P700Z's were disappointing (Pirelli Tyres)

Member Name: dawolf

Product:	Pirelli Tyres
Date:	09/09/03 (1545 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice feel on road

Disadvantages: Poor wet grip, Quick wear rate

The Pirelli P700Z tyres were standard on my Fiesta Zetec and around 18 months ago I decided to stick with them when replacing, mainly because at the time my experience of tyres was quite limited. The P700Z's were not cheap tyres either, two for the front alone cost me £110 which, ironically, was considerably more than the Yokohama's which I have on now.
The tread on the tyres did not look anything special but it appeared quite deep. Even so, they were only average to good at best in the dry weather, they would grip to a fair degree until a long, winding bend and then I would feel them starting to slip without any real warning. Admittedly they did give a nice feel on the tarmac, I could tell exactly what was happening on the road but this was no good as they just couldn't grip properly at speed.
In the wet quite frankly they were very poor, there were numerous occasions on roundabouts when the car nearly span round despite me driving at a conservative speed. When braking in the wet the tyre grip seemed to loosen even more, especially on roundabouts and bends. This gave me no confidence at all.
The wear rate was also very disappointing for the money paid, they just about lasted 12,000 miles and that was with just normal driving, not good enough in my opinion.
Compared to the Yokohama A539's I have now, the Pirelli P700Z's were inferior tyres in every way.

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