swajames

May sound like a dumb question but this is my first time with these tires and also my first 997!

I have P-Zero Rosso's on my 19" Carrera Classics and have 7300 miles on the car from new. Checked the tires today and noticed that whilst I have tread on both outside edges of the rear tires the inside ribs (which had a limited depth tread pattern) are getting close to basically slick. Trying to understand whether the tires just wear that way and these are fine (there seems to be quite a bit of depth left in the groove between the interior ribs) or whether these guys are on their way out. Don't drive the car too hard (or not too often!), tire pressures are fine and I haven't noticed any problems with handling. Any opinions guys?

Pugnacious

Sounds normal to me.

I had to replace my OEM Pirelli PZero’s at about that same mileage (7,365 to be exact). The fronts were still in fairly good condition but would not have lasted through another set of rears so I replaced all four tires with Michelin PS2’s. My Porsche now has 14,894 miles and the Michelin’s look like they should go another couple of thousand miles before needing replacement.

mglobe

Assuming you've not been driving on the track, greater wear on the inside edges of the tires is normal. It's caused by the negative camber the cars are set up with. Based on my experience (I drive fairly had, & get less mileage out of my tires than many do) 7300 miles is in the vicinity of when you will need new rear tires. I'm assuming the fronts are still in fairly good shape?

Deanski

I'm at 15500 miles on original P-Zero tires. Proper alignment and tire inflation is key.

Soon though, I'll be changing them.

Deanski

Edgy01

Your experience is quite normal. The suspension is optimized for handling/performance,--not tire economy.

swajames

Thanks for the replies guys. Looks like I'll be getting a new set of tires soon...

mglobe - yep, the fronts are much better. The rears have taken much more of a pounding that the front tires which still seem to be in pretty good shape.

eljeffo64

I got 11000 miles and 2 track days out of my old rears (P Zeros), fronts are good for another 2 track days but wont be used on the road. The rears were worn more on the inside due to the negative camber set up - normal. I've PS2's now (for the road) and like them better.

mglobe

Generally I think you can expect to go through two sets of rears for each pair of front tires.

Titan

I had a similar but exagerated problem with an 05 Carrera S that I had previously although all tyres were wearing heavily on the inside edges. I went to see JZ Machtech (a UK porsche specialist) who commented on the poor levels of accurate geo settings coming out of the factory of recent especially on GT3's and GT3 RS's. This view was also endorsed by my local Porsche Dealer who have a healthy regard for JZ as a specialist servicer/tuner. JZ did give me the following advice:

1. The inside edes will wear at a quicker rate for reasons already given however it should not be more than 1mm more than on the outer edges.

2. Uneven wear on factory setup greater than this or more so on one tyre than another indicated that the car's geometery was out and needed correcting.

3. Suggested that this was checked once a year or everytime a new set of tyres was put on the car. Checking the geo on a car with worn tyres was a waste of time as it would not sit correctly due to the wear on the tyre.

In short if you have no more than 1mm additiona wear on the tyres on th inner edges then sounds normal. If you have the new tyres put on it might be worth checking thegeo as well as precaution.

I'm simply passing on advice from an expert and hope it helps.

swajames

Thanks again for the additional info guys - it's really helpful. Based on what I can see I don't think there's much uneven wear, it's just that the center ribs seem worn whilst both outside edges of each rear tire still show some tread (but are clearly on the way out too). I wasn't sure how the P-Zero tires typically wear but based on the info here it looks like mine are within reason.

rzundel

Is there any case when the rear "outside" tires wear greater than the inside? I had an alignment done that was a bit more agressive than stock. Car handles great but it seems like the outside tires are starting to show greater wear than the inside. I found it a little strange. I don't drive real aggressive. I have 5800 miles on the car.

swajames

Update - I bit the bullet and am having a new set of PS2s fitted tomorrow morning. My local dealer had trouble getting the P-Zero Rosso (their supplier was saying they were on back order and it could be up to 3 months before they were available) so the PS2s it was.

eljeffo64

Check your tyre pressures carefully - seems like overinflation possibly, you don't want to ruin your new rubber!

adfsouth

+1 From the wear you described, it sounds like your tire pressure was too high.....what were you running in the rears?

swajames

I usually try to stay around 33f/39r on the tires. The car came from the factory with higher pressures (around 45 in the back) but I've been running closer to 40 for most of the last year or so.