Pirelli P Zero premature failure
Discussion
I have read several comments in the forums about premature failure of Pirelli P Zero tyres. All lot refer to "cracking" in the tread and appear to be most frequent in tyres manufactured around 2014. Our car is a 2014 A4 All Road purchased used at 3000 miles and presumably with the original fitment Pirelli P Zeros. Earlier this year it was necessary to replace one of the front tyres because of a 'blister' in the centre of the tread. half worn at 20,000 miles. Being an All Road it was recommended that both front tyres were replaced.
In the summer driving down the M6 there was a vibration felt from the rear of the car and, before the next services were reached, there was an loud bang from the back and I drove on to the hard shoulder to find that the central section of tread had detached and flailed the bodywork. Fortunately the tyre carcase did not deflate and I was able to drive slowly to the next services. When summoned the AA service engineer examined the other rear tyre and concluded that the same was about to happen to it.
Some correspondents seem to have had success complaints with Pirelli, whether on a local or national basis, but after sending the tyre back to Pirelli all that has resulted is a whitewash letter saying that the tyre delaminated because of moisture ingress through small holes in the tread which may have been caused by flints. No acceptance at all of the fact that Pirelli construction was at fault in letting the moisture break down the bonding between the tread and the carcase in the first place. No admission that many similar problems had been reported.
These Pirelli P Zeros have shown themselves to be no better than 3rd world remoulds.
Be advised and form your own opinion.
I attached a photo of the defective tyre.
In the summer driving down the M6 there was a vibration felt from the rear of the car and, before the next services were reached, there was an loud bang from the back and I drove on to the hard shoulder to find that the central section of tread had detached and flailed the bodywork. Fortunately the tyre carcase did not deflate and I was able to drive slowly to the next services. When summoned the AA service engineer examined the other rear tyre and concluded that the same was about to happen to it.
Some correspondents seem to have had success complaints with Pirelli, whether on a local or national basis, but after sending the tyre back to Pirelli all that has resulted is a whitewash letter saying that the tyre delaminated because of moisture ingress through small holes in the tread which may have been caused by flints. No acceptance at all of the fact that Pirelli construction was at fault in letting the moisture break down the bonding between the tread and the carcase in the first place. No admission that many similar problems had been reported.
These Pirelli P Zeros have shown themselves to be no better than 3rd world remoulds.
Be advised and form your own opinion.
I attached a photo of the defective tyre.
Looks scarey. But it must be a small batch or something or we'd be hearing a lot more about it. Since the tyres are 4 years old I doubt there is much you can do to prove it was a design fault now. Who knows what happened to the tyres in the last 4 years.
I run P Zeros on my Mercedes CLS (255/40/18), the fronts have been on since spring 2015 (replaced with winters in winter), and have done around 35k miles, they are half worn and no signs of problems (I will bin them anyway this December when the winters go on since they are 4 years old and despite looking fine will have seen better days, plus its a high speed motorway car). The same size/type of rears last around 20k miles and I've no issues. I run a different spec of P Zero on my McLaren and that has had a few extreme heat cycle and hard use with zero signs or any issues.
I run P Zeros on my Mercedes CLS (255/40/18), the fronts have been on since spring 2015 (replaced with winters in winter), and have done around 35k miles, they are half worn and no signs of problems (I will bin them anyway this December when the winters go on since they are 4 years old and despite looking fine will have seen better days, plus its a high speed motorway car). The same size/type of rears last around 20k miles and I've no issues. I run a different spec of P Zero on my McLaren and that has had a few extreme heat cycle and hard use with zero signs or any issues.
Edited by Targarama on Monday 22 October 08:04
Seems par for the course for pirelli.
My Jag had them when I bought it. The fronts were cracking in the tread valleys. To their credit, Pirelli replaced them FoC with 3000 miles on and 18 months old. The replacements did the same within 10 months. They’re awful tyres too making the back end very lively on anything but warm tarmac. I’m now on MPS4S all round, and they have transformed the car.
My Jag had them when I bought it. The fronts were cracking in the tread valleys. To their credit, Pirelli replaced them FoC with 3000 miles on and 18 months old. The replacements did the same within 10 months. They’re awful tyres too making the back end very lively on anything but warm tarmac. I’m now on MPS4S all round, and they have transformed the car.
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