Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres

[W1111AM]

cptsideways said:

W1111AM said:

I am seriously excited about these babies: Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R. I have just purchased 4 new boots for my lightweight track wheels... Going to take them on my Alpine Tour this coming weekend:

http://www.pirelli.com/tyre/ww/en/car/sheet-motors...

Some pictures:

These are sooo much better in the wet than Corsa's !! They were originally developed as a wet tyre for rallying, softer compounds & a more open tread pattern.

Thanks for this great information on the background of the Pirelli Trofeo R's and your experiences of them against the Corsa's. I will gently test this theory out over the next few months

[Zod]

jonby said:

I bet you had a fit ! I vaguely recall you mentioning this before - did you get anywhere when you complained ? I'm guessing little they could do ?

It's quite astonishing. I do recall something in the region of £600 being quoted by Stratstones when I needed rears, which I at first thought was for the pair. More than £500 for the fronts is outrageous and even the kwik fits & such like of this world surely charge less than £300 for fronts ? Seeing it in writing like that really hits home - over £2,200 for a full set compared to less than £1k source independently

Where I have a lot of sympathy with the dealers is that they only have one or at most 2 options to buy the tyres from and they will genuinely sell very few as V12V is the only car that uses corsas - discount the number of cars that are still on their first set of tyres and those that don't use corsas and you're not left with many buyers

Where I don't like the dealer attitude is that in an example such as yours, where they know how uncompetitive the pricing is, they should at least make you vaguely aware and give you chance to consider/shop around. Even though I do believe that the dealers could cut their profit to zero and still not get remotely competitive solely based on their cost price (surely the factory should be intervening to assist the dealers in not creating huge badwill) they are fully aware of the situation and shouldn't be taking advantage of customers

I had the DP call me. He was apologetic and promised to look into how they could improve the situation. I told him it was terrible from a customer service point of view and he agreed.

[W1111AM]

Ok, drove to London down the M40 , then through town, back up the M1 to Newport Pagnell, back home with the P Zero Trofeo R's fitted. Overall, on the B roads and cornering, the wheels are just awesome, grip is sensational. It is a little harder to read the break-away point of the tyres on cornering, as the speed is increased so much more than normal tyres. This takes a bit of getting used too. Generally though the ride is around 25% harder because of the harder tyre walls. The Motorways driving was fairly smooth and without alternative experience to normals.
One problem I disliked was the gathering of loose stones and the kick up into my wheels arches on a few B roads. When the tyres reach working temperature they do collect.
At WS, I think I took away half of the lovely stone car park with my slightly sticky tyres.

Got back home to my tyre man and we took the Trofeo R's off and placed normal road tyres on. We measured the tyre temperatures which were 42 degrees front and 49 rear, they were very hot. I think they may have been over inflated. The inflation is important, learning that one now. We also measure the tread depth to see if the had been much wear for this outing and the appeared to be absolutely none at 5.04mm which was good for 276 miles.

Just thought you guys would like hear my experience in them. They are absolutely fine to use. There are some considerations to take. I think driving to the track day events for people would be no problem.

Any questions?

[Neil1300r]

You should try following the over cylindered vantages with Corsas. They leave the front of the following car looking like its been hit by a shotgun

[W1111AM]

Neil1300r said:

You should try following the over cylindered vantages with Corsas. They leave the front of the following car looking like its been hit by a shotgun

Like a movie - automatic gun shoot-out
The new 20 extra horses being added in August will mean I don't have to follow any V12Vs'anymore, "syonara" - no more Dr Peppering on the front of my car

[Zod]

I spent four days driving around the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks the weekend before last. My rear Corsas are down to less than a millimetre above the tell-tale wear bands. Conditions were mixed, with driving rain alternating with moist roads and dry roads. I used B roads almost exclusively. The tyres performed perfecly. There was not a moment of unexpected grip or traction loss and they dug in hard on the exit from bends. I really don't know why some people worry so much about these tyres.

[Guycord]

Neil1300r said:

You should try following the over cylindered vantages....

Listen my Laddo and learn:-

4 cylinders on an AM - all wrong this side of WWII
6 cylinders on an AM - classically acceptable
8 cylinders on an AM - hat tip and nod to vulgar Americana
12 cylinders on an AM - adequate (just)

There are proper full-size Vantages for adults and there are little (two-thirds portion) Vantanges for children too (they even come with a box of crayons I am told).