I have a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP with a band of wear down the center of the rears only. I run the recommended 30 PSI and keep traction control on most of the time. Took it into the selling dealer this morning to hear no warranty if you don't rotate? Michelin web site says tires have 45,000 mi. warranty. Anyone else have wear issues? Size is recomened 275/40ZR18. Really like the tires and I'm going to replace the rears only but 23,000 miles is not good.

 

Try calling Michelin directly.

 

You're right about the warranty. The only way to rotate these tires is to remove them from the rims and swap side to side. Which I don't know if anybody does that. Excessive tire wear down the middle of the tire usually indicates over-inflation. That doesn't seem to be the case with yours. You should get a lot more mileage than that, I just replaced my Goodyear runflats at 33,000mi. Wish I could be of more help.

 

I took my car in for inspection at 12,000 miles on the rear and was told I needed new tires to pass. I am a very conservative driver and could not believe the performance. I was able to get a reduced price on a new set of rears from Discount which I took advantage of because the front still had plenty of tread life. Long story short- I reduced the pressure in the tires and will likely not use them again unless I get much improved performance from this set.

 

Try calling Michelin's Customer Assistance - explain that you really don't rotate the tires in the traditional way on a Corvette and see if they can help you out.

 

How can you rotate a tire when it can only be fitted to that wheel? I guess he missed that C5s have 18s at the rear only! Add to that the wear is in the center so left or right side is irrelevant. If it was outer wear or inner wear that would be different. The dealer is talking BS.

As for the wear, I've run my AS ZPs at about 28 cold and the wear is even. That said, I also have about 20k on them, although it's quite pacy driving on the rougher UK roads. I'm coming up for replacement soon so I'm not doing any better than you on that score.

 

Do you mean that the entire center raised strip is worn down?

I run the same tires at 30 PSI cold and mine have 20k on them and the center strips on mine still look nearly new.

 

Be interested in what they advise......

 

This is a part of the age old discussion on tire inflation. If you live in a climate that is very hot - like I do....30psi is too much. The high surface temperatures in the summer plus the high ambient temperature can cause a tire inflated to 30psi cold to wind up being 36psi hot (or more!)

In the summer, I run my tires around 26-27psi cold which winds up being about 32-33psi hot.

Evil-Twin (E-T) has made many dissertations about this subject. He uses the example of NASCAR crew chiefs constantly adjusting tire temperatures to maximize tire wear and handling characteristics through the course of a race. Personally I monitor tire inflation very closely with a high quality air gauge. I don't rely totally on the TPMS. I use it as a reference only.

If you notice the sticker on the door jamb of the C5, it clearly states RECOMMENDED inflation is 30psi cold. Different climates and driving styles, as well as different tires can dictate what works best in each individual application.

I got a little more than 20K miles out my last set of tires (Michelin PS2) which in my mind was great. This is a relatively soft compound maximum performance summer tire. I like to take freeway ramps fast and I enjoy driving in the twisties when I can. To get the kind of results I got tells me that monitoring tire pressure and having a good alignment along with a suspension in good working order allowed this.

 

Out here in CA running 30 psi cold will put you up to almost 40psi hot on somedays. I have to adjust depending on what kind of day it is.

 

So what do you run pressure wise hot. My TPMS agrees with my digital pressure gauge so I'll watch my hot pressure. Also I'm getting a tread gauge and will monitor wear for these new rears. And yes center strip is gone, I would be seeing cord soon.

 

Someone I work with, a VERY conservative type driver, replaced his C5 factory GY runflats at 40k miles! Hope mine last that long.

..rickko..