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I have Michelin Pilot somethingorother, I don't remember what exactly. The stock tires are complete and utter **** by comparison to just about anything Michelin makes. I changed my stock tires after 10,000 miles just to get rid of them; I would've done a burnout with them before throwing them away, but where I live it's hard to find an unpopulated area for shenanigans like that.
Since 2010, I had the original RE050A in 19" on my R3. Switched to Michelin PSS at the beginning of this season. These tires are great! I track my car (3 days this season so far) and it's really really tough to make them squeal. Great cornering!
And so far, i haven't noticed much tire wear... So i'm really pleased with them!
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I'd rather be rotary than be pistON!
09' R3 Sparkling Black - KW - Racing Beat - BHR - Ingalls - Agency Power - Mazdaspeed - Hawk Performance - Ichiba - Lojack
Same pluses, very happy with them overall. Replaced the stock crap rubber a few thousand miles ago with these so don't know much about wear. Great dry grip, pretty decent in the wet but it doesn't move a lot of water. There's not a as much audible warning before they let go, and they do seem to just give up once pushed passed their grip. You can be sliding pretty badly and not hear a thing from the tires. So if you're still relying on the wheel noise for knowing how much grip you've got left, these will make things harder on you. But worth it, overall.
And yes, the stock tires got lots of donuts before switching out.
I recently went with these, too, but I also went up in width, so I can't make a direct comparison to stock. Having said that, they have massive grip compared to the 225 OEM Dunlops. Not sure I'm going to be willing to spend that kind of money on tires again, though.
I thought that the stock Dunlop SP 2050 tires weren't bad. I highly recommend the Dunlop Z1* though. I have them in a 245 size for competition, but 225 is probably fine for everyday street use. I use them on all three of the family vehicles (the others being an S2000 and a Protege5).
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John S.
2010 Sport / liquid silver
i have these as well, with about 12,000 miles on them (including 4 days at the track, two of them last monday-tuesday!). I have about 5mm of tread left, so I suspect they'll last me until next spring of so given their rate of wear. If I do another track day soon I'll probably change them afterwards. I suspect that if I hadn't driven them on the track they'd last about 20,000 miles.
They're an excellent street tire. Lots of grip/feedback, they are great in the wet. They were pretty quiet when they were new, are a little louder now (although that's to be expected). They're fairly comfortable as well.
On the track, they have a lot of grip for a street tire and wore pretty well. They started to get greasy at the end of a long session. I am getting more and more into track driving, so I'll probably go to a more track-oriented performance tire next time like the Yokohama AD08.
tl;dr - really good tires, can handle the occasional track day but probably wouldn't like doing it all the time.
[edit] they werent that expensive either, I think I paid like $1k for a set if 4 (225/45/18), which was less than tire rack wanted for the oem dunlops
I thought that the stock Dunlop SP 2050 tires weren't bad. I highly recommend the Dunlop Z1* though. I have them in a 245 size for competition, but 225 is probably fine for everyday street use. I use them on all three of the family vehicles (the others being an S2000 and a Protege5).
Yeah well, you live in Sunny California. I used to tell people the tires on my RX-8 lost grip when it got cloudy, and that wasn't too far from the truth. Even driving in light rain was scary.
I didn't realize that the SP 2050's weakness would be rain -- usually that category of tire gives up dry performance to work better in the rain. I guess they were going for something else, like noise or rolling resistance. The Z1 are good in the rain.
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John S.
2010 Sport / liquid silver
Thanks for posting this helpful information. I ordered a set of 245/40/18s mounted on black Enkei PF01s from Tire Rack. I was trying the decide between these and another set of Dunlop star specs.
August 26 Update - I can not believe the difference in ride quality versus the Dunlop Star Specs that these replaced (which were 17's so I would have expected a firmer ride quality going to 18's). They are absolutely silent, so much so that I can finally hear my exhaust note again. In addition, these tires are not directional so they can be rotated.
They are a little more expensive than the competitor's offerings, but the old adage, "you get what you pay for" truly applies in this case. I strongly recommend the Pilot Super Sports to those in the market for new tires.
Last edited by Rotary 808; 08-26-2012 at 02:43 PM.
Reason: Update information
I used to tell people the tires on my RX-8 lost grip when it got cloudy, and that wasn't too far from the truth. Even driving in light rain was scary.
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