Tyre Life

[RichardLW]

When I had the wheels off the car yesterday, I was astonished to see that the rear tyres were about 2mm away from being illegal across the whole width and that the centre tread pattern was completely gone on both tyres. The edges had plenty of tread pattern left.

OK, this points to over-inflation but I inherited a pressure gauge with the car, which I know was used regularly (the gauge - not the car), and this reads a bit lower than both of the ones I already own and one of these I would swear by.

The tyres - P Zero Rossos - were new in March and have done precisely 4441 miles including one trackday of 200 miles. The rear shocks were replaced and the suspension set up with the new tyres. The fronts are OK. I think this is not good. Any views?

Richard

 

[sailor]

Oh dear, Richard.
Have just put a pair of Rosso's on my rear end, because the original Asssimetrico's seem now to be unobtainable. These old ones did 17,000, including umpteen trackdays.
Hope Pirelli haven't played around with the rubber mix too much. Us pensioners can't afford to flash too much cash, you know.

JohnC
993turboX50

 

[Sundeep]

I got 6000 miles out of my set of rear Michelin's inc 2 track days and a trip to the Nurburgring

fronts were about less than 1/2 worn at the time

 

[RichardLW]

Yes - my point is, I suppose, that could I really do that much damage to the tyres with such a low mileage. After the track day the edges of the blocks were blistered quite badly but even so.

 

[Fred Hindle]

Get the Stanley knife out and cut a bit more tread into them. Failing that draw some on with a black felt tip marker.
4K on a pair of tyres, that is going some.
Cheers,

 

[38F3E1]

You must be a hooligan on the track in your barge ...

Ian.

 

[RichardLW]

Thanks Maurice - I have now lowered the rears to 42lb but will go down to 40lb. I have had one gauge for years and it was measured as being 1/2 lb over and my new digital gauge agrees with it all the time. The one that came with the car under-reads these two by about 1 1/2lb so the overinflation is a bit odd.

Anyway, before Bedford on the 12th August I will get the very heavily corroded rear discs sorted, the rusty fronts dealt with and see what Camtune have to save about the alignment - but this was done in March at Guildford OPC.

I am not a hooligan on track but the car does seem to encourage a lairy style of cornering. Perhaps a little more smoothness on my part will mean that the rear tyres will get me back from Bedford ........

Richard

 

[Gordon Attar]

Richard
How much were you quoted for Discs and Pads all round?
and even the most manic Turbo owners are getting 8k out of there rear tyres!! mmmm wander how much stick the previous owner was giving it...... titanic rules................

 

[RichardLW]

Hi Gordon

The previous owner was not inclined to go mad with the car and used it very differently to me. I haven't actually been quoted anything; it will be a case of a deep breath when it comes to pay. Having done a decent run last week, the corrosion has gone off the rear discs so that may be an adjustment issue. The fronts have also lost some of the rust from inside but I'm not too happy about them still. I'm also going for the green stuff pads as they work OK on the road but produce far less dust. I will let you know tomorrow the full extent of the work....

As you say, Titanic rules.

Richard

 

[Johnny C]

That really is going some... I got 18K from some bridgestone S2's last year. No trackdays though

 

[RichardLW]

OK - all in, four new discs, green stuff pads all round, top up with fancy brake fluid, all new bits everywhere - 993 C4S remember, not a C4 - £1050. Ouch.

 

[burrow01]

Ouch indeed...

Who did the work?

Pete

 

[oliverjamesthomas]

ORIGINAL: burrow01

Ouch indeed...

Who did the work?

Pete

Someone that now has a very big smile on his face by the sounds of it..........[]

On a serious note and going back to the start of the thread, inflation does seem to be the key issue. I run my car at manufacturers stated PSI when the tyres are warm. This translates to about 6PSI lower than manufacturers stated when cold.

The references to tyre wear on track keep popping up though. From my experience, I'm not getting massive tyre wear on track and I don't get the blistering that's spoken of either. I did a full day at Elvington a couple of months ago, with the car fully committed and on a very hot day. The tyres were fine at the end of the day and rubber useage wasn't even noticeable. I guess in Richard's case, a C4 it'll tend towards understeer on track and is carrying a little extra weight for the rubber negotiate. I'm not entirely sure the problem points to an alignment problem though - perhaps more the laws of Physics?

Regards

 

[RichardLW]

Camtune and its mainly parts - the disks alone are over £500, the pads add another £160 and the other little bits come to over £100 - add the VAT and there you are. Thank God for self employment.

They were very sanguine about the tyre wear feeling that it was (it is) very even all over with the tread depth on both tyres being the same within and only .5mm less in the middle. My question is, where did it all go. The trackday at Bedford will be the end of them without a doubt.

 

[oliverjamesthomas]

Thanks for that Maurice.

Both my road and track wheels are 17" and the suspension is set by Robin at 9M to his 'home brew' settings. I'm managing to get even wear accross the tyre, but I remember him saying he'd not gone too excessive with a couple of the settings. Appparently the benefit of doing so would have been marginal, but the uneven tyre wear would have been massive.

Regards

 

[RichardLW]

Maurice - I am not entirely daft. The fluid was changed in July prior to the BH track day so the system was thoroughly bled following the work and topped up again.

The labour element of my bill was £217 - the parts were £788. Add Vat and it was actually £1180 so more than I said earlier but I am not going to get excited about saving on the labour costs and you are stuck with the parts prices pretty much. I certainly don't have the time to do the work and I covered the labour charge by going to work myself and doing something I am very good at.

I chose the green stuff pads primarily because they are as useable in daily use as standard pads, although they squeal a bit but I quite like that, but used in anger they are much better than standard AND they make very little dust. I had them on my 944T and they were very good indeed. As I am just about to have the wheels refurbished - or look for some hollow spokes - I do not want them corroding again after a couple of months.

Richard

 

[6271james]

I have a 993 4S and had two new rear tyres fitted when I purchased her in December 05. Have done approx 5.5K road miles and tyres are shot all the way across the tread. No track days and have not exactly been lighting up the tyres at the lights so was shocked when I saw how thin they were. These are Pirelli's but not sure which spec but they are N rated.

 

[RichardLW]

so it isn't just me - thats good.

 

[pike]

Richard

It is not just you. I managed under 5000 miles from my last set of Pirelli Assymetrico N3s. Just normal (mostly []) road use. I am trying them once more to see if I was unlucky and because there was still loads of tread on the fronts. Otherwise I think it is time to switch brands

Rob

 

[kennyboy]

As I am just about to have the wheels refurbished - or look for some hollow spokes

I went to Jasmine in Lancashire to upgrade to hollow spokes Richard - I recommend them. I traded my solid spokes which were in a bad state and the recondition hollows have been done very well. Good price too.

Nice upgrade for our heavy 4S's eh - all part of the quest to make it not a 'barge' ! [>:]