So here is the saga of a faulty pair of Pirelli PZero Rosso (N4) 265/35ZR18 tyres which were fitted to my 996 in April 2019. I wasn't aware at the time but the date code on the tyres was 4917 and 3217, so just under 2 years old for the oldest tyre.
In April this year (2022) I was washing the car and checking over in preparation for the annual MOT when I noticed some cracking around the outer edge of the tyre. On closer examination I noted that it extended the entire circumference of the tyre just below the level of the tread. The car covered approximately 2,500 miles on these tyres between April 2019 and April 2022. The car is stored under a large car port which keeps it out of the rain and sun when not in use. Tyres have always been kept inflated and when it wasn't used for longer periods in deepest winter the pressure was increased to 45PSI.
I returned the tyres to the purchasing dealer who informed me that they would need to be sent back to Pirelli for examination and this could take some time. They weren't joking, I built up some rapport with the guy on reception at the tyre dealer after ringing weekly to find out the status. My local tyre dealer had been taken over my Micheldever Tyre Services Ltd at some point during lockdown. The tyres were lost in the distribution warehouse for several weeks before they located them and finally sent them off to Pirelli at the end of July 2022.
We finally received a report from Pirelli UK on Tuesday 16th August (well the tyre dealer did, even though my name and address is on the report I did not receive a copy so the dealer forwarded it to me) stating that there was no manufacturing or materials fault found and that this was a normal degradation of the tyre in response to environmental factors. It is worth point out at this point that I have another pair Pirelli PZero Rosso (N4) on the front of the vehicle which show no similar signs of degradation. Pirelli pointed out a note that the tyres were outside of the 4 year warranty period (even though I had only owned them for 3 years at the time of the complaint). I brought this up with the tyre dealer who said they were entitled to sell stock of 2 years age.
The photos provided do not show the extent of the damage to the tyres. When I returned them to the tyre dealer he struggled to see the damage but when pressing on the edge of the tyre after it had been removed from the wheels a large crack opened up between the tread and tyre carcass. In my opinion this was severe tread delamination which does not appear to be mentioned anywhere in Pirelli's report. Pirelli's report also shows two photos where someone is carefully examining the outer edge of the tyre. I have spoken with their claims department and explained that perhaps the examination wasn't thorough enough to reveal the damage that was seen by the tyre dealer and I but the claim the tyres have been fully examined. I'm happy to share privately the contents of the report to those who are interested.
Please if you have Pirelli tyres fitted to any vehicle go and check your tyres or get someone competent to do so for you as a quick Google reveals that this isn't an isolated incident. I would also recommend you to check the date code of any tyres you buy and ensure they are not old tyres!
I replaced these tyres with a pair of Michelin Pilot 4 and I will never again purchase Pirelli tyres.
When I spoke with the claims department they were not prepared to negotiate with me or offer any form of recompense apart from an offer to return the faulty tyres for me to have independently examined.
Does anyone know a company that offers such a service?
In April this year (2022) I was washing the car and checking over in preparation for the annual MOT when I noticed some cracking around the outer edge of the tyre. On closer examination I noted that it extended the entire circumference of the tyre just below the level of the tread. The car covered approximately 2,500 miles on these tyres between April 2019 and April 2022. The car is stored under a large car port which keeps it out of the rain and sun when not in use. Tyres have always been kept inflated and when it wasn't used for longer periods in deepest winter the pressure was increased to 45PSI.
I returned the tyres to the purchasing dealer who informed me that they would need to be sent back to Pirelli for examination and this could take some time. They weren't joking, I built up some rapport with the guy on reception at the tyre dealer after ringing weekly to find out the status. My local tyre dealer had been taken over my Micheldever Tyre Services Ltd at some point during lockdown. The tyres were lost in the distribution warehouse for several weeks before they located them and finally sent them off to Pirelli at the end of July 2022.
We finally received a report from Pirelli UK on Tuesday 16th August (well the tyre dealer did, even though my name and address is on the report I did not receive a copy so the dealer forwarded it to me) stating that there was no manufacturing or materials fault found and that this was a normal degradation of the tyre in response to environmental factors. It is worth point out at this point that I have another pair Pirelli PZero Rosso (N4) on the front of the vehicle which show no similar signs of degradation. Pirelli pointed out a note that the tyres were outside of the 4 year warranty period (even though I had only owned them for 3 years at the time of the complaint). I brought this up with the tyre dealer who said they were entitled to sell stock of 2 years age.
The photos provided do not show the extent of the damage to the tyres. When I returned them to the tyre dealer he struggled to see the damage but when pressing on the edge of the tyre after it had been removed from the wheels a large crack opened up between the tread and tyre carcass. In my opinion this was severe tread delamination which does not appear to be mentioned anywhere in Pirelli's report. Pirelli's report also shows two photos where someone is carefully examining the outer edge of the tyre. I have spoken with their claims department and explained that perhaps the examination wasn't thorough enough to reveal the damage that was seen by the tyre dealer and I but the claim the tyres have been fully examined. I'm happy to share privately the contents of the report to those who are interested.
Please if you have Pirelli tyres fitted to any vehicle go and check your tyres or get someone competent to do so for you as a quick Google reveals that this isn't an isolated incident. I would also recommend you to check the date code of any tyres you buy and ensure they are not old tyres!
I replaced these tyres with a pair of Michelin Pilot 4 and I will never again purchase Pirelli tyres.
When I spoke with the claims department they were not prepared to negotiate with me or offer any form of recompense apart from an offer to return the faulty tyres for me to have independently examined.
Does anyone know a company that offers such a service?
] that is after I purchased the replacement Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres from them. The other difficulty is that between the original purchase date and now the business was taken over by a national tyre supplier so not sure who would be responsible?
brand ? 
