Hi my friends, when I negotiated my used 599 in 2016, replacing the tyres (on Pentagram alloys) were part of the discussion. I noticed they had DOT back from 2009 or even 2008. The profile however still very decent on all of them (the car hardly made any mileage from 2011 to 2015). But then changing tyres was dropped from the final deal. And so I am driving on very old tyres in my second season now and keep wondering: a) How would new P Zeros change the drive (I have never driven any other 599 so I can't compare)? b) Is there a security risk by running old tires and if so, anytime or only when above 140mph on the Autobahn? When I ask professionals, they tell me to change rather sooner than later, but of course they are either being cautious or commercial. You guys have nothing to sell to me, so what is your expert opinion? Image Unavailable, Please Login
New tyres now Many many threads here with explanations as to how rubber goes off and in particular your wet and/or cold weather and/or high speed performance is compromised In general seven years is the rule to go by This echoes not only manufacturer sites but also consumer advice sites
Change them now as in now, not in a month. Those tires are a major safety issue. They might have tread but they're most likely dry and are pretty much like hockey pucks on ice. The DOT recommends to replace tires after 4-5 years. You're driving a high torque/high horsepower car and they won't hold traction. When I had my first Viper, it had 10 year old tires on it. If I gave it 50% throttle above 2500 rpm the car would start going sideways. The new tires will stick and give you much more confidence.
Most tires have a lifespan of 6 years? Definitely change it now. Learn the lesson from Paul walkers death. Especially since a 599 is a pretty powerful car I don’t understand the wait... If cost is a concern there are tire sales a few times a year from michelin or eBay or discounttire store Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
In general, the above advice is good but the degree of risk really depends on how you drive. If you are just putting around town to dinner or something and you don't drive in the wet or cold, the risk is rather low. If you have weather the risk is higher, nothing like reduced traction with a lot of power. If you drive fast or spirted, the risk is higher still. From there the choice is yours.
I'd replace those tyres soonest. Too many bad accidents can be attributed to old tyres, really not worth taking the risk in my opinion.
Hi Buy new tires, so I did. My rear tires are over the age limit as yours, in addition I have the damned run flats from Bridgestone. I made excellent experiences with the Michelin Pilot Super Sport at my 550 Maranello, so I decided to order the PSS for the 599 too. For the rear there are no 305/35 20 available , so you have to go with 315/35 20. The 315 is available in K1 and K2 identification For the front there are 245/35 20 in K1 or 255/35 20 in K2 identification. Don't know the 19 inch variants. I decided to go with 255/35 20 at the front to compensate the better traction from the rear and get a little bit higher flange at the front. Hope this will work. My friend (tire dealer) made me an excellent offer. 2x 255/35 20 MPSS K2 2x 315/35 20 MPSS K2 included installation for 890 € (about 1080 US $) April i will get them changed. I'm very excited how much these tires will change the character of the 599. Heard so many bad things from the run flats. Perhaps a new driving experience with the Super Sports ? Daniel
Jacques, you are right. I stood 90° across the road last October after accelerating from a T cross side street to the main street. CST off and half a millimeter to much throttle. That was it. Luck, that nothing happened. Throw away hard old tires as far as you can. Daniel
For my insurance company the maximum age is 5 years. I think to 5 years is the maximum for a performance car. Verstuurd vanaf mijn G3121 met Tapatalk
Buy new tires Or a third possibility, they are wise. Buy new tires, they are one of the last things you want to cheap out on! https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/03/paul-walker-s-death-highlights-dangers-of-aging-tires/index.htm (You will note they were not even going 140 mph on the autobahn.)
I just changed the tires on my 612. The fronts were original from when the car was new (so 10 years old) and I had changed the rears due to wear about 5 years ago-- but at that time, the date codes on the replacements showed they were older than the original tires! So I did all 4 this year, all with recent date codes.
Thanks for all your replies. I now understand that with collectible cars, age of tires becomes usually the reason for renewing tires, rather than tread. I also wasn‘t aware of the Paul Walker topic, thx for sharing. Today, I will check out the P Zero World here in Munich, see what they offer.
The problem with tires, and other rubber components, is that it's really difficult to tell if they're bad due to age or not. I believe the manufacturers say that the service life begins when they are installed on the car, as in the warehouse they are not exposed to UV or extreme temperatures. Of course, if my car is garaged in a dark garage 95% of the time, how is that different? But, in reality, especially with a car you haven't owned since the tires were new, how do you know? So tires are relatively cheap insurance.
One way to visually determine if a tire is too old (or deteriorating) is look at the area around the bead of the tire (the area closest to the rim of the wheel). If you see fine lines/cracks in the tire in that area, it is time to replace the tire, regardless of age. A friend of mine saw this cracking on a Harley tire that had a date code showing it was only two years old. The Harley dealer balked at replacing it, but my friend persisted and they replaced the tire. The last vehicle you want tire failure on is a motorcycle.
Absolutely not if I was going to drive the car. If the car is just a garage queen you could leave them on as long as they held air. Maybe I didn't write my post accurately. I was making the point that a tire doesn't have to be old to be deteriorating and unsafe. In the case of my friend's Harley, we don't know what the issue was. Maybe the tire had been incorrectly stored, or maybe it was a manufacturing defect, or maybe it was something else. In any event, the tire was clearly not suitable to be driven. However, I have seen aged tires that evidenced cracking around the bead area.
Spend the grand on 4 new tyres. No brainer. Car will drive better, far better. Old tyres are dangerous and it's stupid to use them on a 10 year old toyota, let alone a 150K Ferrari with 4x the power.
I replaced the seemingly perfect (tread) P Zeroes on my 575, with new editions of the same. Big difference in handling subtlety, even at low speed. Then swapped with the MPSS2s on my 550. The Michelins are better all round, but the P zeros are a bit sharper and harder. Try both if you can, big difference. Definitely, change your tyres. Enjoy the car!
The date code on my Diablo tires are 0909.....the 9th month of 2009. Haven't seen anyone mention this, but UV exposure plays a big role. I would be more concerned about a 6 year old DD tire than my tires on a car that gets less than 1,000 miles a year of outside time.
From the summary of the NHTSA study on tire aging - "Tire aging is a phenomenon involving the degradation of the material properties of a tire which overtime can compromise its structural integrity and jeopardize its performance. Tire aging takes place whether a tire is driven or not and for this reason is a concern for spare tires and tires that are not regularly driven. The effect of aging may not be visibly detectable on these tires and their integrity may be compromised even though they could be showing a great deal of remaining tread. "
