I have Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s and my car has just 11,000 miles on it and yet I'm told by the stealership, the treads are at a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. Is this normal? I don't track the car and I don't even drive it that hard (no burnouts and only hit an exit semi-hard once in a while).

 

I wish I could get 11k out of a set of those. Disclaimer: I've only had my car since July so wait for others with more experience will chime in. My car came with 85% tread remaining PS2s and I more or less smoked the rears in 3000 miles. We are blessed with abundant 2 lanes in Northern New Mexico with zero cops or traffic. I've done a lot of high speed Sunday driving but I suspect the real culprit is PASM off first and second gear blasts. FWIW my car is really mild by 6speed standards (exhaust+tune).

 

Yes, this is normal, at least based my experience with other Porsche models.

Well, absent overly spirited driving on the street, it is normal due to an alignment issue.

While you didn't mention it I suspect the rear tires are showing more wear on their inside edges. This is a sign of incorrect toe. There wants to be a bit of toe out when the car is on the alignment rack so when the car is moving down the road the tires move forward slightly and the toe out becomes less perhaps zero toe -- no toe out and no toe in.

An alignment now will probably meet with less than 100% success as the worn tires in some way compromise the alignment settings.

My advice is to when the tires need replacement to after having the new tires installed to have the car's alignment checked and set and but sure to ask for an alignment that is conducive to better tire life.

My experience is that this alignment doesn't in any way compromise the car's stability or handing or grip -- my cars have both types of alignments -- and tire life, rear tire life can go from 8K miles (rear tires on my 996 Turbo) to at least in one case 23K miles with 3mm of tread depth left which meant that the flat rear tire was covered by road hazard warranty and I got it replaced at no charge.

 

That's probably about right for the rear. The fronts should last longer. Put Michelin Pilot Super Sports on as replacements if you can find them.

 

You got 11,000 out of them????? Daaaamn.

 

25,000 kms here, maybe I'm doing something wrong?!

Cheers,

 

Thank you for the input guys. I have always had sports cars, but this one certainly eats tires more than any in the past.

 

Advising someone to set static rear toe OUT on a tail heavy rear engine 996/997 (or any 911 for that matter) is not only flat out crazy but also incredibly dangerous. Under hard braking, rear toe out will further aggravate the vehicle's inherent pendulum effect and the car will be incredibly unstable as the rear end will want to step out badly especially with any amount of trail braking. You won't notice it on your way to the grocery store but you will get a nasty surprise when the car is driven aggressively or tracked. Handling and safety is the reason Porsche specs a good amount of rear toe IN on these cars, tire wear is not the main concern. Have you personally ever aligned one if these cars and tracked one to feel what rear toe out will do on this platform??

While you can google information about alignment settings on car and come across the same toe out advice you mentioned to mitigate tire wear, that will generally apply to a Honda Civic but not a tail heavy 911.

Replacing the compliant rubber bushing in the rear lower control arms with solid bushings will mitigate most rear tire wear issues as it prevents rear toe from constantly changing as the T/A bushings compress under acceleration and braking. There is virtually zero added NVH. Locking down your rear toe is key in getting good tire wear. I run the maximum amount of 0º15' of rear toe per side (0º30' total) and rear tire wear is perfect.

Yes, these were full tread when new...

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