sasportas

I have two fronts available.


One is in very good condition with some wear on the outer edge. The other is good but with more wear.

TJ Elliott

I want to report my recent experience with the Trofeos. I'm currently finishing my third set and have just ordered my fourth. I really like the grip; however, I did prematurely ware out my first 2 sets trying to find the optimal run conditions. I have a C4S which due to it's heavier weight and AWD require a different camber set-up than a GT3. My last set is wearing eveninly with -2.95 front and -3.25 rear camber. Zero front toe and -1.5 mm per side rear.

I've been chasing the optimum hot temperature as well and found that the 2 bar level too low. 2 bar equals 29.5 psi. At 30 psi front and 32 psi rear I found excessive outside wear so I moved up to 33 psi front with 35 psi rear with good results until my last track event. My cold temperatures were 28 psi front and 30 psi rear. Temperatures would climb by 8 to 10 psi during first session so I bleed down to hot temp. I add air to bring pressure back up to 28/30 psi the next morning.

During the last session of my last track weekend at ~200 km'hr coming up back stretch at Mosport I feel a vibration in rear develop rapidly. I quickly slowed and entered the pits that were one turn away. In the pits I found I had a flat driver's side rear tire. I was running the above set-up and presuures with ambient temperature around 80 degrees. I removed my track wheels and took the rears to Braidan Tire at the track. Inspection of the tire found a chunk of rubber missing on the inner tread block exposing the cords. Upon removal of the tire from the rim we discovered the tire was delaminating from the inside beneath the inner tread block. I was fortunate not to have had a catastophic tire failure at speed. We removed the other rear from the rim and found it was beginning to delaminate as well. Tires were about 75% spent.

Pictures of the failure, my alignment and pressures settings were sent to Pirelli. I was asking that they replace the tires. The response was that I damaged the tires by running them at too low of a cold temperature and that they would not replace them. I had to press to get their recommendations. They said that my alignment se-up was acceptable and they stressed not to run the tire below 32 psi cold and to run hot temperatures of 36 psi front and 38 psi rear.

I'm still a strong believer in the Trofeos and I have ordered another set as they stick like crazy. Hopefully I have put the premature wear and failure issue behind me. I'm posting to help others with their set-up not to reflect negatively on Pirelli. YMMV

pvdw

TJ, Outer wear, you mean only on the outer side of the tyre or both outsides compared to the middle part ?

No overheating greasy feel at those higher pressures ?

Felt like I needed to lower the fronts last time but was at 2 bar already ... Was on a hot day however

Always start the day at 2.4 bar lowering a couple times a day and inflating to 2.4 again when driving of. Still needs more air next morning when cooled down completely.

Targa Tim

Looks like this is not an isolated incident. Not sure if I have confident in this tire at all.

TJ Elliott

Without sufficient camber and with pressures below 32 psi the tire rolled to the outside severely wearing the outside corner of the tire. I'm not talking about the inside of the tire. In fact the inside of the tire wasn't even on the wear bars yet. Whenever I've felt the tire greasy I'd pull into the pits to check pressure and typically it was at 40 psi or more. I haven't run the 36/38 psi combo yet so I'll report after this weekend if they feel greasy at that level. I was running 33/35 hot and Pirelli says this is too low.

TJ Elliott

The conclusion here shouldn't be about confidence in the tire itself but how it's used. Not sure why, but on Rennlist most people say they run at 2 bar hot which is 29.5 psi. What I'm saying is that I experienced severe tire roll (front and rear) at pressures in the 30/32 range and experienced a tire failure at 33/35 hot with cold temps of 28/30. Keep in mind I have a heavier AWD C4S.

Pirelli's response is this is too low of a cold pressure and too low of a hot pressure. I did not mention this before but I asked about their literature and website that says 2 bar hot and they said it's wrong and they're in the process of changing the website.

I think the question to ask is do the tire failures that have been reported correlate to low cold and hot pressure usage? That is what Pirelli has said in my case. I'm giving them another try using Pirelli's pressure recommendations then I'll go from there.

mdrums

I've read some issues with Trofeo's on other forums as well. They seem to be extremely sensitive to alignment. Seems like the alignment for a 997 based Porsche should be right around -3front and -2.5 rear. Seems like TJ in his post above has the negative camber reversed as all track alignments have more front camber than rear camber.

I'm staying with Nitto NT01. Very reliable tire thats been around a while and really tested, super grippy, they wear well right to the cords and last a long time for track tires plus they are around $1000 less than Trofeo.

csmarx

What size Nitto's are you running, and what cold and hot pressures?

Thanks,
-Christian

Jon Tan

Hi, how many of you lightly scrub / heat cycle the Trofeo R at least a few days before using them really hard?

Is it a rule that all R compounds benefit from lightly heat cycling at least a day or two before first major hard use?

pvdw

No idea on schub or pre-heat cycling honestly, Interested to find out more as I'm pretty much through first set and ordered new ones

What do you recon, one more day in them ? Think should be ok but best is gone...

Need more camber

ChrisF

I installed mine, set pressures and went to town. They had massive grip by lap 2 or 3.

Jon Tan

I've looked for this information but official Pirelli documentation doesn't say anything about it.

Anyone have access to Pirelli rep? Any information much appreciated.

I know Toyo officially recommended 2 heat cycles on the R888, at least 24 hours apart, before running the tire hard.

unclejosh

Second to coaching, tremendous aid to my driving and a dent to the pocketbook, but worth it. Great feel and predictability. Lap times have dropped for me and confidence has risen. I drive a GTS.

I start as low as 25 psi and take two laps to warm before pushing. I end at 30 to 34 psi hot usually. If I push too early, tires roll over onto sidewalls and traction non-optimal. At 28 psi I usually start pushing a bit more as the traction grows in...

Camber must be > -2.5 to realize full contact patch and traction and optimal wear. When I went to -3F and 2.8R it was a noticeable improvement in feel and traction, and the tires warmed more quickly.

My sets usually last 5 to 6 track days before heat cycled out, 20 min sessions x 5 per day, roughly 100 track miles. 5th day I take it easier as they drop off a bit.

I then run them on the street till bald, then change them out before tracking again.

I am an intermediate driver and mostly drive at Laguna Seca as it is close to me.

Best of luck and skill to all..

pvdw

New tyres ready to install...but... Rss suspension setup won't be installed in time for Friday
What you guys think ? One more day on old tyres (pics last post) and hold on to new set for after new alignment or run the new set one day with old alignment???
Would this do them any harm ? Old set good for one more day ? Seem cycled out...

Argh... should I just say f*ck it, YOLO and put new set on or economise on expensive tyres :-(

TJ Elliott

Definitely another day for the tires in the picture.