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I recently replaced the stock Pirelli P-Zeros with the highly recommended Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 All Season tires. This was done at my local Jaguar dealership. However now, when I look at the car, something seems a bit different as if the car sits a bit higher, and there seems to be a tad more room in the wheel well. I am curious to know if anyone knows why this may be.
Is it possible that they rushed through the process a bit and didn’t get the suspension quite right?
Or could it be that the tread on these tires is a fair bit flatter than the Pirelli’s..?
If it’s the latter, might there be any All Season tires that are a bit thicker than the Pirellis, or at least have a ‘taller’ tread?
I’m hoping it’s not so much the tires themselves but rather a slight adjustment to the suspension/alignment that could slightly lower it back to how it looked with the Pirellis.
I’ve also heard that there could be a temporary ‘settling’ period whereby the suspension components may need a bit of time to ‘fall back’ into place (pardon my ignorance of the technical terms )
Please see before and after pics below. Just seems they fit slightly better with the Pirellis. Appreciate any thoughts you all may have!
Before (Pirelli)
After (Continental)
Last edited by jetsetter883; Jun 26, 2022 at 10:53 PM.
Just fitting new tyres should not effect the suspension at all, except for as you say maybe a need for the springs to settle (compress) a bit after the car was jacked up.
Drive around a bit and they should settle.
Also you haven't told us the exact sizes of the old and new tyres, maybe the Contis are a different profile than the Pirellis.
Anyway going by just the two pics can't see any difference at all in the ride height or wheel arch gaps!
i think your thread is just an excuse to show your fine looking car LOL.
Looks the same to me. Maybe what your seeing is the different shoulder profile of the tyre design even though the profile/size of the tyre itself is the same between the different manufactures.ie one is more rounded the other more blocky on the shoulder of the tyre. This will not be obvious to us with a side on photo but maybe to you as you walk around your car.
I honestly can't see any difference comparing the two. This isn't magic, as Tire Rack has tables giving real numbers for actual tire sizes.
That said, if the old tires were worn a lot, that means about 3/16" of rubber has been lost, so the car on new tires would be expected to sit that much higher. As far as clearance between the top of the tire and the fender, that would appear to get a bit smaller. The numbers are so small though, that it can be hard or impossible to really notice. I think maybe you're just sensitized to it right now and seeing something that's not really an issue. It's like after getting an oil change, I'll swear that the car runs smoother, but I think I'm imagining it.
Lots of good responses in here. Upon some research it does appear that the Continental tires have a flatter tread than other tires such as the Michelin Pilot All Season. I’m wondering if throwing the Michelins on there would potentially fill in some of the wheel clearance due to the higher tread, not unlike the Pirellis. Now I’m not sure that I would definitely do that, but it did cross my mind!
What size were your OEM Pirelli tries? 19 or 20 inch? How about profile? Factory sizes with Pirelli. If the replacement tires don’t match these sizes on your stock wheels, then you may see different heights.
Give us the before and after tire sizes. The before/after images of the rear look identical. On the fron, it looks like you went to a smaller tire with just a bit more fender clearance and less ground clearance.
one difference I noticed is that ur camera height is not the same (am using your neighbor's side door as reference) which could attribute a minor difference u notice.
The Conti sidewall is perhaps more "round" than the Pirelli...certainly it is relative to the Michelin's. One can see this in the Tire Rack specs area under Tread Width.
For this reason, I did an unofficial +1 on my car with 20" wheels and with OEM 20" wheels I did SVR spec rubber...at much higher cost. Same diameter...no AWD issues and to me it "looks" great.
Just how I dealt with it. A Michelin a/s 4 at 295 is a lot more like a conti at 305....and I like the wide "look" a lot...so I just bit the bullet and went 265/305 for my Contis. No issues if you switch.
That may be the issue....the narrower tread "might" make it look different. It is not higher or such....it is the overall look. My 2c. I agree with all of those above...cannot see a difference frankly...but sometimes things are hard to photograph that you "see" in person like the above issue...
Did something go wrong with my tire installation?
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