Help Tires/Allingment/Mix&Match

[edevlin]

Thanks all, for the advice. I have decided to go with all 4 Michellin's, I know it is pricey, but I want to see for myself how they ride. Does anyone know if the front pair of Pirelli's I will be taking off are worth saving? They have a fair amount of tread left, thanks,

Ed

2000 Boxster
48K, Arctic Silver/Black

[z12358]

Does anyone know if the front pair of Pirelli's I will be taking off are worth saving? They have a fair amount of tread left, thanks.

Not an expert but my common sense suggest keeping the front Pirellis. As the new rear Michelins will wear out faster than the new fronts, you may want to replace them with new rear Pirellis which will match the old front Pirellis. So potentially you could switch between new Michelin and Pirelli at the rear (as you wear them out faster than the fronts) and always have a matching front pair for each rear pair. Could have said this with much less words but English is not my native language so pls bear with me.

[RandallNeighbour]

edevlin, you posted that from the wear bars on the back, it looked like the car was out of alignment. Note that on our cars, the rear wheels are intentionally aligned with quite a bit of negative camber, making the rears look like this:

/----\ <-- pretty nice ascii artwork, huh?

This alignment setup makes it very difficult for the back end to break loose under heavy cornering, but wears the insides of the tires far faster than the outside.

On my last set of tires, I had Discount Tire knock the rubber off the back rims and flip it around so the inside edge became the outside edge of the other side of the car. This is the only way one can "rotate" unidirectional tires. That made them last about 12k, but you must do it every 2k or so or the tread will be too uneven for safe driving.

And while I'm commenting, I'd keep those front Pirelli's. Considering replacement is the answer for a tire with a nail or screw in it, a spare pair of front tires is mighty nice to have in the garage when you don't have the cash for two new tires that match on the front... I've never been able to find a replacement tire with the identical tread pattern when I needed one... they change them every year it seems.

[MNBoxster]

Hi,

Edevlin - Ditch the used tires!

Tires are only safe for about 4 years regardless of treadwear. This is because their compounds harden, they lose grip exponentially and lose their ability to shed Heat - the #1 Enemy of High Performance Tires.

Also, your tires start to Dry Rot the minute they leave the factory. This process is slow, but steady and will accelerate once the Tires are unmounted.

By the time you'd think of reusing them, they'd be unsafe, would last under 2k mi. (wear will accelerate once they've been set aside and harden), would probably leak against the aluminum rim, be awful in the wet, noisy, etc.

Remember, Tires are much cheaper than Sheet Metal Repair (your's and the other guy's) and People Repair. Like I said earlier - you gotta Pay to Play...

Happy Motoring!... Jim'99