Cheap tires and Pirelli P6s

[Dan Simoes <dans@ans.net>]

> I like the P6s on the 4000Qs as well. I always felt that 45-50,000 miles
> was very acceptable tire life for a semi-high performance tire.....
> I just bought a set of the P6s for my auto-x/winter-beater '84 4000Q
> at $53 each at a local tire warehouse. They are now discontinued and
> very inexpensive if you can find them.

After reading a comparo of all the Pirelli tires in EC, I was 
concerned about their wet performance.  So I called Pirelli.

The 'old' P6 has been discontinued.  They were made in Italy,
France, GB, etc.

The 'new' P6 is a modifed version with a slightly different compound.
They were specially made for Sam's Club, though other places may 
have them, and are made in the USA.  You can identify them because
the size is '195/60..' and not 'P195/60...' as on the old tires.

This from Pirelli.  I could have bought these locally for less than
mail order, about $270 for all 4 mounted on the Audi 90, but I
think I'm going for the D60/A2s from the Tire Rack and I'll have
them mounted locally for a cost of just over $300.  Why?  Mainly
because I worry about the Pirellis and the Dunlops have lasted
for almost 40k miles on my GLI which has seen its fair share of
corners.  Granted, I used snows for 2 months but it's still
pretty good.

Oh, the P6s have a tread warranty of 40k miles, though some local
places don't know this since the old ones had no warranty.

| Dan |
-- 
Dan Simoes			          dans@ans.net
Associate Programmer		         (914) 789-5378
Advanced Network & Services               Elmsford, NY