Chapter 2 of Tires for Turbos . . .
I'm envious of dr_2r2's nice BFG KO2s. I have a set on my GX470 and think they're almost magical in how well they work on pavement given their off-road performance. Alas, I can have no such tires for my Cayenne Turbo. [sniffle]
A while back—Post 321 of this thread—I wrote about my efforts to get some traction tires that would work on my 2012 Cayenne Twin Turbo. The gist of that post was that the Gen 3 Turbo’s big brake rotors meant that 19 inch wheels were the smallest that would fit, which led to me bemoaning the fact that, as best I could determine, the only 19” all-terrains available were the 255/60R19 Goodyear Adventure
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and the 255/55 Goodyear DuraTrac.
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Back then, the decision between them came down to 1) the fact that the Adventures were 60-series and thus had a bit more sidewall and 2) that they were nominally 31” tires while the Duratracs were 30”. The fact that the Adventures were less aggressive seemed a good thing, since when I got them, I hadn’t expected to take the Porsche anywhere where a more gung-ho tire would matter.
So I bought the Adventures and put them on 19” Sport Edition wheels and have been using them for going on two years. They’ve been great, and I like having them on much better than the Michelin Latitudes on 21” wheels that came on the truck originally. The Adventure's much higher sidewall makes the ride a lot better, but there’s no matching loss of handling at any of the speeds I drive. The Adventures are especially quiet, good in snow, and they don’t seem to have any drawbacks on public roads. I’m starting to think that, in fact, that the average Cayenne Turbo user would be better served by a cushy set of A/Ts like these than their rubber-band-like 35 series tires.
Recently, though, I’ve gotten the Turbo out out to the Tillamook OHV area and have run it around enough to be impressed with its capabilities. We took along my GX470 and there actually didn’t seem to be much to choose between the two trucks in terms of performance on moderate stuff. Actually, maybe the Cayenne is better for not-too-serious stuff, since suspension is brilliant on washboard (better than my trucks with custom suspensions) and I was surprised and impressed with the Cayenne's articulation and available clearance.
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Anyway, the exercise has resulted in me becoming more committed to using the CTT more extensively off pavement, which in turn led to thoughts about more aggressive tires. The thought I had was to continue to run the Adventures for most use, but should I be taking a trip that would include some off-pavement stuff, I'd just swap on the more aggressive wheel set for that trip and then go back to the Adventures when I was back home.
So I went to the Tire Rack website to check the pricing of the 255/55R19 Duratracs and, aargh, they weren’t there anymore. Likewise not at the other usual tire-vending suspects. Then I went to the Goodyear website, and they were gone from there, too. Panic. A web search for 255/55R19 Duratracs led me to the Walmart website, which let me order them and, sure enough, a set of four showed up ten days later from Simple Tire in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, 3000 miles away. (Internet commerce is sometimes kinda strange.) I assume Goodyear discontinued the size after realizing that the number of people needing commercial traction tires for 19” wheels is pretty small. The fact that most of the SUVs on 19s can also run 18s, which would be better yet and offer lots of tire options is a big factor in this. After all, I’d be on 18s except they don’t fit over the rotors.
As with the Adventures, the totally competent folks at Portland’s German vehicle specialists Matrix Integrated mounted the Duratracs up to second set of the same Sport Edition wheels—chosen solely because I knew they’d fit right—and got them balanced without hassle. They look like this:
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I’ve driven them around for a few hundred miles and am more than pleased. They might be a little noisier than the Adventures, but they’re a long way from noisy; you don’t notice them unless you decide to think about it. Handling seems plenty good and the lower sidewall doesn’t seem to matter to ride quality (my Cayenne’s PASM suspension has struck me as VERY good on all three sets of tires). I had Duratracs on my XV-JP and thought they were a great tire, so I was pleased to find they work even better on the Cayenne.
I expected that the inch reduction in diameter would have resulted in a half-inch more clearance in the wheel wells and it probably did, but a half-inch isn’t much and the clearance in still pretty tight. Like the Adventures, though, there’s no rubbing even at full lock, and no rubbing in any of the five suspension height settings.
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I know this isn’t a particularly relevant post, given that the number of North American 2011+ Cayenne Turbos being off-roaded is apparently in the low single digits. I write this stuff up largely because I know how I couldn’t find any useful information and if there ever is another Turbo owner with the need for aggressive tires, this will help save experimentation. (And if this is pertinent to someone out there, think about grabbing a set of the Duratracs before they are all gone. I doubt they’ll be coming back.)
Finally, for the sake of completeness in this reference piece . . . There is one other 19 inch option . . . the 255/55R19 Atturo Blade Mud Terrain:
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I haven't been a big fan of Mud Terrains for a pavement driver, not even on my Rubicon, so I didn’t give them serious thought to compliment the Adventures. But they do fit and they are available, and there are a few generally positive reviews (e.g.,
http://landroverforums.com/forum/off-topic-5/review-atturo-trail-blade-mts-255-55r19-76507) from Rover guys. They’d either look really serious or really goofy on a Gen 3 Cayenne. Someone buy a set so we can decide.
