I have just over 5,000 miles and have just been told that I am approaching the wear bars.......is this mileage reasonable? I drive (mostly) like a little old lady.

 

This is one of my biggest reservations about my Cayenne. You do not seem to be alone in this. I think that 5,000 miles from a set of tires is horrible, they should last 15-20k. I think that there have been a lot of these trucks that came over with poor factory alignments. Not everybody has this problem but I do keep seeing it on this board.

I would go to the dealer, insist on a new set of tires and proper alignment. I am taking delivery of my Cayenne S next thursday, I am going to insist that they double check the alignment on the car.

 

The wheel alignment TSB specifies that the alignment should not be changed until after the vehicle has settled for at least 120 miles.

 

Additional information:

Wear on all four tires was uniform - there was no sign of an alignment issue. Porsche HAS re-issued a new set of alignment specifications and the dealer is performing this alignment at no charge.

After further questioning, the actual amount of wear is just over half of the usable tread with just over 5,000 miles on the vehicle. The technician guessed I might make it to 10,000 miles.

After reading a number of posts here, I have come to the conclusion that the Michelins wear extremely quicky. I will NOT be putting another set on the Cayenne. I am currently looking at the Pirelli Pzero Asimmetricos - stock size of 275/40-20 for $242 at the TireRack.

 

Thanks for the the info on the TSB. That is going to be a real pain for me though. I am picking mine up on a trailer and hauling it and the 928 out west to our new home. From there I am a good 4-5hr drive from a dealer. Heres to hoping mine comes out right

I also looked at the tire rack for some info. It seems that the Continentals fitted to the 20's have a treadwear rating of 280, the Michelin in XL load rating, which I would assume is the Cayenne tire, is rated at 140. That means that the Contis will last roughly twice as long. It also shows the Michelins to be a high wear tire, most track tires are in the 60-70 range for treadwear. I was hoping mine would come with the Michelins, now I'm not so sure

Still 5,000 miles is too short. Even with a good alignment, the Michelins probably wont last beyond 15k with treadwear ratings like that. So is $1200-1500 a year too much for the better summer traction? Mine will get snows in the winter so maybe 2-3 summers on the original tires. I guess we have to remeber that this IS a Porsche.

 

I had the Pirelli P Zero Rosso last summer (19" wheels) and put 14k miles on them until they were eaten.

 

Cayenne owners must remember that this is an all wheel drive vehicle. Tires just do not last as long when all of the wheels are driving. The vehicle is also very heavy. I had the same problem with my Range Rovers and Audi Quattro's over the years and it had nothing to do with alignment. And If you drive in warm weather climates like I do in Scottsdale, you will be replacing the rubber even faster.

I do not think your problem is related to alignment. By the way, I have found the soft compound tires like Pirelli's to be the worst for wear and the Michelins to be the best. I now use Michelins on my 02 996 TT but I can still go through tires in a hurry and plan on new ones every 5K. 10K does not seem unreasonable to me for the Cayenne especially if you have switched to 20's or 22's.

 

Brent - what Continentals for a 20" did you see on the Tirerack website?

 

Bret,

I got the 20" Continentals from the factory that you saw on Tirerack, and I like them very much. Previously, I stated the same as you on this board regarding the comparison of wear ratings between the Conti and the Michelin. Someone correctly pointed out that the wear ratings are set by the manufacturers; there is no standard. Regardless, it would seem that the Conti's would last longer, but perhaps not twice as long as the Michelins. My service guy mentioned that he's seen worn tires at 8K miles, but I didn't get into specific tires with him. He did point out that the vehicle is heavy and the perfomance tires have soft rubber. I have 5K miles on my Conti's, and I estimate about 1/3 of the tread is worn. Personally, I just bought and mounted a set of 18" Turbo wheels with Turanza's that I got on E-Bay for winter tire use -- plan to get Dunlop's. Thought though that I might as well get some use of the Turanza's until next, or perhaps the following winter as now I have an Explorer to use in the snow.

 

Why don't you look at the Toyos that Jeff Behr has experience with. The wear rating is terrific.

 

DC, The Contis are the "Sport Contact". They are showing up on some Cayennes now. I have them on my wifes BMW 750 and they seem OK, though I planned to try Michelins next time for that car.

The wear ratings are indeed just a guide and are not always representative of actual wear. Still at 140 vs 280, I think I would try the Contis.

 

My cayenne came with mud & snow sport contact Conti's. I've got almost 12k on them and they look fine. My guess is I'll get a solid 20-25K off them. Traction was okay this winter, not great. I'd have to give them solid marks as an all season ride.

I plan to get a set of summer 20" wheels and tires and was thinking about the Michelin's. This thread is really make me hesitate.

The lord's been good to us and I could afford new tires regularly, but 5-10k wear on a set of non-racing (street or track!) tires is NUTS in my opinion.

 

"Why don't you look at the Toyos that Jeff Behr has experience with. The wear rating is terrific."

Indeed. They're the Toyo Proxes S/T, here. Select Passenger, performance, Proxes S/T. Hope they have them in your size.

I now have 15,000 miles on my set and I think they'll go to at least 30,000.

 

The exact size, 275/40-20 is not listed but there is a 265/45-20 and a 295/40-20 either of which would work I suspect.

 

This is an interesting thread.

Looks like I have a curve ball to throw everyones way. I have an X-5 w/ 75,000 miles, and changed the tires at 73M! They were Michelin Energy M+S 255/55 R 18. Needletosay, I put on another set.

On my TT, I put Contacts (same size as X-5) and they now have 4500 miles on them. I have used them for winter/snow driving. From what I have learned, there are no 20" M+S tires; therefor 20" tires are sport/performance, w/ much softer rubber.

I am about to re-install my 20" Michelin Diamaris wheel and tire set up for summer/performance driving. The 18" Michelin/Contis are much harder tires than the 20" Diamaris tires, wh/ are sport/performance tires and therefore softer. I do not think I will get more than 12M miles on the 20" Michelin Diamaris'.

My past experience w/ all Porsche tires has been that the rear tires go at 10M to 20M miles, as they are all sport tires. M+S tires are much harder and should therefore get much better mileage.