Pirellis worn out at 9000 klms!

[ekam]

It's been mentioned already that for any type of mileage warranty to be valid, you need to do 4-tire rotation every 5k which is not possible on staggered tire sizes on our cars. Read the fine print.

[Lil bastard]

Yep, rear tire wear on any mid/rear-engine Porsche is about 2:1 vs. the fronts, going all the way back to the 356. That's due to the odd rear camber req'd. to compensate for engine weight. So that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Personally, I've always liked Pirellis. Used them on several past hot cars with good performance and wear. Have a set right now on my '76 2002.

I got over 20k mi. on a set on my former '99 Boxster and still wasn't on the wear indicators (though getting close). The wear on Pirellis, in my experience, is not linear. It appears that significant tread loss occurs at about 10k mi. and then slows down until about 16k mi., picks up again and stays fairly linear until the wear indicators. Pirellis, in my experience, are much more sensitive to proper alignment, balancing and inflation.

That said, 9k Kms. is waay too little service for the P-Zero Rosso. Did you buy them new or did they come with the car already in service? Could you be wrong about the actual service distance? Are you diligent about keeping the proper pressure?

If not, I suspect a defective set, poor alignment or poor inflation discipline, or a right foot in need of adjustment.

I'd contact Pirelli directly.

Cheers!

PS Check the fine print on your tire warranty on those 40k mi. tires. I'm betting that the 'Z' rated ones are excluded. I just got a set of tires for my 964 - non-summer, Z-rated M+S (it's just a cruiser) from Tire Rack. I chose them mostly because of their 40k warranty. Several weeks later, the Tire Warranty paperwork arrived from Tire Rack, and in the fine print, it excluded the Z-rated tire from the warranty. The W and U rated tires were warranted to 40k mi., but not the Z's.

[ChrisZang]

as they say: "friends don't let friends buy P-Zero Rosso"

[Overdrive]

The way I see it, you're never going to get a ton of mileage out of a strictly summer tire, anyways, or else I figure they'd name them "dry weather tires" rather than naming them for a season, which is probably how long they're typically expected to last.

I plan to drive my car until snow hits the ground, so for me I feel some UHP all-seasons are the ticket, but if you live in a place where you don't get terrible weather often, you get to buy a grippier tire that won't last as long.

While I agree the mileage you've gone is extremely short and probably means there's an issue separate from the tire's type, it is a summer tire, and by its nature it's not going to last long. But until a company creates a tire with summer grip and touring treadlife, resulting in them becoming insanely rich, you'll either be getting a lot of grip and little life, not so much grip and plenty of life, or some compromise in between, and be paying accordingly.

...and for what you're paying, and the driving style and habits you've given us, you're much better off finding yourself something that costs less and will last longer since you don't need grip that's going to give you vertebrae damage

[ryuujin]

Thanks to all who replied. Yes I fitted the tyres when the original Pirellis were due for replacement. I'm diligent with the pressures as recommended by Porsche ( and pirelli). Both rear tyres are worn evenly across the face of the tyre so I assume the alignments is good .

I've had Pirellis on other vehicles without problem which is one of the reasons I was keen to fit them again. I've written a rather terse email to Mr. Pirelli here in Australia - the reply I received was as expected biased towards my driving technique and conditions. I have since replied with the "dot" information off the tyres as requested in an effort to track the tyres and 'batch' them. I have since spoken at length to the workshop manager of my Porsche Dealer who told me that he had never experienced this sort of premature wear on a car that he knows is not driven hard. He has suggested fitting Continentals (?) I'm still unsure what to go with at this stage.

Pete from OZ

[Mark_T]

I put a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus tires on my car last fall. I went with the all seasons so that I could drive later into the fall and start earlier in the spring without fear of getting caught in a surprise snow storm. I have 15K kms on them, I drive hard and corner fast, and there is still loads of tread left.

I like these tires and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

[mikefocke]

And that is about a third of what I got with a set of Michelin Ribs (no longer sold) which were summer ultra high performance tires...and they were not down to the wear bars by any means when I replaced them for age of tires reasons. So something is really really wrong if you are getting so little with the driving style you describe. Only time I've ever seen mileage that low was when alignment was seriously wrong and the wear was only on one side of the tire tread.

I don't recall any Pirelli stories as bad as yours though in the US it is no longer a very often used tire from my reading of the forums....expensive as a Michelin and not as commonly available.

Since you don't track or stress the car, why not try a much lower priced tire. Since I'm not on the same continent, so don't know what your available choices would be, but over here Kumho and Sumitomo are commonly used lower priced tires.

[BlitzSRM]

Originally Posted by ryuujin

Thanks to all who replied. Yes I fitted the tyres when the original Pirellis were due for replacement. I'm diligent with the pressures as recommended by Porsche ( and pirelli). Both rear tyres are worn evenly across the face of the tyre so I assume the alignments is good .

I've had Pirellis...

Pete from OZ

Is it normal for the rear tires to wear evenly across the face?

Mine Boxster always wore on the inside. Even my NSX, and S2000 wore on the inside.

Maybe your toe is off. Would that cause even wear???

I had my Boxster aligned after my first set wore out fast. I'm not sure how it will wear this time.

[mikefocke]

at the track...both within specs. Someone who really knows Porsches can set yours up for even wear.