ILLCOMM

Crickets in the GT2/3 forum, so trying here.

I haven't seen wear like I currently have on the front right Trofeo R on my GT2. Is this from use or is it a defect? It looks like a big chunk just fell off, like the tire is delaminating.

ILLCOMM

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J richard

That lower shot looks like you overheated the edge of the tire causing a blister that then delaminated. I've seen this at the track running hard with a lot of understeer with street alignments. Don't know what setup you have on the car but the dark stipe around the tire at the shoulder suggests you need a track alignment with more camber. Also what kind of pressures are you running? Does the car push?

2BWise

It looks as though that tire is about to cord. I've seen tires do this right before they want to cord. The Michelin PS2's do it real bad;the rubber will just start flaking or peeling off from the edge. Considering the little "tic-tacs" are gone I'm sure there isn't much rubber left on the outer half of that tire.

Misdirection

Agreed. Alignment-contributed wear from hard cornering. I used to do this to multiple sets of Michelins.

CAM14

Just added another data point, looks like the tire was abused with understeer during hard corning with an alignment that did not allow for adequate camber gain. To support this conclusion, the inner side of the tire tread surface looks lightly worn and the same time the outside edge looks heavily worn. A more track friendly alignment with go a long way to lessen this effect. Also, double check tire PSI. The ware pattern indicated that the PSI was too low and the stiff sidewall kept the tire from folding over, but just a guess on my part.

What is really going on with in the tire is that as the tire gets hot the rubber starts to get sticky, which is typically good. But if too much heat is concentrated in one area (IE, outside edge) then the rubber compound between the carcass and the tread starts to melt, which results in delamination of the tread. I am guessing that is what happened to you.

J richard

Is this street use or track? My earlier comment was if this was the reault of a track day. If its street I would have the alignment checked, because you still have some pretty good grooves on the inside, but that tire was worn thin to the point it needed replaced anyway. 2Bwise is right that once a tire gets thin if you heat it up its going to chunk and come off the carcass. The other thing not to forget is with the turbos you have 4wd, (i think with the Gt2 as well?) which makes that tire do even more work up front, and different wear issues. There are others that are more familiar with 4wd setup, but front wheel drive cars are notoriously hard on outside tire shoulders...

ILLCOMM

Yes, was on the track.

Camber is -2.6. Pressure around 30 hot which is what the Trofeos are supposed to run at AFAIK.

May need more camber. Could also rotate fronts.

J richard

You may need a bit more camber but my immediate thought is that is not enough pressure for a type R tire with that much weight (Cam14^).. I would think you'd need to be in the 33f/36r hot range. 30 hot is slick pressure. Try it next time you may like the handling better, it may not push as much and less abuse of the fronts...

shizzle

I've been running my Trofeo R at around 36-38 hot, and have found that to be the best balance between performance and wear.

Obviously with a GT2 you've got a lot more power going through the rear wheels, so i'm not sure how that would factor in.

ILLCOMM

This is way above what other's recommended. I just checked the Pirelli site and they recommend 2 bar (29psi). So I'm not crazy!

I am interested in whether others have had success at higher pressure?