it on to marketing for consideration" just wanted to know why my intrepid came with Pilot sports, but i cant get them for my charger. oh well....

[eldiablosrt8]

LOL, hey matt thanks for the news..... im looking at getting another lx, probally a totalled out sxt to strip and build up and 20 inch tires is the route i wanna go.... i miss autocrossing.... its funny the tires i liked the most were my prada specs...also the cheapest...LOL

[Grimlock]

I am just hoping that they make a true R-compound tire that fits stock SRT rims.

The only way to be competitive autocrossing now is to buy super expensive custom 18-19" rims that clear the Brembos. I personally don't want to have to pay Fiske $10K for rims just to compete in my class!

You'd think that 20" R-tires would be coming soon....I hope!

And yeah, if you ask me the PCA is the best car club/racing series in the US. If I were geting back into racing I think I'd buy another Porsche. Or I might consider a Spec-Miata.

The PCA is vastly superior in number of runs or laps versus any other club I've run with. Very efficient and good instruction too.

I wish I could run my SRT with the PCA!

[CVP33]

Car and Driver just had a great tire test article pitting "cheap tires" against the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's. One tire in particular I've been dying to try is the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110. Long freaking name for what turns out to be a pretty damn strong tire. The Hankook's came in second in the test to Dunlop Star Spec's, which don't come in our size.
Here's some highlights:

Dry Autocross time

• Hankook 59.8 seconds
• Michelin 60.1 seconds

Dry Braking 50-0mph

• Hankook 81.1 feet
• Michelin 81.9 feet

Wet Autocross time

• Hankook 61.0 seconds
• Michelin 60.7 seconds

Wet Braking 50-0mph

• Hankook 85.1 feet
• Michelin 87.0 feet

Sound Level 50mph dBA

• Hankook 61
• Michelin 62

Dry Skid Pad

• Hankook .93g
• Michelin .92g

Wet Skid Pad

• Hankook .87g
• Michelin .88g

I must say I'm pretty impressed with these results. Now I must add that these were for 225/45/17 tires so there's no promise that these results would translate to better performance on our cars. However, it should be noted that the Hankooks also beat the Nitto Invo, Falken Azenis RT-615 (nearly a pure track tire), Yokohama S.Drive, BFGoodrich G-Force KDW, Bridgestone Potenza RE760 and the Kumho Ecsta XS.

There's also a $50 rebate on a set right now through August 31st, so I'm definitely going to try a set. The only question now is 255/45 or 275/35 which are the only two sizes I would mount.

Thoughts?

[CVP33]

I am just hoping that they make a true R-compound tire that fits stock SRT rims.

Maybe now that the Camaro is running our tire size we'll see more options.

[Grimlock]

I just want something like the old Yokohama A032R that I used to run on my Porsche as rain tires. Those would work find as a low milage street tire or autocross tire. I would run them as a combo tire.

The grooves worked well in wet weather and you could get 5K worth of use out of them.

[eldiablosrt8]

that lil write up i can back up i ran the factory(rsa and f1) on my rims and i even tried the pirellis....

the yokohamas felt better and i could get about 20000 miles out of them and that was autocrossing 2x a month, LOL

[xevilpetex]

I am just hoping that they make a true R-compound tire that fits stock SRT rims.

The only way to be competitive autocrossing now is to buy super expensive custom 18-19" rims that clear the Brembos. I personally don't want to have to pay Fiske $10K for rims just to compete in my class!

You can find 18" wheels for way less then $10k. Look at Matt who is running the Borbets. You can also look at something like a CCW wheel spec'd out to fit your needs.

[CVP33]

You can find 18" wheels for way less then $10k. Look at Matt who is running the Borbets. You can also look at something like a CCW wheel spec'd out to fit your needs.

Will the Borbets clear SRT suspension and brakes? Matt has a 300C I believe.

[xevilpetex]

Will the Borbets clear SRT suspension and brakes? Matt has a 300C I believe.

I dont see why not, Matt has a magnum R/T lowered on KWv2's and with bigger front brakes then the stock srt brembos.

[Rob@WretchedMS]

"If" they do end up being the RE-11's, I'll be one happy camper. 180 tread wear rating vs. 200 (Nitto NT05's), and a stiffer sidewall would give this tire a notable advantage. I'd say trading in my 275's for these 255's with it's advantages would be a worthwhile compromise.

I have the RE11's on my GTO, they are top notch, I ran the RE01R's last year, and the RE11 is better. If they come available for my SRT8 i will be happy to beat on them for a while at the track.

One note on tread wear ratings,
you can only compare tires from the same manufacturer, so you can compare a Bridgestone to a Bridgestone, but not a Bridgestone to a Goodyear, ect.
When the government came up with the UTQG rating system, they decided that it was a bad idea to have a standard rating and thus be able to actually use the treadwear ratings to compare tires.
so, if you have a Bridgestone with 200 rating, and another Bridgestone with a 400, then it should last twice as long, but if you have a Bridgestone with a 200 and a Goodyear with a 200, it means absolutely nothing.

[MattRobertson]

i had contacted michelin a few months back. their current offering is a grand touring tire in the 245/45/20 size. they said they had no intentions of making a pilot series in a size like that.

Did I forget to mention the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 is coming out in 255/40/20, as a competing fitment to the upcoming Porsche Panamera? Pirelli won the OEM deal but Michelin is bringing their tire out anyway. The Panamera that Porsche showed us had Michelins on it.

:-)

... and Tire Rack is also now showing this tire and showing it on backorder. Really it hasn't quite been released yet just like the Pirellis. But as usual with the PS2's, they are expensive sob's.

I am just hoping that they make a true R-compound tire that fits stock SRT rims.

Forget about it. Seriously. I have been bending ears for that directly for years with these guys and the word so far is it will never happen. As in 'hell no' as opposed to just 'no'. Only Pirelli has the capability to economically do short production runs for low-demand tires at present. They've got technology that lets them change molds in 45 minutes, according to a Pirelli rep that gave a presentation on the process.

If the big tires keep coming out on trackworthy cars - and so far only the GT-R is one of those - then we have a chance. If I were to guess I'd say we have at least 2-3 years for this to happen.

The only way to be competitive autocrossing now is to buy super expensive custom 18-19" rims that clear the Brembos. I personally don't want to have to pay Fiske $10K for rims just to compete in my class!

Then spend $200 per wheel and buy Borbet Type TS 18x8.5's from Tire Rack. Then put Hoosier R6's on in 255/40/18. The Borbets will clear your Brembos by a mile. I have the monster W6A calipers on front now and they even clear them. The drawback: The Hoosiers are 26" diameter tires, so that drops the car still another inch, and now I'm close to dragging the rockers on the ground in some curves. Also the Hoosiers are (perhaps dangerously) over spec on our heavy cars. I can't recommend them as a safe alternative but there are other 18" tires you can fit.

You can also look at something like a CCW wheel spec'd out to fit your needs.

Hah! CCW's were part of my secret plan. The one I never did.

1. Build up a set of Classics in race config (no center caps etc.) and another matching set in street config. Size: 18x12. Yes... 12 for the track and 11 for the street.
2. Fit Hoosier R6's all the way around in 345/35/18 for the track and Falken Azenis' in 295/40/18 for the street.
3. Make up the baddest fender flares on Earth to fit that stuff inside the fenders.

Steering might be adversely affected with such wide tires in the front, but I wouldn't need to steer if everyone in front of me pisses themselves when they look in their rear view mirror.

Alas it was way too much money to pull off... If I win the lottery or something I'm doing it.

Matt has a 300C I believe.

*cough* *cough* *splutter* *GASP*