There will be many eyes rolling at the title I'm sure and much has been written on many an internet forum on the topic of N-rated tyres. But I'm not here to enter the murky depths of whether an N-rated tyre has a different rubber compound to it's non-rated equivalent, nor am I going to make any claims as to the performance differences and whether by not using N-rated tyres you will find yourself in a ditch one day.
Today, I'm focussing on something more specific, and answering the question
"Do insurance companies require you to fit N-rated tyres on your Porsche?"
We spoke to a number of UK car insurance companies on this matter, some were less informed on the topic and some had obviously heard the question before, but the answer from all of those we questioned was the same - No, there is no requirement within our policy conditions that you fit N-rated tyres to your Porsche.
The result of our conversations with the insurance companies and reading the small print on policies provided to Porsche owners, it was clear that the requirement to fit OE approved tyres as replacement to satisfy insurance policy conditions is certainly not common, in fact we couldn't find an insurer that did require it. There are however requirements to ensure that the correct tyre size and speed ratings are maintained, although this is still not that common to see it's certainly something that would be recommended for wider safety and performance of your car.
That said, if a car insurer does require you to use OEM parts as a policy condition, firstly this doesn't usually refer to tyres, and if it did it is very unusual, even in the context of ultra high performance cars, such as a 918 for instance. But if it is there, you should check exactly what that means with the insurer before taking out the policy, because strictly speaking OEM refers to using the same brand of replacement parts.
If your car insurance company insists on you using OE approved tyres as part of your policy conditions, then this is not such a grey area and would suggest that you should be fitting N-rated tyres to your car to ensure you are satisfying the conditions of your policy. However, we are not aware of any instance of this being the case, certainly not in the UK.
