JochenHeiden

I have 27000 miles on my Pirelli Pzero P235/50 ZR 18 97W tires on my Mustang GT. The dealership told me they are almost down to minimum tread wear and the right front is also cupping/feathering which is causing quite a racket on the freeway. I am very disappointed in these Pirellis. On my 2007 V6 the Pirellis lasted over 50000 miles without a problem.

So now my dilema is I need new tired but I don't know anything about them. I want a good durable set but I don't want to sacrafice ride quality or handling. I went to Pep Boys to get an idea of what's out there. They currently have a sale for Hankook V4 performance tires but I know nothing about them.

Also, Ford told me to get an alignment. Do I really need it? The car tracks dead straight with the steering wheel centered and has no tendency to drift either side, and the steering feels relatively tight still. What could need aligning?

So, what tires do you all recommend that closely mimic Pirelli's handling qualities? I thank you for helping this rookie tire purchaser!

MrLatte

You should check the reviews at http://www.tirerack.com/.

Did you need an all-season tire? Have you thought about getting new wheels this time around? Then you could buy a wheel/tire combo and just bolt them on at home.

MrLatte

I've had my eye on the Continental ExtremeContact DWS. It has pretty good reviews and it did well in one of their tests. Here's the page at Tire Rack:
http://bit.ly/hh3z4q

parchisi

I'm with MrLatte. Do some researching on Tirerack and you can compare tires similar to the Pirellis.

As for the alignment, just because it tracks straight and/or doesn't pull, doesn't mean you're good. My friend made that mistake once and then had a tire blowout when the inside of the tire wore all the way through. The fact that the tire is cupping/feathering means that something isn't right.

Norm Peterson

You may be in for more than just an alignment.

http://www.procarcare.com/includes/c...dtirewear.html

Get whatever is causing the problem fixed, and if you have otherwise liked the Pirellis why not just get another set? After all, it doesn't particularly seem to be the tires' fault in this case.

There appear to be at least two "PZero" tires; are yours the PZero Nero (400 treadwear) or the PZero Rosso (220 treadwear)? 27,000 miles might be about right for 220TW, but is low for a 400.

There is a lot more to being happy with your tires beyond the local tire place having your size in stock in some brand and tire model (I'm not busting on Hankooks here). As mentioned, Tire Rack is a good resource, though I'd look for the Tire Rack's own tests and pay the greatest attention to the test notes about how the tires "felt" as they were being tested. Among the customer data, I would not put much emphasis on small differences between tires or on review commentary that is not specifically described. Reasons - most people don't drive hard enough for the differences between tires to show up, and some people will write their review before they've even driven on the new tires long enough to scrub the mold release out of the treads.


Norm

ym42

My BFGoodrich factory tires went for almost 60k miles ( mostly highway, aggressive driving ), and though they are down to indicators I am still driving on them:-) I would do the alignment. You can get the lifetime deal from Firestone for 150$ ( 170 with tax, I just got it ).