Macan tyres

[Chilgrove]

Hope this is of interest to anyone thinking about changing their tyres. My Macan SD has done 31000 miles from new, same tyres, Pirelli. I check pressures regularly but it appears I am not very diligent about checking other aspects of tyre condition. Anyway, 31000 miles and still loads of tread left. Argh, what's this? Front nearside around the circumference I see the steel braiding exposed. Front offside I can see it just starting to show as well. Horrified, especially as there is still so much tread remaining. Phone call to my local favourite tyre specialist. Michelin Latitude all season tyres, 4 off £760 total all in price. (includes VAT, fitting etc). Phoned local Porsche dealer and £619 total price. No contest. Believe me, I drove very slowly to their showroom 28 miles away.

[Guy]

Interesting - I presume that was the inside edge hence less visible from a cursory glance?

Did you get the tracking/wheel alignment checked?

Also, specifically what Michelin Latitude tyres did you fit? Are they the 'Latitude Tour HP' that used to be offered as the 'All Season' fit on purchase? If so, I am surprised that these are still around as they no longer meet the German winter tyre regulations. Still a perfectly decent (and hard wearing) tyre for UK use though.

[SAC1]

Here's the official Porsche GB website http://tyreselector.porsche.com/widget/gb

[bennachie]

I suspect you live in a speed bump infested area and you straddle instead of 'taking them down one side or the other'.......................

[Chilgrove]

The photo I took shows the damage (which may have been a flaw, not sure). The damage is right around the centre of the tread and I am not sure if Porsche checked the tracking or not but I would think if the tracking was out then I would not have got 31000 miles from them. In fact with the amount of tread remaining I may well have got 40000 miles eventually. I do look at my tyres quite frequently which leads me to think this may have happened over a very short period of time. Michelin Latitude Tour NO. I was pleasantly surprised at the price for all 4 (the rear ones are very wide).
We do not have many speed bumps around here. The Porsche people were very surprised I got so many miles out of the Pirellis.

[Chilgrove]

The Latitude Tour are still shown on the Porsche website using the link above. Apparantly the NO means officially approved by Porsche. But I can see by looking at the new tread that it might struggle with some of the German winters.

[Paul]

Very unusual to see that in the centre!
Points towards huge over inflation or, as you say, a flaw. But extremely unlucky to have both fronts with a flaw?
Any tracking issues will normally show up as wear on the edges or uneven wear across the tread.

[Chilgrove]

Hi Paul, yes I agree but in my case the pressures have always been spot on. After checking with my wee electric pump I always recheck using my Dunlop pencil gauge. Also of course the on board display. I only discovered the other day that I carry a Porsche electric pump in the boot (side compartment) which I would use to inflate the collapsed spare if required. Still learning about this lovely car after 3.5 years !

[Nuclear Nick]

Very strange. Was the defect all the way round? If localised it could be damage from debris in the road, if all the way round it points to a flaw in the tyre, which is what it looks like in your pic.

[Chilgrove]

I do not know if the defect was all the way round but I think it probably was. The tyre is no longer with me. I too think it points to a flaw in the tyre although I cannot complain considering the mileage I got from them. But this could have been dangerous Pirelli !