Rotating tires

[thstone]

You are correct that the insides of the tires will wear more due to the negative camber.

Yes, its fine to swap the tires from wheel to wheel (by dismounting and remounting) in order to "rotate" them to try to get more even wear. No downside except the effort/cost of dismount/remount.

Most street drivers just replace the tires rather than go through the trouble of swapping the tires side-to-side but the track guys do this all of the time.

[san rensho]

Thanks Blue and Thestone. Just what I wanted to hear. Previous owner spent like $1300 for the tires (probably overpaid) and with only 5k miles on them, I want to milk them for as long as I can.

[mikefocke]

give wide latitude to the mechanic. He can set your car up for max grip or even wear and still be in spec. Had both...made a world of difference when I had a guy who knew how to set up Porsches for racing and thus who understand the handling/wear influence of being at one side or the other of the limits set my car up. More than doubled my miles/tire. A set of rears half worn and even at 15k. Never found any downside in normal driving either.

[MikeTZ]

Mike, May I ask where you got this done? I live down in Southern Pines and I'm having a hard time finding a tire shop that I feel comfortable dealing with.
Thanks,
MikeT

[darkstormvx]

I disagree.

My Michelin PS2 tyres indicate that one side faces the outside and 1 faces the inside. If this is true then if I switched the rims, it would make no difference since the same side of the tyre must face the same direction. Outside must face outward no matter what side of the car its on.

If I turned the tire the opposite way, (rotating them), then, while it would wear even, it is against the way Michelin designed them to operate. I am sure they have different compunds on different sides of the tread, as well as different sidewall strengths as well which would be crucial for correct handling.

As a street driver I have never rotated my tyres (on my 987). I always just replace them. They wear slightly inside but not too far from equal. You may need a good alignment.

Other people have done this it seems so correct me if needed. I would guess I have directional tyres and they might not all be the same.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by darkstormvx

I disagree.

My Michelin PS2 tyres indicate that one side faces the outside and 1 faces the inside. If this is true then if I switched the rims, it would make no difference since the same side of the tyre must face the same direction. Outside must face outward no matter what side of the car its on.

If I turned the tire the opposite way, (rotating them), then, while it would wear even, it is against the way Michelin designed them to operate. I am sure they have different compunds on different sides of the tread, as well as different sidewall strengths as well which would be crucial for correct handling.

As a street driver I have never rotated my tyres (on my 987). I always just replace them. They wear slightly inside but not too far from equal. You may need a good alignment.

Other people have done this it seems so correct me if needed. I would guess I have directional tyres and they might not all be the same.

PS2s are not directional, so you're stuck. All you can do is move them side to side on the car, but that won't help wear. Directional tires such as the Bridgestone Potenza S-O2A that the OP has don't have an "outside" wall and can be flipped on the wheel.

[jaykay]

Originally Posted by blue2000s

PS2s are not directional, so you're stuck. All you can do is move them side to side on the car, but that won't help wear. Directional tires such as the Bridgestone Potenza S-O2A that the OP has don't have an "outside" wall and can be flipped on the wheel.

Most boxsters dont have an LSD so would you not get some more wear distribution by swapping sides....? I don't think that they (ps2s) are directional....the drive wheel may see more wear

I tend to chirp it even with traction control on