Tyres

[jaredg]

Ok. I've clocked up 13k miles and been up to the local tyre garage to check the depth. I've got another 2k miles life (about a month or less). They have said the conti sport 5s aren't very good for life and suggested moving to kumho KH39's. He said they are fairly popular on the scoobys that live local. Anyone have any opinions?

 

[keithjeb]

Ok. I've clocked up 13k miles and been up to the local tyre garage to check the depth. I've got another 2k miles life (about a month or less). They have said the conti sport 5s aren't very good for life and suggested moving to kumho KH39's. He said they are fairly popular on the scoobys that live local. Anyone have any opinions?

The tyres should have lasted far longer than 15k miles. what were the tread depths?

 

[scrich7]

The tyres should have lasted far longer than 15k miles. what were the tread depths?

Not sure I totally agree. I suspect that these are 18's - if so, I wouldn't be surprised to only see 15k in mixed use. My last car would never see more than that on 17's.

 

[sixysix]

I think it's average wear really and you could always rotate the fronts to rears to get a bit more life out of them but probably not worth it now as there's not much left on the fronts.

I have the Conti's as well and they are pretty good and grippy but will not last as long as some other tyres out there.

I don't know about the Khumos and have never tried them. I used to run Michelin PE2's on my last car and when it comes time for me to replace, I will be going for the Michelin Pilot sport 3's as they seem to have a good balance of performance and durability, oh and some of the best wet grip I have seen from a tyre which is a big plus in this country

 

[scrich7]

I think it's average wear really and you could always rotate the fronts to rears to get a bit more life out of them but probably not worth it now as there's not much left on the fronts.

I have the Conti's as well and they are pretty good and grippy but will not last as long as some other tyres out there.

I don't know about the Khumos and have never tried them. I used to run Michelin PE2's on my last car and when it comes time for me to replace, I will be going for the Michelin Pilot sport 3's as they seem to have a good balance of performance and durability, oh and some of the best wet grip I have seen from a tyre which is a big plus in this country

I had the PS3's on my last car and the wet weather performance was unbelievable, almost no difference between wet and dry. Although, I wasn't too impressed by the wear in all honesty.

 

[sixysix]

I know what you mean, although I would prefer to have a tyre that performed well for it's life than a tyre that did an ok job for longer

I can't believe that I checked everything on the car since I have had it but not checked the tyre pressures until today.
I had been meaning to as the steering felt a bit on the light side.
All tyres were set to fully loaded at around 40-41 psi
I don't lug much stuff or people around very often so dropped the tyres down to the correct 33/31 psi now
Will go for a spin later and see if it's a bit more planted, which it should be

 

[keithjeb]

Not sure I totally agree. I suspect that these are 18's - if so, I wouldn't be surprised to only see 15k in mixed use. My last car would never see more than that on 17's.

Tyre size shouldn't affect wear rate hugely and 20k a set isn't unreasonable judging by the last three cars I've had, (c30 215/45/18 about 20k/set, dads c70 d5 235/45/17 19k/set, hyundai coupe 205/55/16 23k/set) Thats changing at about 2.5mm left, and with the exception of the c30 which only saw one pair, is the average of at least two sets of tyres. Admittedly that is primarily motorway driving, but they're all 3 as heavy if not heavier than a leon.

The reason I ask about tread levels is a lot of tyre places will 'recommend replacement' at 4 or even 5mm tread, 1.6 is obviously far too low, but a 5mm tread tyre still has a lot of safe life in it.

 

[jaredg]

I have the 18's. And they just said I have 1mm of life left and not how many mm's are left

 

[DeanC]

Sounds about right. I'm a third into the usable tread on my sport contacts at 5k

 

[gaffer1986]

I think Pirelli are short changing us. The new Pirelli p7 Cinturato came with just 7mm tread new. Other new tyres I have checked came with 8-9mm using the same tread depth gauge.

My Ibiza used to get through a set of tyres every 30K miles, that's with regular emergency stops. Be interesting to see if the pirelli can last as long with less tread from new, maybe they hold onto their tread longer?

Has anyone else got P7s?

PS: I normally change my tyres at 2.5-3mm tread left.

 

[smurf123]

could someone clarify the tyre pressures for 18" wheels as printed inside petrol cap is 32 front 29 rear as member sixtysix has 33 frt 31 rear but doesnt say if this is for 18s

 

[McDubber1]

I think Pirelli are short changing us. The new Pirelli p7 Cinturato came with just 7mm tread new. Other new tyres I have checked came with 8-9mm using the same tread depth gauge.

My Ibiza used to get through a set of tyres every 30K miles, that's with regular emergency stops. Be interesting to see if the pirelli can last as long with less tread from new, maybe they hold onto their tread longer?

Has anyone else got P7s?

PS: I normally change my tyres at 2.5-3mm tread left.

