kosmo

One of my rear PS2 (right side) is wearing more on the inside. The dealer performed an alignment. Are PS2's unidirectional or could i swap the rears?

Additionaly the tech made a comment about seeing many PDK cars w/ this "issue". Interesting.

NA011

PS2s are not unidirectional. As you know there is an inside & an outside of the tire. I swap sides every 5,000 miles & give the rims a good cleaning.
You can go online w/ Michelin @ http://www.michelinman.com/about/ and ask them the question & they will tell you that you can swap them side to side.
The biggest advantage (as long as you are having even tire wear) is it keeps your tires running smoother. As your tire rotates the leading edge of each "block" wears down faster than the trailing edge. The swap will even the wear.
My Porsche dealer will set the alignment (per Porsche spec) for maximum wear & recheck each year for no charge as long as they do not have to adjust the alignment. I'll get ~18,000 miles out of my rear PS2s.
I'll do 3-4 auto X's & 2 driver ed's @ Sebring per year.
Keep the tires @ the factory psi w/ a check every 3 weeks & you you should get @ least 15,000 miles.

Edgy01

Max tire performance does not mean max tire wear. You can't have both at the same time. You can try to compromise, but will give up things. If all you want is really good tire wear then you give up the special handling characteristics of the Carrera.

I recommend against rotating wheels side to side as suggested as internal tire cords take a 'set' to the way they are broken in. If you change the direction of rotation of that tire the wire cords will make an attempt to migrate to settle into a new configration. That ultimately is not good for the tire, and your safety. However, if you are not a seriously aggressive Porsche driver maybe it won't make a difference to you.

The tire wear that you are seeing is perfectly normal. The mechanic who commented that he sees that on many PDK cars is nuts--it has nothing to do with which tranny is in the car. It's the suspension setup that the factory uses for the ultimal handling performance of the car.

Nugget

Corner harder. Problem solved.

NA011

Edgy01,

"I recommend against rotating wheels side to side as suggested as internal tire cords take a 'set' to the way they are broken in. If you change the direction of rotation of that tire the wire cords will make an attempt to migrate to settle into a new configration."

That was true for the Firestone 500's & most other radials 20 years ago.
But that is not true today for Michelin & most other tire manufactures.
One of my engineers that use to work for me, left our company many years ago & went to work for Michelin & is on the PS2 design team. He told me a side to side swap is fine & there will be no tire problems of any kind. He also said you could even put (but not recommended) the "outside" of the tire on the inside of the rim and not have any tire cord/belt problems but traction & handling would be a change due to the asymmetrical tread design.

Edgy01

Good to learn. However, agree with Nugget--drive more aggressively--it will balance out the wear. The negative camber is what is causing that. When you drive aggressively the negative camber affecting the inside wear of the tire will be better balanced with the outer wear.

NA011

FYI - Written reply from Michelin:

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Michelin Consumer Care
January 07, 2011 Hello John, Thank you for your email. We welcome the opportu...
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Michelin Consumer Care to me

January 07, 2011


Hello John,


Thank you for contacting Michelin.



This letter is in response to our telephone conversation earlier today.


You can rotate your Pilot Sport PS2 tires to any wheel position if they are mounted properly on the rim. The Rubber Manufacturers Association did an intensive study of tire rotation patterns and their affect on tire durability. Their finding indicated that the tire would not be harmed by changing the direction of rotation. If the tire came out of service, it would not have been caused by changing the rotation of the tire.


We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Michelin.

It is our goal to ensure that your issue has been resolved or your question answered to your satisfaction. If we can assist you further, please respond to this email or call us at 1-800-642-4354 (toll free) between 8:00AM and 8:00PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday or between 8:30AM and 4:30PM Eastern Time on Saturday.

Sincerely,

Mike P.

Consumer Care Department
Certified Michelin Product Expert

PS: It's important that you get all the safety-related materials that come with the purchase of new Michelin passenger and light truck tires. If you did not receive a warranty book, you can download one at www.michelinman.com/warranty/. If you did not register your tires, please take a moment to do so at www.michelinman.com. Registering your tires is easy and takes just a minute.



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Case number: 263239

Macster

This accelerated wearing of the right rear tire is due to the open diff these cars come with, well, except those that are equipped with the limited slip diff option.

As the car goes around a right hand corner the inside rear tire is less heavily loaded.

The inside tire also follows a shorter path and as a result it rotates slower than the outer tire.

The outside tire of course is more heavily loaded and follows a longer path. It rotates faster than the inner tire.

As a result the outer tire transfers torque to the inner tire and under the lighter loading the inner tire will slip and and thus wear faster.

To lessen effect try to take right hand corners at a lower speed and with a lighter foot on the throttle.

Or if you can and want to go to the trouble, rotate the rear tires from side to side.

Now if the right rear tire (or the left rear tire) exhibits an uneven wear pattern, in that the inner (or outer) edge is wearing more than the other edge, this is an alignment problem.

Sincerely,

Macster.