Porsche 911 tire size

Original tire sizes for the Porsche 911, model years 1965 through 2024. Trim levels and wheel packages change the size within the same year, so confirm on the door-jamb sticker before ordering.

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 1973
• 1972
• 1971
• 1970
• 1969
• 1968
• 1967
• 1966
• 1965

Size by year and trim

Tire size by model year

What Porsche approves

Porsche-approved tires are marked N0, N1, N2 and so on. The number is the generation of the approval, not a quality grade.

Porsche tests each tire against the specific car and raises the number every time the spec is revised. Mixing an N0 on one axle and an N2 on the other is not recommended, and on 911 models the front and rear tires are usually different sizes.

Brands that carry the approval

Written on the sidewall as: Michelin Pilot Sport 4S (N0), Pirelli P Zero (N1).

The drawing carries the sizes we list for this car, so you know what you are looking for. The placard on the car is still the final word, and it is the only place that gives the cold pressures: the number molded into the sidewall is the maximum the tire can hold, not what your car wants.

What those tires cost

Buying wheels at the same time?

A staggered car is the one case where new wheels and new tires usually happen together, because a bent or corroded rear rim is what sends most people shopping in the first place. Four numbers have to match before the size does any good.

Bolt pattern

Number of studs and the circle they sit on, written as 5x114.3. It is not adjustable; adapters are a compromise.

Offset

How far the mounting face sits from the centre line. Wrong offset rubs the strut or the fender, even in the right size.

Centre bore

The hole in the middle must sit on the hub, not on the bolts. A hub-centric ring fills a bore that is too large.

Load rating

Each wheel must carry its share of the loaded car. This is what gets missed on trucks and on anything towing.

Wheels at WheelHero

Wheels and complete wheel and tire packages, mounted and balanced.

About the Porsche 911

The 911 is Porsche's rear-engine sports car, in continuous production since 1964 and now in its eighth generation. It is sold as a coupe, cabriolet and Targa, in rear- and all-wheel drive, and in a long ladder of trims from Carrera to Turbo S and GT3. Tire buyers land here because the 911 is staggered front to rear, uses Porsche-approved N-spec tires, and changes sizes with almost every trim.

Launched in 1964. Launched in 1964, the 911 was presented at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show as the Type 901 and reached customers in September 1964 as a larger, more powerful replacement for the four-cylinder 356.

How to tell the model years apart

Wheel and tire sizes follow the generation, not the badge, so identifying yours matters before you order.

What the press said

The 911 has been a fixture on best-car lists for decades, and the 997 in particular is still treated by the press as the sweet spot for steering feel. The 991's switch to electric power steering was the most controversial change in the model's modern history, and reviewers who liked everything else about the car said so at length. The 992 restored much of the confidence, drawing praise for its body control, gearbox and everyday usability, with criticism reserved for weight, price inflation and a touchscreen-led interior. Reliability and build quality are consistently rated well above the sports-car average.

Those traits and the 2020 911's surprisingly practical qualities ensure that its legendary status is alive and well.

Car and Driver, 2020

Was it a success?

The 911 is the most commercially durable sports car on the market and the model that funds much of Porsche's engineering. Resale is unusually strong, with manual-gearbox and GT-badged cars often selling above list, and even ordinary Carreras depreciating more slowly than any German rival. Reliability is good by sports-car standards, with the main historical caveat the intermediate shaft and bore-scoring issues on early water-cooled engines, which the 2009-on direct-injection cars largely resolved.

Tire options on the Porsche 911

The 911 is staggered in every generation: 235/40R18 front with 265/40R18 rear on the 997, 285/35R20 at the rear of a 991 Carrera, and on the 992 either 235/40R19 and 295/35R20 for Carrera or 245/35R20 and 305/30R21 for Carrera S. Tires must be bought in axle pairs and can never be rotated front to rear. Porsche homologates specific compounds and marks them N0, N1, N2 and so on, and mixing approval generations across axles is not recommended; the unmarked version of the same tire is built to the maker's own spec, not Porsche's. Original equipment is usually Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, Pirelli P Zero or Goodyear Eagle F1 in N-spec, with no run-flats and no spare. Winter tires are available in N-spec from Michelin, Pirelli and Continental, and Porsche's own winter wheel packages drop a size to give more sidewall. Owners rarely upsize; the factory staggered setup is tied to the suspension and stability-control calibration.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org, caranddriver.com, goodcarbadcar.net, newsroom.porsche.com.