ronmart

I spent 5 hours at a 2.25 mile track (Pacific Raceways in Kent, WA) on Monday doing rougly 60 laps. I've been to this track in my car once before for a High Performance Racing School class. Here's what the track looks like:



Now my car has also been at one Drivers Skills Day with the Porsche club, otherwise it is a fair weather twisty road driver and commuter car. I currently have 5400 miles on the OEM Michelin Pilot Sport 2's that came with the car.

I've attached pictures below which show what the passenger front looks like head on as well as its sidewall, followed by the drivers front tire.

While these tires have incredible grip and outstanding track performance, they flat out melt when they are on the track. I've never used such a soft tire. The condition of the passenger right just blows my mind.

Have others experienced this kind of wear in spirited driving?

If so, what did you get to replace them?

Track drivers - how much life do you think I have left in these tires?

tocho1

I have the same tires and almost 8000mi on them (997 C4S btw) ...I've done 4 2 day DE events this year and they look about the same as yours, except sidewalls are somewhat less worn out in mine. Yes they do "melt" when they get hot! Yest'y I got the car inspected for another event next week and I was told they are fine.

lawjdc

you probably should dial in more negative camber in the front end (and also the rear) I ended up having to replace the rears after 8,000 miles, but not the fronts

ronmart

Well it is good to know that they still have life left in them and that this is somewhat normal.

Turns 3a and 5b (which may not look like much on the map) are the ones that I think contributed the most to this condition.

Bodhi

More negative camber will help.

I assume that you drove the track counter-clockwise. If so, then more wear on the right front and rear is normal.

Definitely watch that you keep the fronts inflated enough. Otherwise, because of the factory set up, the front tires will roll a lot and wear more quickly on the outside.

Other than that, your tires don't look bad at all. You've got a lot of days left on the left front.

You probably have a few more days on the right front. If you go to that track again, switch the front tires around.

Overall they don't look to bad. My OEM tires (Bridgestones) have a harder compound. I've gotten them so hot that chunks of rubber fall out of the treads.

ronmart

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into that.

I imagine that I'm seeing the front wear faster because this is a 4s rather than a 2s. The rears are in near mint condition on my car.

Bodhi

And one more thing, tight turns like 3a (from that drawing-never been to that track) will eat up your fronts if you're not rotating the car enough before getting back on the power. I'm assuming turn 3a is a lower speed turn. If you're not trailbraking, you will rapidly consume the outer edges of your tires. If your car is pushing a lot as you get back on the throttle, then try a new approach to the turn.

MHC2S

This is the reason why I would invest in a set of dedicated wheels and track tires such as Michelin Pilot Cups etc. Plus you will have more fun with real track tires and better grip.

Porky

The longest lasting tires I ever got were the Pirelli P Zero's I got on my 996. I did 16,000 spirited miles (no track days or wheel spinning) and they would have lasted another 1,000 - 2,000 according to my dealer.

The Michellin's on my 997 are almost through at 9,000!

The only downside of the Pirelli's was grip in the wet ain't so great and they are damn noisy on certain surfaces. My buddy has Conti's on his car and they are pretty good.

It's kind of annoying that Porsche changes tires on the cars left right and centre! Here in Japan it really is the luck of the draw - unless you order a car and specify exactly what you want!

ronmart

I was a little low on air the first time I went out and wasn't able to correct it until the after the first 10 laps (or else I would have missed that lapping session - screw that!).

I need to get a good tire gauge because TPMS is full of crap. I used a friends 3 1/2 face tire gauge he got online and it was spot on with the tire pressure. TPMS was at least 3 to 5 psi off per tire, and frequently showed different readings on each side despite the fact that it wasn't true. Is there a way to calibrate TPMS?

Bodhi - Yes, my crappy driving is a big part of the problem. I'll have to try your suggestion out the next time I am at the track in new tires to see if it helps.

MHC2S - wouldn't Michelin Pilot Cups wear down even faster? I'm tempted to get new tires now and retire these to track only use, but I don't have the spare change for the new rims to go with it yet nor do I have the storage so I'm stuck at the moment.

ronmart

Yes, a friend of mine had his C2S Coupe which has just under 5000 miles on it, and he's been out the the track once more than me. His Pirelli's look almost perfect. They have had zero melting and they just looked a bit scruffed, but the sidewalls were perfect.

However, according to our Sports Chrono timings, I think I was roughly 5 - 10 seconds faster than him on the track, so I was definitely pushing harder - in a AWD vehicle - so I'm sure that is a big factor too.

Chris C.

I ran 2 days at Barber on my OEM 19 PS2s with good results, but I am running a fair amount of negative camber, and have a lighter RWD car.

I was impressed with their stickiness and predictable handling, but I know others report the soft sidewalls wear too easily on the track.

MHC2S

Welcome to the world of tracking a car and or racing. It can get expensive, ask anyone. I gave the Pilot Sport Cups as an example. Though I do hear from several guys in my local PCA chapter that run them with success. They just need a lap or two to get some heat into them. The hot ticket now is the Hoosier SO6's, but you will need to run some neg. camber with those tires. A well set up cars track tires will last several DE weekends. Maybe over the winter save some $ and get a used set of track wheels. Then mount some new track tires and your good to go Please don't tell your wife I said that

ronmart

Thanks guys - is there a particular setting for the negative camber that you guys have noted somewhere that I can go tell my dealership or a local shop to adjust my front suspension to so I can adjust for this?

I'm nowhere near a gear head, so while I completely understand what you mean by negative camber - my knowledge ends there. I'd have to get someone to make that adjustment for me.

doc2s

what tire pressure were you getting hot (right after a session)?
you need to max out camber in the front. you will probably get round -1 deg. with the stock suspension.