My friend lives on the same block as Ichiro

 

Why the heck would you take your car to Barrier for tires? You feel like wasting money? Why would they have to get them from Germany?

 

Originally when I needed tires, I tried getting them from Tirerack.com only to be told at the time that Porsche had some sort of an agreement with the tire manufacturers that they'd only sell "N" rated tires through the dealership. I had heard rumors however that might have changed since then. Based on that, I'm not exactly sure why Larry is getting his from Barrier by way of Germany. Surely they must have a set of tires in the states somewhere.

 

You can get N rated tires anywhere now. Not a big deal. Many places have them in stock.

 

That's great news for me. I still don't know why Larry is getting his from Germany.

 

^^^I can't imagine the shipping costs for one set of tires from the homeland!!!

 

Jason told me the whole story. Sorry to hear about this Larry. I hope they'll fix it right for you.


John

 

Yes, for most tire sizes that is true, but in the case of the 997 Turbo that is not the case. As of last Friday Tire Rack had 8 Bridgestone N1's for the front only and one N0 for the rear , they had something like 10 Michelins for the rear only. I could have gotten a full set of N rated Pirelli's, but I don't want those (I have my reasons).

In talking with the technical staff at Porsche I was warned not to mix tires on the 997 AWD cars. (Lots of technical gobbly gook like slip angles and circumference disparity.) The warranty would be voided and AWD damage likely would occur. It was also pointed out it was problematical if you have new tread on one axle and old tread on the other axle. Bottom line they recommend replacing AWD tires as a set, even though I may have 3-4K of wear left on the front tires. I did get a little more than 14K miles out of this set of tires, which I believe is better than I should have expected.

The reason the tires are coming from Germany is that Atlanta (Porsche's US parts depot) didn't have a set in stock.

I realize I'm paying top dollar buying from Barrier, but I have no alternative. I went through a similar situation on my M3 (Dinan wheels) I waited for several months for Michelin and Bridgestone backorders to come through before I finally caved and bought 10 year old technolgy Dunlops. Tire Rack is currently backordered for tires to fit my Turbo. I'm not going sit around waiting for tires for months to save a few dollars.

 

John,

As soon as I get some damage taken care of I'll be over for some replacement clear bra. I'm looking forward to driving a REAL car (Scion).

 

Yeah, we have two different versions. We got the amateur version with 108 horsepower and automatic transmission. For a die-hard racer like yourself we'll hand over the keys to a 158 horsepower automatic transmission Scion. Just be careful, it'll get away from you.


John

 

^^you guys tore it up out at autox in those scions! =D it was very entertaining!

 

Larry, nice talking to you today ! Hope your car will be ready very soon !

 

That makes two of us. It was nice to see your new ride in person. It looks even better than the photos. Enjoy it in good health.

 

Larry, do you think it is ok in our climate to use my Pzero tires for year round use or should I invest in a set of winter tires? Curious what you would recommend since you seem to know quite alot about tires. My TT is my daily driver to/from work, etc., so would greatly appreciate your (and any other 6-speeder) expert advice.! Thanks!

 

Greta, I am by no means an expert, but what I do know is that high performance summer tires generally lose their traction abilities at temperatures below 45 degrees. They are certainly not any good for snow and ice. Unless you plan on driving frequently over the passes a good quality all season tire would be perfectly adequate. Your summer tires are good enough on a cold, dry winter day, if your careful. In my case I'll drive occasionally in the winter on a nice day with my summer tires to stir up the fluids in the car. If you were cautious and since your commute is a short distance on surface streets you could get by with summer tires except for the few knarly days we might have.

But, you have to determine what your driving parameters are and go from there. I'd recommend you contact the Tire Rack and have them give you a list of your options. One thing you'll have to consider is are you going to get another set of wheels or mount and dismount your tires twice a year.

Once you've determined what tires you're going to buy then you need to select a good tire mounting shop that won't screw up your wheels. I've used Group 2 near Ballard many times and I'd certainly recommend Colin Cantrell in Totem Lake. Of course everyone has a favorite shop and you can get lots of recommendations here.

If all this sounds like a hassle I'd suggest getting an Audi A3 AWD car with all season tires. I drove mine 2500 miles last winter to Colorado and back on hard pack snow, slush, black ice, loose snow to about six inches and vicious side winds in several cases. The car performed like a champ and I never had to put on chains. Besides it's a real fun car to drive, and if Jason has one it can't be all bad can it?