TIRE WEAR AGAIN

Maybe I am just a complainer, but even driving aggressive on canyon roads all the time, I would expect a little more than 5000 miles out of a rear set of Pirelli P-Zero's??? My front tires have been on the car for the last 21,000 miles and are probably about 2/3rds worn. I have had two valve stems crack, one in front the other day, and one in the right rear that destroyed the tire. The rears as well as the fronts are wearing evenly, although the rears seem to wear more aggressively in the center. The corners have slightly more tread then the rest of the tire which is now at the wear limit with slightly under 5000 miles on them. I had read post about these tires running the centers out when inflated to the factory 44 psi. I have been running them at 39 psi rear, and 33 psi fronts. I think that maybe it is time for a change. I still want a tire that will handle well under aggressive driving, but would like to see a little more wear out of the rears. I am beginning to feel like a slave to replacing my tires all the time. Any suggestions??? Thanks, Tom L 2002 C2

Michelin PSII is what you should try out next. I had P-zero's and I will never buy them again.

I'll be switching to Michelin when the front P Zeros wear out in another 10-15K miles, but only because I like Michelin better. I got 18K miles on the first P Zero Rosso rears, and they probably could have gone another 1-2Kmiles. I don't track the car and generally hold it to about 8-9/10ths in the corners..................

I used P-Zero's exclusively on my 2001 C4, liked them but they did wear quickly!! I have Michelin Pilot Sports on my C4S and it took a bit to get used to them but I'm sold on them now.

how do you get broken stems and such short wear? do you accel hard all the time? i get 20k mi from mostly highway driving. sounds like you should try a harder compound tire.

Unfortunately maximum handling capabilities aren't compatible with long tire life. Without getting into brand names, you can go with a tire with harder rubber and of course you can dial some of the negative camber out of your alignment. If you do this you'll probably get around 15K miles out of your rear tires, but you'll sacrifice your 996's stopping and cornering capabilities. Having said this, 5K miles is on the low side unless you drive your car consistenly hard; 10K miles for the rears is what you should expect. What type of tire wear are you getting on your rears? When's the last time you've had your alignment checked?

I really like the P-Zero's for the way they handle, but like you said, they wear out too quickly. When I bought the car it had 6,450 miles on the clock and was fitted with P-Zeros. I don't track or auto-X my car. Here is the wear history I had with the P-Zeros. Set 1 - (original tires) lasted 8,500 wrote Pirelli and complained about the center of the rear tires wearing out prematurely. Pirelli gave me a 50% discount on the replacement tires. I ran 39 PSI on the new rears. 44 PSI is just too high for P-Zeros. Set 2 - at 13,000 on the car (4,500 on the 2nd set) had road hazard damage to one of the rear tires. Set 2.5 - Bought new replacement tire. One month later, someone on this forum offered a free P-Zero tire, which had about 70% tread left. I got that tire and waited until the "older" of the set 2 wires got worn down too much and installed the "free" tire at 18,500 miles on the car (or 10,000 miles on the remaining "Set 2" tire). Tread depth of the "free" matched the "road hazard" replacement tire at that time. At 23,000 miles, the rear tires were shot again and fronts were also ready to be replaced. Set 3 - I bought 4 Bridgestone Potenza RE750 tires, which are NOT "N" rated tires. The RE750's have a tread wear rating of 340 compared to 220 tread wear rating for the P-Zeros. I have about 2,500 miles on the RE750's and here are a few observations about these tires. o - I have seen limited wear on these tires, which is good. o - They are not a sticky as the P-Zeros, but that is to be expected based upon the harder rubber compound. o - The rear tires are 265/35/R18, which is narrower than the 285/30/18 P-Zeros. o - I also find that the rear tires feel "harsher" than the P-Zeros did, especially when driving over expansion joints and small irregularities on the roads and highways. This may be due either to the narrower width and/or the harder rubber compound. o - The RE750�s are fairly quiet tires, probably quieter than the P-Zero�s at highway speeds. o - From a ride and handling standpoint, I prefer the P-Zeros, but from a wear perspective the RE750's are very good. There are going to be pros and cons with almost every tire. Choosing between handling versus wear, ride comfort versus traction, are some of the issues that most drivers need to resolve when choosing a particular set of tires. I have not really �pushed� these tires much, so if you are going to do more aggressive driving, I can�t give you an opinion from a handling/stability standpoint. I hope this helps.