Rear tire wear on my Cayenne GTS
 

First of all, I'm reposting this here from the Cayenne technical forum since user traffic is way too light there.

The rear tires on my Cayenne GTS wear down much quicker than the front tires for some reason. I bought all four new, high-quality Michelin tires at 53,000 miles, and now after just about 7,000 miles, my rear tires are already bald while my front tires have barely worn down. I went to a tire shop and then a local Autobahn Porsche dealer to have it checked out, and they both told me it isn't normal for those high-quality Michelins to wear down that quickly. The Porsche staff also informed me that excessive wear on the rear tires is common on GTS's because of the weight shift upon acceleration. The Cayenne is my wife's daily driver, and she normally does city driving, so the tire wear mostly not being caused by heavy acceleration in this case is just unusual. The possibility of being caused by wheelspin is also ruled out because having all-wheel drive, it just very rarely if ever happens with my Cayenne.

Any other ideas as to what may be causing my rear tires to wear down quicker, or has anyone else had this happen with their Cayenne?

Thanks,

You bought new tires at 53k so I assume you are not original owner?

Car now has 60 k on the clock so it's an 08'?

Take it in for a geometry check.

You guessed it, I'm not the original owner as I bought it back in late 2012.

No, mine's an '09, but you guessed the mileage correctly.

The Porsche dealer staff also noted the tire wear was completely even because the alignment was straight, and I had the alignment done rather recently during the winter of last year.

Found the issue:

The Cayenne is my wife's daily driver,

:D

Cayennes eat tires. Especially the GTS.

They are a joy to drive though...

Just my two cents, but I've never seen Michelins last all that long anyway.

I'll take a stab in the dark; launching at that those green lights?

I think you might have gotten the answer already with the weight shift. As stated Cayennes do eat tires. I have been told that is due to the weight of the vehicle so maybe they are right about the weight transferring to the back under acceleration. But 7K is really fast maybe the rear shocks are worn and it is adding stress to the tread on take off?

Weight shift my ass, 7k miles on a new set is stupid. Something must be misaligned (crazy toe out/in...something).

Do you have a teenage son?

You've got to have a crazy toe problem. Do the michelins have a tread wear warranty?

My GMC's weigh a bit more than a Cayenne and depending on brand of tires 10k a set is not abnormal.

She doesn't drive it "spiritedly" though :p

I doubt the shocks are worn, but my wife did lower the ride height a little with its air suspension since she's pretty short :p I guess it may be the ride height that's the problem.

No, because I said I got the alignment done not too long ago, and that the alignment is straight.

Yes, but even though he's 16, he doesn't drive :p

When you lower a vehicle, you usually increase the camber wear on the tires. On my E55, if I left it on Sport 2, it would eat up the tires.

Or DOES he? Moohoohhaahaahah

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1404705705.jpg :)

Was the alignment done with the car lowered?

This is key. The alignment needs to be done by a good alignment shop at the ride height it is actually driven at. Make sure your shop knows what they are doing, all alignment shops are not created equal. Discuss your problem with the tech, it's possible they could reduce toe or camber settings in the rear to reduce wear. Does the GTS have more aggressive alignment settings than a standard Cayenne? If so, you might be able to have them align it to standard Cayenne specs for reduced wear. Just understand that may have to compromise handling for tire wear.