Tyre Wear

[pwebb]

Just picked up a large bolt(!) through a rear tyre but didn't feel too bad as they were due for renewal. Either I'm losing the plot and driving like a wuss these days or the 997 is much easier on tyres than the 996. It's just turned 22k and both Michelin Pilot Sports were fairly close to legal minimum and there's a few thousand left on the fronts. My 996 used to eat tyres with 10k max on Pirellis.
Anyone else had similar experience?

Peter

 

[beavercraig]

ORIGINAL: pwebb

Just picked up a large bolt(!) through a rear tyre but didn't feel too bad as they were due for renewal. Either I'm losing the plot and driving like a wuss these days or the 997 is much easier on tyres than the 996. It's just turned 22k and both Michelin Pilot Sports were fairly close to legal minimum and there's a few thousand left on the fronts. My 996 used to eat tyres with 10k max on Pirellis.
Anyone else had similar experience?

Peter

My 997C2S did 20,000 on the rears, I never changed the fronts in the two years I had the car. MY 996TT has just done 5000 miles. I got a bollxxking off the tyre place for running them so low!

 

[david_yorkshire]

you're driving like a wuss !
9K on Pirelli rears - C2S
just changed allround to PS2's
nice improvement !
David

 

[pmartin24]

Got 5000 miles out of my Pirrelli's on the rear! Just swapped to Michellins which seem to have better grip!

 

[okellyt]

Got 36k miles put of my first boxster set, albeit the rears were slicks - lots of A and B road driving for work, low breaking cosntant 50-ish miles per hour.

Second Boxster 27K miles and the rears were shot, again motorway miles but more backroad blasts and a silverstone track day

Current bet with OPC that my rears on my new 997 won't see 12k miles. At the current rate of use i think he's about right. Much more back lane use, more power to the wheels, more driver training courses to eliminate captain slow.

So answer is it depends very much on how its used and what its driven for.

 

[pwebb]

You're right - not trying hard enoungh, but main excuse is that the majority of mileage is slogging up and down the A3 to London in traffic every weekday. Doesn't matter whether you're in a 997 or a Smart car you'll be doing the same speed.

Memo to self, find more opportunities to explore B roads at weekends...

 

[Grant]

All the 996s I owned only used to get 10k on a set of rears, from C2 through to Turbo, so 20k plus is amazing.

Think yourself lucky as the GT3 cup tyres only last about 4k miles[]

 

[okellyt]

ORIGINAL: Grant

All the 996s I owned only used to get 10k on a set of rears, from C2 through to Turbo, so 20k plus is amazing.

Think yourself lucky as the GT3 cup tyres only last about 4k miles[]

Ahh the joys of GT3 ownership []

 

[Grant]

ORIGINAL: okellyt
Ahh the joys of GT3 ownership []

Be warned, don't take the test drive, otherwise you too will only be getting 4k miles on your rears[]
This car is as addictive as class A drugs!!!!

 

[Guest]

11,500 miles on the first set of rears

Had the fronts checked about 2 weeks ago, and have 5mm of tread left with 14,500 miles on the clock

 

[Andy Rodgett]

Rear Michelin's lasted 14 thou whilst fronts changed at 16 thou prior to Millbrook with 3-4mm left and kept as spares.
Andy

 

[nsm3]

Just changed my fronts at 22k although they were "just" still legal. £360 for the pair - not bad I thought?

Had new rears at 12k, but a puncture at 16k left me with a mismatched pair on the back - OPC had the car in at the time and I let them change it for £350! My supplier can do the pair for £450, so I won't make that mistake again. Reckon another few thou' from the worn one before I change the pair out?

 

[Lancerlot]

Paul,

As the wear appears to fairly even each side, the most obvious cause is too much rear negative camber. You do not say how many miles you have covered, but the springs tend to settle with use and this lowers the suspension, producing excessive neg. and an uneven contact patch on the tyre.

Excessive wear on one side would likely indicate an alignment defect . Chris Franklin at Center Gravity will check out all the components prior to carrying out alignment so you should be OK after your visit.

Regards,

Clive

 

[paulmichele]

Cheers Clive. The car has done 75k. Though I don't know how long this set of tyres has been on the car.

It does seem odd that both rear tyres that have worn most on the inside shoulder; and both to a similar degree ... which made the tyre fitter think that it was not an alignment issue (but he didn't claim to be an expert).

 

[Lancerlot]

Paul,

With that mileage, I would expect the suspension to have settled quite a bit. The inside shoulders wear because this is the section of the tyre that is most in contact with the road surface. I hope the diagram below shows you what I mean.

Regards,

Clive.

 

[kasspa]

Paul,

I'd get that alignment checked asap before you start to wear those new tyres in the same way...... I would assume that there is no component wear issues or this would have been raised at MOT too!

 

[RJKflyer]

I've started to track my tyre (and pad) wear on a simple spreadsheet which alarms if it spots uneven wear. Just an idea...

 

[garyw]

Every one of my rear tyres has ended in a very similar way []

It is how the car is setup and Chris did remove a bit in order to allow a bit better wear rate on the rears.... unfortunately the better grip has caused me to enjoy it that bit more and get the same wear anyhow [:'(] []
I usually get about 10-12K from a set of rears.. the last set had 2.5mm in the centre and cords on the very inside edge.


garyw

 

[paulmichele]

Thanks Gary (and all)

Every one of my rear tyres has ended in a very similar way

So if a tyre starts with 8mm of tread and lasts 12,000 miles (down to 2mm), and a pair costs £600, then each 1mm of wear costs £100 and gives 2,000 miles of driving.

If I continue with the uneven wear then I risk replacing the tyres with 3mm left (instead of 2mm). This will therefore "cost" me another £100 in wasted rubber and mean replacement after 10,000 miles.

Or I could spend £300 on alignment and assessment.... which on a £ basis will cost me. But then again, I get the benefit of knowing that the car is set up correctly and the natural ageing will have been sorted.

 

[tscaptain]

On all of my visits to CG Chris has reduced the amount of neg camber on the rears (final reading -1deg35mins). As has been highlighted by Clive this increases the contact patch in a straight line and reduces, but does not eliminate, the wear on the very inner edge. (It also reduces understeer) Of course the idea of neg camber is that when cornering the outer wheels becomes a little more "upright" and improve grip further. I got just over 12k out of the rears too but at £100 per 2000 miles of driving it's a lot cheaper than the fuel!![]
I think Chris recommends a realignment around every 20k miles after the initial settling of the suspension.