New rear tyres!!! Ggrrrrrrrr!??

Ricky the panther · Aug 13, 2017

Hi all.

I bought my 2011 Panamera diesel in February this year and to all intent and purpose it appeared to have new tyres, although, as you will know, unless you scrabble about on your hands and knees it's impossible to fully check the rears....me being disabled made it so. Anyway I've done 2000 miles on thes tyres and when the car was in for a checkup last week the mechanic pointed out that my rear tyres were balding in the following fashion:

The tyres are Pirelli P Zeros (no) 295/35 zr 20 105y......... the full outer half of the tread are bald and the inner half almost brand new (7-8mm)

Has anyone come across this before? and if so what was the cause? I still have 6 months of warranty left from when I bought the car, so if it's something mechanical I'd like to know ASAP.

Thanks

The Panther

shadow8 · Aug 13, 2017

Panther,

looks likely that before the car was sold they swapped the fronts and backs around becuase the fronts usually wear like that. Personally I would never use Pirelli as they are fast degraders. I have Michelin (N rated) on mine and they wear fairly evenly but not perfectly. The Panny is hard on tyres in any event. 2 ton of metal with a powerful engine...in my case the Turbo S (550HP) has a very serious effect on the rubber. You should put Michelins on all round and then immediately take the car for a 4 wheel computer alignment. That really is vital. If you are driving it hard remember each time the rear spoiler deploys it produces more downforce and there goes your rear tyres as the back of the car is pushed into the road! Welcome to a much underestimated car. It truly is much much better that the motoring hacks ever said about it...dissing it on looks immediately didn't do the marque any favours but I guess it made it more reachable for us with less cash to splash!!

Ricky the panther · Aug 14, 2017

Thanks Shadow, but the front tyres are different profile. Interesting about the spoiler effect. I'll take it for a full the 4 wheel computer alignment you recommended. I'm in the process of looking to change to a 4s, I have my eye on one now . As you say superb car, I am am an ex Police traffic driver and have never driven anything like it.