A friend of mine and fellow Puma owner recently purchased a full set multispoke alloys from Ebay and ALL of them had the death tyre fitted.

She knows fvck all about tyres so she can be forgiven, but I got a go in it with these wheels fitted and dear God, they're worse than I remember! I had 2 fitted to the rear of mine back in November for about 2 weeks (spare wheels following a minor incident) then got a full set of Dunlop SP Fast Response. Much better.

Even though hers have loads of tread, the car just feels unstable at anything over 50. Cornering doesn't exist, they're just sh1t. You probably don't need me to tell you.

My thread isn't just a rant at these tyres, but the car manufacturer's. After doing a few Google searches it seems that Puma's came with this tyre from new, and lots of other cars had them fitted from factory. The tyre bloke even told me that they're a "premium" brand!

But why? they're not that cheap, the tyre review place had the worst reviews for anything I've ever seen, evar, they're appalling.

So how were they so popular and in some cases, the tyre of choice?

And after reading this, how did Pirelli get away with selling them for so long?

Updated May 12, 2012 at 9:26 PM

Our Corolla did 45k on a rear pair! We had to remove them because sides were cracking. They still had enough tread!

And you're still alive!? Surprised you kept them that long, even if there was enough tread.

markmctavish said...

Our Corolla did 45k on a rear pair! We had to remove them because sides were cracking. They still had enough tread!

I had them on my 306 gti 6 went from conti sports to these and I thought they were ok. My rears lasted for years???? even with all the LOO I did in it. Only changed them when the side walls cracked up badly on them and LOO could be generated at stupidly slow speeds and then it became SOOO dangerous they had to go. The fronts gave me plenty of grip/balance in the gti 6

That's the thing with P6000s they are by no means good tyres but they aren't complete ditchfinders and some people like to have a brand name on their diesel golf's tyres. That's what they're for.

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bastard monkey hands

On my link some people really are scared for thier lives and others had no problem. Personally, I hated them. How they were so many car makers tyre of choice is baffling.

Updated May 12, 2012 at 11:30 PM

zedleg said...

That's the thing with P6000s they are by no means good tyres but they aren't complete ditchfinders and some people like to have a brand name on their diesel golf's tyres. That's what they're for.

My Golf came new with Pirelli P6000s fitted. I nearly crashed several times while them tyres were on the car No such problems once they were removed.

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You Sir, are rude, arrogant and selfish. And so is your son.

My Puma came on them new. I didn't like it and sold it after 9 months but I wish I had tried it on something better first. Still, I don't think a change of tyres would have turned it into a Corrado VR6 which I replaced it with.

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[OO=[|]=OO]

I really like VR6's, especially as they're so rare on the road. I think it also scored quite well in Evo's top 100 drivers..

Yeah shame you didn't try anything else, but was there even as much difference in tyre quality then as there is now?

The Puma came from the factory on either P6000s or Goodyears of some sort; the good reviews seem to have been done on the Goodyears. And yes, there always was a big difference between the P6000 and the good tyres even a decade or more ago.

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[OO=[|]=OO]

Had them on my mk5 Fiesta Zetec S as standard. They were bloody lethal but I just about managed to wear the fronts out and decided to replace all 4. I reckon the rears would still be on it now, 5 years later if I hadn't. Got Goodyear Eagle NCT5s which were much better. Not the best in grip but seemed to suit the car, or at least the way I drove it much better.

Maybe it's me but I can't seem to get on very well with Pirellis in general. I had them on my ATR (P Zero Nero IIRC) and had to replace them with half the tread on. The Eagle F1 GSD3s were much better, even if they only lasted 8k miles.

Alex88 said...

A friend of mine .....

?/?

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If there is an emergency, please call 999.

They were apparently factory-fit on the Nissan 200SX, and are notorious on SXOC. Seems crazy that manufacturers would specify a tyre on their car that makes the handling dangerously worse - especially as Ford had such chassis expertise in-house when they launched the Puma. Just how big were their Pirelli backhanders??

This is it, why would a company spend all that time/money making a car handle and drive well only to have it ruined with a shlt tyre? And I'd imagine they're pretty dangerous on an S13/14!

God only knows how Pirelli managed to get them on so many cars. Absolutely baffling

Updated May 14, 2012 at 12:06 AM

Even Chuck Norris can't wear out a P6000.

I had them on a car, no idea what but may have been the Puma when we got it. I fitted 4 Michelin Pilot SPots or MXVs, cant remember and they were sooo much better.

Actually I think it may have been my Ka which was brand new that had them. tbh the Ka was pretty slow with a cracking chassis so didn't show up the tyres as too bad.

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What would Daddy Pig do?

I had them on my Corrado thanks to a set of ebay alloys; wet grip were pretty bad but they lasted well. I even did a track day with them.

Have Pirelli changed the compound of the newer P6000? I’ve noticed a few of the ‘new’ retro cars featured in EVO wear them, such as the Autofarm 911.

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Kintegra y0!