Warren,
I recently changed out a set of the SP9000s. I was lucky to get 9,000 miles out of them. They were however a great handling and looking tire for the money. I too have 17" wheels and ran front at 32psi and rear at 38. I had an alignment done (at Mercedes) soon after getting the tires but they still wore irregularly. The fronts wore on the outsides and the rears wore more on the inside. I compensated this early on by running a little higher pressure on the fronts and conversely lower in the rear and when I pitched them they were about even. Now I'm running 35 front and rear with Continental conti-tracs. They had a good write up at Tire Rack so we'll see how they do. Hope this helps, good luck.