I have the P7's in 17" but mine are off at the moment because I run a seperate set of wheels and tyres through the winter so it makes it a but more difficult to work out how much they are wearing. Mind you The car has only done 5k and with having my winters aswell its unlikely I'll have to change them over the 2 or so years we keep the car.

I did think that the tread depth looked a bit less than normal though but I havn't measured them.

I used Hankooks V12 Evo's on my mk2 Leon and was very impressed with wet and dry grip and wear and were considerably cheaper than the top brands. I used Khumo's once and was very unimpressed to be honest and therefor wouldn't buy them again.

 

[G.P]

Ok. I've clocked up 13k miles and been up to the local tyre garage to check the depth. I've got another 2k miles life (about a month or less). They have said the conti sport 5s aren't very good for life and suggested moving to kumho KH39's. He said they are fairly popular on the scoobys that live local. Anyone have any opinions?

The Kumho will cover less miles than a Conti. Bridgestone claim to be the cheapest/mile..

Wish I could get more than 10k from front tyres.

 

[dw911]

I think Pirelli are short changing us. The new Pirelli p7 Cinturato came with just 7mm tread new. Other new tyres I have checked came with 8-9mm using the same tread depth gauge.

My Ibiza used to get through a set of tyres every 30K miles, that's with regular emergency stops. Be interesting to see if the pirelli can last as long with less tread from new, maybe they hold onto their tread longer?

Has anyone else got P7s?

PS: I normally change my tyres at 2.5-3mm tread left.

Your probably half right about the cost issue
The main reason is the demand for how a tyre feels out the box, high tread can make a car feel very skittish especially on high performance cars, 911's especially feel strange on brand new tyres till the tread wears down a bit due to being rear engined
So Pirelli n rated Porsche approved tyres with 7mm instead of 9mm became factory fit to improve the feel and handling on the 911 (n rating also required if you want to keep the warranty further down the line )
I don't know if any other n rated tyres were the same or if other manufacturers did similar
Back then 18 inch wheels were not common on car as they are now
So I'm guessing Pirelli are now doing it on more high performance tyres in their range and more people are ending up with less tread than the industry norm
If you look on your tyre, you may even find they are n rated

 

[sixysix]

could someone clarify the tyre pressures for 18" wheels as printed inside petrol cap is 32 front 29 rear as member sixtysix has 33 frt 31 rear but doesnt say if this is for 18s

Inside my petrol cap the pressures are light load 33/31 & Heavy load 41/39
I have the 18" 'Performance' V30/1 alloys fitted but I assume the above pressures would apply to the optional 18" and standard 17" alloys

 

[G.P]

high tread can make a car feel very skittish especially on high performance cars, 911's especially feel strange on brand new tyres till the tread wears down a bit due to being rear engined

Tread block movement..

Softer the sidewall also gives this feeling.

It's possible the tire was not measured in the middle, as some have 8mm in the center & 7mm outer edges..

 

[gaffer1986]

N rated, that's something I haven't heard of before and will need to investigate. I measured the central 3/4 of the tread which was consistently 7 mm.

If these Pirelli tyres start to wear more quickly than I'm used to I will just go back to Goodyear tyres as I have found them awesome so far, must admit I haven't tried Hancock so may give them a go if they're a good price.

Something I will say is the Pirelli is a very good stopper in the wet and having a 45 profile makes a big difference over a 40 profile, the 45 is noticeably more comfortable but definitely less precise.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

 

[dw911]

Tread block movement..

Softer the sidewall also gives this feeling.

It's possible the tire was not measured in the middle, as some have 8mm in the center & 7mm outer edges..

Yes Tread block movement, that's the term i was looking for
Your correct, soft side walls can have the same effect, but on the few 911s I've owned the profile has been 30 or 35 on the rear so not much give on the sidewalls
If you have ever driven a 911 on new tyres especially on the track the skittishness is very noticeable until the tyres are worn down a bit even starting with less tread

I never measured the depth, the reduction in tread on the tyres and the reason was stated in the sales brochure when I bought my first 911 in 97
Haven't given any thought to it on any of my others since as they haven't come fitted with Pirelli's

Anyway its a bit off toplc, I mentioned it originally only because gaffer1986 asked why his new Pirelli's only had 7mm of tread on them and thought it may be for the same reason 7mm Pirelli's were fitted to Porsche

Things originally thought up for high end cars have always filtered down to more day to day cars over time, so not as strange or crazy as it may have at first seemed

 

[gaffer1986]

I got one of my Pirelli's replaced yesterday. I replaced it with exactly the same tyre, yet the new tyre came with 8 mm tread. I think tyres on new cars get less tread so you have to replace them earlier, be interested if anyone else has checked their tread on their factory fresh car to see if it's not just me.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

 

[niggle]

I have Hankook V12 Evos on my Mazda. In the right conditions they are a very good tyre (they were the control tyre in the Ma5da MX-5 race series). A summer tyre though IMHO, they need some heat in them to give any confidence.

If I wanted an all year round tyre that has some longevity for the Leon then I would not choose this tyre.