Not on THESE tires...

I was going to go on a PCA cruise this Sunday...but I think I need to wait for my shipment from Tire Rack to arrive before I head out for any spirited driving... On the plus side, I don't feel like I'll be throwing away perfectly good tread.

I'm going to try out a set of Ventus V12 Evo2's. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of options I found in 265/30ZR-19. The older V12 Evos worked well on my Boxster and held up to several autocrosses, so we'll see how the Evo2's work on a 911.

Still hesitating here between the Ventus V12 or the new RainSport 3 for my Targa. Your experience of the Ventus on a Boxster is more relevant to the 996 than mine on a RX-8 and a Mk1 Miata.

I'd say your wear bars are telling you time to replace. Could those tires have been overinflated to wear more in the middle? So used to seeing wear on the inside edges. You got your $ worth.

I plan to get Hankook Ventus V12's to replace my current rubber as well. Currently running Sumitumo HTR Z3's and they are extremely noisy at freeway speeds. Have Hankook V12's on my BMW and they seem much quieter.

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I was going to bring up the same point. My tires wear in a pattern where unless you get under the car and look at the inside edge you would think it's still okay. For tires I've used Michelins, Sumis, and Bridgestone. Michelin is the best but so costly. Sumis are good for the street but slip around a lot on the track. I have Bridgestones now which are probably double the cost of the Sumis but cheaper than the Michelins and I think they're a good compromise. They do get loud and start whining though when the tread is running low.

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My advice: Do the PCA fun run on these tires, and enjoy yourself, worry free! The bars say it's time to replace. But tires don't suddenly stop functioning when they wear to the wear bars; 50% below the bar just means if can move less water before hydroplaning. No cords or damage visible; I'd say there's plenty of tread left to keep driving in the dry or damp; you can drive as spirited as you want with 100% confidence your tires will be fine; the only risk with tread that low is of hydroplaning in heavy rain or puddles. Take it easy if it rains, especially if there's a lot of standing water. Worst issues are likely to be at highway speeds as speed x depth = volume*, and volume is your foe here. * flow rate, actually, but eh. Looks that way; a few pounds lower would give better tire wear, but tire wear here is typical for a 996 and not at all bad. IMHO you're better off tweaking & alignment pressures for performance and car balance and just accepting tires are going to wear a little unevenly; after all, that's why we're picking sticky short-lived performance tires and not 60k all seaons, isn't it? The specific model of tire matters, too, even among performance summer tires; you need to run different pressures on stiff sidewall tires like Dunlop ZII and BFG Rival than softer sidewall tires like Hankook RS-3 and Sumitomi HTR ZIII. On my 986S w/Dunlop ZIIs on the street, I usually run my rear 2 pounds lower than Porsche says and my fronts about 5lbs higher. For competition I run them both at the 37psi. What I really see, though, is that this car has not been tracked nearly enough. There's no excuse for not wearing out the outside corners well before the inside! Shame!

^^^^ I agree Were you running 44 at the rears by chance? No outside shoulder degradation means you weren't running it hard enough or didn't optimize pressures for maximum mechanical grip.

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Center wear is normal. I have read this but I can't recall the source but it is a source I have confidence in. With a properly aligned car, and with the tires correctly inflated the rear tires are going to wear more in the center than on the edges. Not much but it will be noticeable from the condition of the center wear bars vs. those on either side. I have no idea why the center tread wears ahead of the out edges. It has also been my experience with my cars. Early on I noticed this with my Boxster and experimented with tire pressures to try to get the wear more even, but had no luck. I tried less pressure thinking the tires were over inflated but this didn't help. Then I tried more pressure thinking the tires were under inflated and growing at high speed. This didn't help. In fact too much pressure or too little pressure brings other issues.

The answer is easy: Porsche is so paranoid about reversing the "widowmaker" reputation of earlier models that they specced out alignment, tire sizes and tire pressures that always fail in safe boring understeer. Rear tire camber and pressure are close to ideal, while front is intentionally under-cambered and under-pressured. Simply adding air in the front tire gives better balance, and bleeding a little from the rear gives more even tire wear. But I'm pretty sure that's why Porsche specced tire pressures how they did. Also frustrates me when Car & Driver, Road & Track and the other car mags insist on using manufacturer pressures for their car handling tests; they're not at all getting realistic results.

I wasn't worried about the wear bars (or lack of them), but I was surprised to see what appears to be circumferential cracking appearing in several places around the tire. You can see one of these next to the wear bar at the right side of the tire. I generally adjust my tires depending on what kind of driving I'll be doing. This wear looks amazingly even compared to my Boxster, but my Boxster was set up with maximum negative rear camber and preferred to eat the inside shoulders and leave the rest alone.

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Guilty as charged. Frankly, I'm enjoying the 996 as a high-speed GT - I haven't even bothered with a set of track wheels, and the last PCA sticker on my helmet is well over a year old. The $$ I put into the car to address some deferred maintenance items eliminated my AX budget. I'm in the process of selling a set of X5 wheels and tires, so hopefully that'll fund a set of track wheels. Incidentally, the 19's on my 996 look absolutely bitchin', but the lack of sidewall makes the car not-so-great for limit-of-adhesion cornering. These tires bounce instead of flexing, and that is not a great handling characteristic for a car with a huge weight bias in the rear. I'll get some 17's or 18's for beater wheels, and then I will try to properly wear a set of tires.

show off...

[QUOTE=sjfehr;11404571]The answer is easy: Porsche is so paranoid about reversing the "widowmaker" reputation of earlier models that they specced out alignment, tire sizes and tire pressures that always fail in safe boring understeer. Rear tire camber and pressure are close to ideal, while front is intentionally under-cambered and under-pressured. Simply adding air in the front tire gives better balance, and bleeding a little from the rear gives more even tire wear. But I'm pretty sure that's why Porsche specced tire pressures how they did. Porsche must err on the side of caution in anticipation of owners failing to increase rear tire pressures for heavier load of additional passengers &/or continueos high speed driving.

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Heh. I will never get tired of showing this car off. Love it.

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+1 I usually get worried when I see the the steel belts showing. I just replaced my rears a few weeks ago with the Dunlop Star Spec Dizzera IIs..