I have @ 12,300 miles on the car and it is time to change out the rear tires this spring. I will keep the stock Pirellis on the front, but will change out to the Mich PSS for the rears. I have not tracked the car (more less just some spirited road driving). Should I expect changing out the rear tires between every 12 to 15k miles? How long would you think the front tires should be good for?

 

I posted in another thread about how well the OEM tires wear on this car, I drive like an idiot in mine (as I am sure we all do) and the tires at 10500 miles are wearing well and wearing evenly. It's a double-edged sword though, as wear aside I don't think the P Zero is a particularly good tire and nowhere near as good as the PSS. I will say that the P Zeros on my 911 were done by 7500 miles, but they were the Porsche N1 Spec tires and were, I suspect, softer than the regular blend.

 

How long did your front tires last, or did you just swap out all four?

 

On the 911? The fronts were actually OK, on a 911 they do wear much better than the rears, but I did change out all four at once for the Michelin tires.

 

I don't like the P-zero. I will replace mine the moment they reach 6/32.

 

I felt obligated to complain directly to Michelin about my Pilot tires as they completely lose all grip when the ambient air temperature goes anywhere near 40F (what's that, about 5C?). I haven't gotten a chance to go back to the dealer yet to see if I got bad tires or what, but I am EXTREMELY disappointed with these Michelin Pilots. First chance I get (if Michelin doesn't make good) is to go BACK to P Zeros. Sure, the Pirellis don't last as long, but that's because traction needs soft compound.

 

My experience is that the P zeros are poor when cold. It doesn't get overly cold at all here in the Bay Area but below 40 the P Zeros are awful, noticeably lacking in grip compared to warmer temperatures.

Another member, SpinningBull, posted on here that grip with his new PSS was better in the colder mornings that his prior OEM Pirellis.

 

On my XKR the PSS tires (Pirelli's wore out in about 12-13,000. mi.) were much better overall than the Pirelli's, including cold weather... what I was not sure of was the issue of the Pirelli rears being almost worn right out and the PSS being new.. it was not a direct comparison of new to new, however I have read comparison reviews that confirmed my feeling that the PSS are much better.

The Ftype is garaged for now, but once the Pirellis' wear down, I'm switching over to the PSS. I switched out rear and front on the XKR even though the fronts seemed ok as I didn't want to take a chance on messing up the handling due to different tire brands front/rear ... I'm not sure that I actually needed to switch all four.?

If you are now going with the PSS tires, are you increasing to 305' size? If you do it would be interesting to see if you notice a difference in traction.
Lawrence

 

Would the 305's fit on the original wheel (I believe mine are 275/35ZR19)? If so I would definitely consider it. I already have spacers on the wheels, but wouldn't mind a bit more at all.

 

I just looked at TireRack online and the widest wheel they have for the 19 inch wheel would be a 295/35/ZR19.


The 275/35/ZR19 is $332


The 285/35/ZR19 is $345


The 295/35/ZR19 is $423 per wheel.


Here are my questions/concerns:


1. Will there be any issues ratio wise if I keep my front tires (245s) the same and increase the rear tires from 275 to 295?


2. Would I still be able to keep my existing wheel spacers with the new, wider rear tires?


3. Would there safety issues to worry about with the wider tires on the existing wheel (blowouts, flats, etc)?


4. Would the wider tire also lift the back end of the car up a bit?

 

Michelin will not make good as the Pilots are a summer only tire. They weren't designed to be used in cold weather and I believe they explicitly say not to use them at temperatures under 40F. Unfortunately you're asking the tire to do something it was never designed to do.

 

I should let someone else answer your questions that has your rims... mine are the 20" with 295 stock rear.
Lawrence.

 

Maybe Cee Jay has PS2s. He didn't say what specific Michelin Pilot he has.

I generally find the PSS better too. I have PSS on the BMW and P Zero on the Jag. Of course a cold summer tire at 40 degrees is never going to have a ton of grip

 

Are you serious????


These are high performance summer tires of course you have no grip at those temperatures. You even have to warm them up for a spirited track session on a warm day.


You have a front heavy high torque rear wheel car, if I want I can get my rears to spin on a warm day in third gear.


The Michelin are softer than the Pirellis and will not last as long as the Pirelli, sorry dude you know nothing about tires and performance cars.

 

Yes up to 15k on the rears is normal. Front depends on your alignment, if they wear even I would expect about 25k - 30k of spirited driving, if you track of course that changes.

 

1. No, you already drive staggered setup and 10mm more do not make a differences on the rear.


2. Do not know how big you spacers are, how much room do you have now? Take a tape measure and add 10mm to your current wheels and see if that touches your wheel well.


3. No difference.


4. No, they are both 35.

 

Yes it would! By about 7mm

 

I actually have the Pilot A/S 3 tires, the supposed "Best All Season Tire Ever" from Michelin. I have also had the Pilot Summer tires, and I agree with you that the Pilots are no good under 40F, which is why I went to the A/S 3, and now sad me, those aren't any better than the Summer ones at 40F and below. Maybe even a bit worse, but hard to tell when not able to directly compare on like vehicles on the same day.
Maybe I'll just park all winter, which would be sad. It gets COLD, but not really much snow or rain.

 

All season tires are a con in my opinion. You are better off with winter and summer.

 

I had 19" Pirellis on my 2004 XK8 and front and rear were done at 12,000.

I had 19" Pirellis on my 2007 XK and front and rear were done at 12,000.

I first had 20" Dunlops on my 2008 XKR and front and rear were done at 13,000. I replaced the Dunlops with 20" Michelin Pilot Super Sports and they were shot at 13,000 also.

So, for me the wear was about the same on all of them. However, the Michelin Super Sports were definitely the best handling and a bit cheaper.