Tommy 5

I picked up my brand new 2012 Cayman in mid April of this year. In just over 6 months I’ve accumulated almost 9,000km (+/- 5,600 miles). Tires from the factory on the car are Michelin PS 2 mounted on the lightweight 19” Boxster Spyder rims.

The front tires still have a lot of tread left, but the rears are worn right down to the tread wear indicator bars!

I’ve had the car out to 1 DE at the track back in May. This consisted of less than 1 minute on a wet skid pad, and three 20 minute hot lap sessions.

Before I picked up the car, I had the dealer’s tuning shop install H&R sport springs, which lowered the car a good 1 inch +, and they also installed 7mm spacers on the front and 14mm spacers on the rear. I did confirm a few months ago with the dealer that an alignment was done after the springs and spacers were installed, and that everything was up to spec. I have a copy of the printout. Doesn’t mean much to me, but I was assured it was ok.

I use the car to commute to work. I don’t drive the car aggressively (sport mode is engaged less than 5% of the time – the rest of the time I’m stuck in Corolla hell!). I’ve never even tried the launch control. I drive 75% of my miles on the highway, with a 75 / 25 split between asphalt and concrete.

The wear is even across the tires.

What kind of mileage are you seeing out of your tires?

Is it normal to be down to the tread wear bars after less than 9,000km / 5,600mi? This seems premature to me. If it seems abnormal to you, do you think I have any recourse with the dealer or Michelin? Or do I just have to suck it up and by some new tires?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Tommy

Jim 'n' SC

What you are describing is pretty normal. Using the car on the track uses a lot of tire rubber! You say you do not drive aggresively but most Porsche owners drive more aggresive than they think. You don't buy these cars to drive them like Honda's.

khooni

part of the learning curve on how to drive... as you get better, tyre wear will go down...

Bill Lehman

Rears gone at 5600 miles is not normal even considering your track day. I got at least 15000 out of my rear tires. I would expect wear on the outside of the fronts from a track day. The fact that the wear is even across the rear suggests that your camber is O.K. I would have the rear toe checked. Some cars need after market rear toe links to get proper toe after lowering.

BostonDuce

When you changed your suspension, along with the non-factory, over sized spacers, it's usually means warranty coverage for anything connected and affected by the aftermarket parts is much more difficult to obtain.

When you replace the factory tires you can get non-Nspec rubber.

I've seen the same tire with a N-spec UTOG rating 25% less than a 'non-approved' version.

Just watch out for lightning bolts hurled your way by the Porsche gods.

BD

jimcabc

I understand 15k on the rear tires is typical. I haven't heard before that non - N spec tires get worse wear?

Jim
2012 Boxster
Dk. Blue Metalic/Black

Dr.Bill

Seems like excessive wear. I got 5000 miles, including 12 track days from my last set.

Tommy 5

Sigh... If only we had an abundance of twisties, and no speed limit where I live! Then I would be able to drive the car in the manner for which it was designed.

Jim, I do agree with you - I do drive the Cayman in a more aggressive manner than my 12 year old VW Jetta TDI. But usually I am stuck in the Corolla / SUV / Minivan hell that is my highway commute to and from work, so unfortunately I'm not really letting it rip.

Thanks to all for your replies. It is very interesting that the opinions vary so widely! Not sure what to make of that.

Here are the specs post springs and spacers install:

Left Rear:
Camber -1.7
Toe 0.1

Right Rear:
Camber -1.8
Toe 0.14

Rear total toe 0.24
Thrust angle -0.02

I have the specs for the front tires but I guess they aren't germane to this issue. I'm not sure what the factory spec is on 19s, so I'm not sure what to make of these numbers. Any insight you guys can shed on this would be great.

Thanks!

Byprodriver

5000 miles seems very low given your highway driving, but generally speaking if a tire wears evenly across the entire tread surface you got 100% of your money's worth for what you did with your tires. So to acheive more mileage from duplicate tires you will have to change driving habits. I suspect brisk acceleration with or without wheelspin.

stevecolletti

Am I reading your alignment spec correctly... almost 1/4 inch of toe-in at the rear?
If so, that could easily explain the rear tire wear.

Tommy 5

The specs I have are measured in degrees. I'm an alignment novice, so I don't know how degrees translates into inches. Is 0.24 degrees toe-in too much?

Thanks!
Tommy

Byprodriver

Sometime before you dispose of the evidence, (rear tires) verify if they did wear evenly. Hose down the tread area to clean & make it easier to see. Rub your bare hand across entire tread surface to feel any irregular wear. Measure tread depth of each tread block across entire width. If indeed they did wear evenly & smoothly, measure air psi for future reference & don't change alignment.

Macster

The times I have experienced short tire life due to wear the wear has been uneven and concentrated to the inside edges of the rear tires. Subsequent alignment finds the rear toe the culprit.

Based on the even tread wear I'd say the short tire life is the result of mainly your DE time possibly exacrebated by how you drive on the street. It seems to be a general thing that those who claim they don't drive that agressively do drive more agressively than they let on the deception is intended not at those they say this too but at themselves.

About all I can suggest is you replace the tires and just to be sure get the car treated to a proper 4 wheel alignment.

Now this may be complicated maybe not even possible given the car's mods. In some cases close is as good as it gets or if close is not good enough aftermarket suspension components are required to give the tech the room adjust the alignment back to within what it should be.

Be sure you go to a place and insist on a before and after report that shows the car's pre-alignment settings and the after alignment settings.

You can compare the two readings to get a feel for what was out if anything.

In the few cases I have not received the full before/after report at the time I picked up the car the alignment proved to be less than satisfactory.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Tommy 5

Macster, I agree with you: I probably do drive the car more aggressively than I think I do.

As the dealer’s tuning shop installed the springs & spacers, I spoke to them and they suggested to bring the car in and they will check out the alignment and we’ll take it from there. It may be the case that the alignment is off, or that the toe-in needs to be adjusted to be less aggressive, or that I need to go to a harder compound tire (e.g.; Michelin Super Sports), or that I need to get a lighter right shoe! Or a combination thereof.

I will post an update after I’ve taken the car in.

Or maybe I’ll just trade my car in on the Boxster Spyder the dealer has in the showroom…

Thanks again to all. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Tommy

Tommy 5

Update:

Had my car into the shop the other day and had them check the alignment specs:

Here are the original specs after the springs and spacers were installed back in April:

Left Rear:
Camber -1.7
Toe 0.1

Right Rear:
Camber -1.8
Toe 0.14

Rear total toe 0.24
Thrust angle -0.02

And here are the new specs from the other day:

Left Rear:
Camber -1.8
Toe 0.46

Right Rear:
Camber -1.7
Toe 0.23

Rear total toe 1.09
Thrust angle 0.19

I didn't major in alignment in university, so can any of you knowledgeable guys please chime in and let me know if these new specs sound like a reason for the excessive tire wear? Or can you recommend some lighter shoes?

Thanks!