Me news (well tyres really)

[Guest]

Just had a 48k service (and loads of other bits done) at my local specialist for £460 which I was very pleased about.

However, he pointed out I have some odd rear tyre wear, with one "strip" of the tyre wearing a lot less than the other 4 or 5 "strips", the least worn strip is the 2nd one in the from the inside.... very odd, plus very odd block wear with leading block edges rough/rounded and trailing blocks edges sharp! He'd never seen it before and thought perhaps the geo was out but said it drove fine...

Any ideas?

 

[THX911]

Something which a wheel alignment check might tell?

 

[russtbird]

I had a similar problem on my last service - I had picked up a noise which I thought was a wheel bearing - it turned out to be odd wear on one rear tyre on the inner 'track' with feathered leading or trailing edges to the tread in that area - the guy at the specialist told me it was possibly a faulty tyre.
I changed the rear tyres (was told it had about 4000m of wear left on it) and I am monitoring v. closely. If I see any signs of a return It will be down the tyre shop for an all-wheel tracking check (not cheap according to previous forum threads!).
Can I suggest you see if your specialist has a pair of spare wheels & tyres to fit on that axle whilst you both take it for a test drive to listen for any reduction in noise and check for any change in behaviour...

 

[Guest]

Cheers!

I've had the geo checked twice in the past, first time with Micheldever when they fitted the tyres (nice and cheap £20 IIRC) and then a couple of years later went to Pete Tognola for a full geo (£180!!!!) which actually found the same results as Micheldever... so I now have faith in Micheldever's setup. Think I'll pop along to my local Pirelli Performance Centre for a check (£40 to measure + £20-40 for correction), though tyres are now down to the wear indicators... Be interesting to see what they say.

 

[russtbird]

Let us know - I'd be interested to hear if it's a tyre fault or some other mystery problem! If your tyres are down to the wear indicators, is it such a concern anyway? Sounds like they have been fine through most of their lifespan (nothing found by you or during previous services) until your recent service. Good luck with the pirelli check. By the way mine were Bridgestones and the pirelli's were quieter when we checked them out on the test run; what make are your tyres?

 

[Guest]

Cheers, they're Pirelli PZero (not Rossos). Direct replacements seem to be discontinued so I guess I'll replace the rears with the Pzero Rossos and leave the fronts until they need replacing.

 

[russtbird]

Good luck with the replacements - I found Micheldever to be cheapest and they are courteous, well organised & do a good job. You might want to check out the guidance on Porsche 'N' ratings before you replace only one pair. Not saying you should do all 4, but be careful how you mix the tyres between the 2 axles & take advice from a Porsche specialist/the web first (bearing in mind any vested interests of course!). Check this link for starters: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=26

 

[Guest]

Cheers, used Micheldever before when living in Southampton, but don;'t know if I can be bothered to drive down there now (from Bucks)... I see the article says don't mix N rating/tyres but I would guess the Rosso N3s are better than my N2 non-Rossos and so will stick them on the rear quite happily. If they were going on the front then I would worry more, but if the old tyres let go first it's only understeer and TBH I don;t drive near the limits of the tyres anyway.

 

[Richard_Hamilton]

You could try Bracknell Tyre and Battery - they are the cheapest in this area. No frills service, but they have saved me a bob or two on more than one occasion. Not too far from South Bucks, but it might be a trek from North.