tmm

My front two tires are wearing more than the back two, is this normal? I know the vehicle has all wheel drive but does the car pull itself from the front wheels predominentaly and then when needed, the rear wheels? I have the 20" factory Porsche rims and Michelin Dem. tires with 13,500 miles on them.

GM Austin

If the wear is more on the inside of the front tread, you may have an alignment problem that is a known Cayenne issue and your dealer may help with the cost of replacing the tires. Your mileage on these tires is not completely out of line though, 15k is typical for most owners.

The rear wheels receive most of the power, around 65% normally. The higher wear rate up front is more due to braking where the weight transfer puts the greater load up front.

TheTKDKid

I am not able to find anything in the manual regarding tire rotation? Is this required on the Cayenne, and if so, at what mileage interval?

wingless

It may be normal wear. If the vehicle is operated such that there are high cornering forces, requiring the tires to control a 6,000 pound vehicle around a tight, high-speed exit ramp, for example, then that would wear the tires quicker than not having that "fun".

ben in lj

Our Mich Dem were to the wear bars on the back tires at a hair over 6k miles with my wife driving it both pregnant and then as a new mommy. IOW, it couldn't have been driven more conservatively. The wear is completely even all the way across the tires killing any alignment or tire pressure theories to account for the well below avg wear.

ozr

...NORMAL...

My front two tires are wearing just a little more than the back too and I consider this normal. As was stated above, fronts work hard on cornering and braking in addition to about 40% power traction...Cay is HEAVY car with a lot of INERTIA to control...

...I expected about 16K, but aparently will get about 20K of my Conti4x4 on 18...I drive demanding, but first completely explore car real limits for the future purpose to RESPECT them..., personally test in very different sometimes extreme conditions and keep all my cars in top shape...

...I did not rotate (it's recommended at about 7K mi intervals to get more life of tires...), but I did NOT wanted to get more life of Contis, I prefer to kill them sooner and did not want to introduce potential "PORSCHE vibration"...

I want to move to my normal performance preference choice - Pirelli...

TheTKDKid

Please, please, please: does anyone know the answer to this one?

BobbyB

Tire rotation is never required. It is however recommended by most tire manufacturers to increase tread life. As the frt/rear tires are the same size, you can rotate your tires if you want longer tread life. The question would be with tires that naturally have a shorter tread life, how often do you rotate them to achieve any noticeable results? Another issue to consider for tire wear along with alignment is tire pressure. Tire pressures given by Porsche are to achieve a balance between wear, safety and comfort. Lower pressure = faster wear and a different wear pattern. Because of Porsches staggered tire pressures, the pwr split of 32/68 between frt & rear, this along should give could cause to rotate the tires.
We had the same issue with our X5, I've tried both leaving them alone and rotating them but so far I've not been able to get more than 15K per set. Good luck.

ltc

I was able to get 20K miles out of the factory stock 20" Continental 4x4 SportContacts. This took 2 alignments.

Tire rotation in a Cayenne? The rubber doesn't live long enough to warrant it.
Of course, if your car is in the shop enough times, the tires will eventually end up rotated.

philg3

If you have a winter set, it's easy to swap the fronts with the backs at change over time.

Torags

I rotated at 5K. Most of my driving is city -low speeds lots of turning. Usually my outside fronts wear even tho' the pressure is adjusted 2-3lbs over.

A couple of things you CAN"T depend on - Porsche dealer rotation recommendations since all their other cars have different sizes (front & rear) and the tire shop youngster who inflates your tires to the pressure dejour.

My next set I'm going to go down one speed range to get a harder compound (M&S) with better siping for winter driving. My current Bridgestones are dangerously bad on lite snow.

bobdog

I would not recommend rotating. I did this at 17K on Contis on 18" wheels. This was done with an alignment and the result was to reintroduce the vibration problems that had been gone since balancing was done at 2K. Once one gets rid of the vibration problem, I would do nothing to chance bringing it back. I am at 18K now and will probably need new tires around 25K, though I may go get them rotated back to where they were, I wonder if they could put the alignment back as well.