Pirelli Dragons

[manga_blue]

Sorry to hear it Dave. I think we'd better believe you when you say they're crap in the wet then.

Mould release compound might be a factor too. It's the greasy stuff tyre makers use to help the tyres pop out of their moulds. On a damp afternoon about 5 years ago my wife picked up a car from the tyre fitters with 4 brand new Sumitomos on it, drove 200 metres down the road and then slid 20 metres at walking pace into the car in front. I took it out later that night and slid it back into the island doing a modest right turn at lights. Those tyres were lethal until after 1,000km when the mould release had scrubbed off.

Yokohama C-Drives have the same evil behaviour for 700km.

Dragons too? or are they just bad from start to finish? And should makers be punished for delivering tyres in a dangerous initial state?

[DaveWA]

thanks manga but you do raise a good point.....,maybe we should all be aware of tyres that have been sitting on a shelf for too long

i will put the dragons on a set of rims i have here and put something new on the 10ae rims

just cant decie what just yet

[de Bounce]

My Dragon tyres are 195/60X15 fitted to a stock N16 Pulsar Auto
Stamped 3906 (September 2006) and fitted July 07, are now just 3 years old
Done about 30,000k and they are shot.
As per my previous

They only just hang on in the dry.
In the wet you need to be very careful with how hard you prod the throttle while stability and cornering is marginal at best.

I would have thought the mould release compound would have worn off by now.

[DaveWA]

thinking achilles 123s

[Wivvix]

thinking achilles 123s

Never heard of these before until you just mentioned them, or "wheels demon" for that matter. How long have they been around?

My next set of tyres will either be Toyo R1R's or Michelin PP2's I think.

[sydneywizard]

Earlier this year, I was recommended a set by Bob Jane Drumoynne's store, and in the dry they weren't bad but in the wet....diabolical! Even at slow speeds they would aquaplane straight through a small roundabout. I thought it was bedding in but after 1K km I was convinced that I was a)either going to kill myself or b)someone else.

I went back to Bob Jane to complain and the manager said that they had never had 1 complaint but they would contact Perelli. Sure enough, I got a call about an hour later from someone at Perelli who asked a bunch of questions and said that they would call back. When they called back a couple of days later, I was almost accused of driving beyond the capablity of the tyre. I offered to bring the car down to them and they could test it out themselves. They said they would call back but surprise surprise, no-one ever did. A couple of days later I went back to Bob Jane and said that I was very unhappy and was now making a formal complaint to protect myself from any liability arising from the dangerous performance of the Dragons.

I got a call the next day from Bob Jane and said that as I had travelled over 1K km on the tyres, Perelli would not accept any liability or be prepared to replace them. However, as a sign of good faith, the Bob Jane franchisee would replace the tyres with P6s at their cost.

Well done to Bob Jane but shame on Perelli. These will be the last Perellis I'll ever own.

[Wivvix]

Earlier this year, I was recommended a set by Bob Jane Drumoynne's store, and in the dry they weren't bad but in the wet....diabolical! Even at slow speeds they would aquaplane straight through a small roundabout. I thought it was bedding in but after 1K km I was convinced that I was a)either going to kill myself or b)someone else.

I went back to Bob Jane to complain and the manager said that they had never had 1 complaint but they would contact Perelli. Sure enough, I got a call about an hour later from someone at Perelli who asked a bunch of questions and said that they would call back. When they called back a couple of days later, I was almost accused of driving beyond the capablity of the tyre. I offered to bring the car down to them and they could test it out themselves. They said they would call back but surprise surprise, no-one ever did. A couple of days later I went back to Bob Jane and said that I was very unhappy and was now making a formal complaint to protect myself from any liability arising from the dangerous performance of the Dragons.

I got a call the next day from Bob Jane and said that as I had travelled over 1K km on the tyres, Perelli would not accept any liability or be prepared to replace them. However, as a sign of good faith, the Bob Jane franchisee would replace the tyres with P6s at their cost.

Well done to Bob Jane but shame on Perelli. These will be the last Perellis I'll ever own.

Pirelli's customer service/post-sales support is horrendous in Australia. I had a similar story with my Dragon's, in the end Pirelli didn't call back and I just gave up pursuing that route. Wheels world was happy to do try anything/everything under the sun to prove to me the tyres were fine, but i'm pretty sure even to this day they are the bigger part of the problem with the handling on my mx5.

They're good fun at the track in the dry though. You just get the back end sliding a little through the corner, put down a little bit of power and they just spin to buggery, it's kinda like trying to run on ice with glass shoes.

ps I think you were very lucky with bob jane. I'll never buy another tyre from them again after my various experiences with them, certainly not in WA anyhow.

[DaveWA]

Consensus is the pirelli dragons are rubbish then

Thanks for the feedback guys

i really was starting to wonder if it was just me

All theyre good for is making the old garden swans

the pirelli dragon retirement home

http://www.acclaimimages.com/_gallery/_pages/0024-0410-1406-4211.html

[chris d]

Hi all, haven't been on for a long time.

These dragons sound just like my achilles platinum. They were supposed to be a performance tyre. Just like your stories, it goes straight ahead in the wet if you turn the steering quickly. Dry performance is OK but not great. Yoki C drives were better. Perelli p600 were better before that.
Is it possible that there is something else happening? Poor wheel alignment?? Wheel size, 185/60/r14.