warranty void with non OEM tires? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

MNBoxster · 09-28-2005, 10:01 PM

Hi,

The N Rated tires are no different than any other tire (given the individual differences between Manufacturers and Models). The N Rating simply means that the tire has been subjected to Porsche Approved Testing and passed. The Tires are not designed to any Porsche specifications. The ratings are: N, N0, N1, N2, N3. The differences in the ratings mean nothing, just that the Manufacturer has changed the Tire and had it retested, so a tire rated N which has been changed and resubmitted for testing will now be rated N1 and so on.

I cannot see why a warranty would be voided for using non-approved tires, but they can interpret the requirements pretty much any way they want since they are fairly ambiguous to begin with. But, unfortunately, they (Porsche) makes the rules, it's their game.

I suspect a likelyhood of some sort of Sweetheart Deal with certain tire manufacturers, because there are many non-approved tires which are better than those approved. If Porsche was truly looking for the best performance from their cars, one has to ask why these tires are not tested for approval?

Anyway, an interesting article on the ratings and such: http://p-car.com/technical/tires.htm

BTW - This is my 100th Post!!!!

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99

lexuspilot · 09-29-2005, 05:31 AM

But, unfortunately, they (Porsche) makes the rules, it's their game.

What a weird game too. You can't specify the rubber on your new vehicle. The new 986's last year had Yoke's and Conti's or more and I know Cayenne's can have a Pirelli's or Conti's or whatever. So it seems Porsche has it's rating system but doesn't choose one brand.

My 2004 came with Yok AVS does that mean any Box is "approved" on those tires.

MNBoxster · 09-29-2005, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lexuspilot

[i] ... My 2004 came with Yok AVS does that mean any Box is "approved" on those tires.

Hi,

Yep, the Yokes are approved. Check out the link I posted. The Yokohama AVS Intermediate is a Wonderful Tire. It is the replacement Tire of choice for the 'G' Model Lotus Esprits - MY '76-'87.

Unfortunately, Yoko decided to quit making it in the Esprit sizes causing many owners to scramble for suitable alternatives. And from all reports, there really isn't one.

I never used it, I went with the Dunlop SP Sport 8000 for my Esprit, which has been one of the best, if not the best, Z-rated Performance Tire I've ever experienced. It isn't the longest wearing tire I've ever used, but it is the best in overall performance. The good news is that it too is Porche Approved.

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99

SJP3003 · 09-30-2005, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lexuspilot

But, unfortunately, they (Porsche) makes the rules, it's their game.

What a weird game too. You can't specify the rubber on your new vehicle. The new 986's last year had Yoke's and Conti's or more and I know Cayenne's can have a Pirelli's or Conti's or whatever. So it seems Porsche has it's rating system but doesn't choose one brand.

My 2004 came with Yok AVS does that mean any Box is "approved" on those tires.

Manfacturers often pick 2 or 3 suppliers per model. Each tire upplier is assigned a percentage of total production. If production goes up, the tire maker scrambles to provide more tires. If production goes down, they sometimes need to offload excess inventory. In a former job I worked as commercial director of an auto group overseas. We negotiated to be Conti's official distributor for our small national market. However, it took us a while to get started as Conti viewed our market as a market to offload tires when their commitments to auto makers waned. BTW to their credit, Conti was upfront about this from the get-go.

Steve