PS2 with N3 or PS4

[swang]

I need 225/40 front and 265/35 rear, looking at blackcircles I see PS2 with N3 rating and PS4 without N rating, which ones are better if I'm more concerned about riding quality than handling at extreme?

I saw old threads about PS4 > PS2 but was that compared with the N3 version? What does the N rating mean exactly? Price wise the rear cost about the same, but PS4 is £60 a pair cheaper at front.

[Elmer Fudd]

1 hour ago, swang said:

I need 225/40 front and 265/35 rear, looking at blackcircles I see PS2 with N3 rating and PS4 without N rating, which ones are better if I'm more concerned about riding quality than handling at extreme?

I saw old threads about PS4 > PS2 but was that compared with the N3 version? What does the N rating mean exactly? Price wise the rear cost about the same, but PS4 is £60 a pair cheaper at front.

N ratings are Porsche approved tyres, the higher the number the more improvements have been made to that tyre. There is some speculation as to insurance claims that they wont pay out if the car doesn't have N rated tyres on, although I find that hard to believe, some garages will only fit N rated tyres.

I don't think there's much ride quality difference between PS2 and PS4, but others will prob disagree.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Elmer Fudd

[edc]

There's probably 10 years or more of difference in the respective designs. 

[brillomaster]

definitely PS4.

on a new porsche still under warranty you may need to use an N rated tyre, but on a ~20 year old 986? definitely PS4.

[brillomaster]

have you priced up Goodyear Eagle F1 5s? 98% of the performance of a PS4, but only 85% of the cost... still a very very good tyre...

[swang]

3 hours ago, brillomaster said:

have you priced up Goodyear Eagle F1 5s? 98% of the performance of a PS4, but only 85% of the cost... still a very very good tyre...

they are £80 cheaper all round than PS4, I'll only drive about 2-3000 miles/year, so probably only need to replace tyres once every 4-5 years, the saving doesn't really make that much difference. The rear one 265/35 has mediocre reviews on blackcircles: https://www.blackcircles.com/catalogue/goodyear/eagle-f1-asymmetric-5/265/35/R18/Y/97/f?tyre=38935178#reviewsOverviewOuter, maybe it's just low sampling rate.

 

 

 

[swang]

BTW, my current rear is Bridgestone Potenza S02A, how are these tyres, can't find them on blackcircles, they have kind of poor reviews on tyrereviews, anyone know how good/bad are they?

[Simon]

Can you not get the PS4s ? Notice the little s - totally different tyre to the Pilot Sport 4.

S

[swang]

43 minutes ago, Simon said:

Can you not get the PS4s ? Notice the little s - totally different tyre to the Pilot Sport 4.

S

Not for the profiles I needed

[½cwt]

Work on the basis that the PS4 is a newer design than the PS2 and would only have been homologated by Porsche AFTER the 986 ceased production and therefore would be more orientated to the models current at that time as well as some other general 'Porsche' factors like may be weight or wear characteristics.  Really do not worry about N homologations.  I would be seriously impressed if anyone, even a Porsche test driver, driving on normal roads within normal road driving limits could detect the difference of an N or normal version of the same tyre.  A highly experienced tyre test driver at a purpose built tyre test facility, then may be.

[Boxsum]

I fitted the PS2 N3’s on mine as soon as I bought it and it transformed the car. When I bought my car thou the person selling it had just put on budget tyres to get it through the mot to sell it so don’t really have anything to compare them too.