Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires anyone?
 

Planning to buy Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires and was wondering if anyone tried them and how they compare to the stock tires.

Thanks.

I have Michelin Pilot somethingorother, I don't remember what exactly. The stock tires are complete and utter shit 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!

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.

Love them. I have them and honestly wouldn't want any other tire. Plus the 30K tread warranty is nice...

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).

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

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.

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.

I've had Michelin PSS on my R3 for about a year now and love them. The grip level in corners is a huge step up from the stock tires. Ride quality is also much, much better.

I have done 4 track days and 3-4 autocross events on this set, about 15,000 kms and still have 6 or 7 tenths of tread left all around.

Just recently had Pilot Super Sports installed on my R3, replacing the stock tires.

Definitely feels like an upgrade in ride quality. Can't compare grip as the car came to me with worn tires.

My one gripe is that... there might actually be too much grip in the dry. With worn stockers, the car's handling balance was fairly adjustable via the throttle, and I could play with power oversteer at low speeds if I really wanted to. Now, the adjustability on-throttle is largely gone -- the rear just sticks endlessly no matter what I do. I really feel the car's lack of torque now. :(

On the other hand, if losing that bit of oversteer nets me better stopping distances (which it should), I feel like that's a fine trade-off for street use.

Either way, unless you're looking to drift everywhere you go, I find it hard to imagine what might be a better tire.

I'm glad that you're enjoying the Michelins. I've had mine on the track a few times and assure you that the car responds extremely well to mid-corner throttle application and lift-off. I agree that it's a bit more of a challenge on the street where it's hard to push past 7/10ths, but overall the extra grip is a huge benefit, not a downside.

As an aside, I just picked up a set of Ventus RS-3 for track use. Tire rack recently had an awesome clearance on these, so I picked them up for just over $500 with taxes and shipping included in 225/40/19R. Now I need to find rims that are as good as the stock BBSs

Good points.

Definitely love the tires. Just wish I could still play a bit at safe speeds -- though I can't think of what I'd willingly compromise to be able to do that...

They are by far an upgrade to the stock tires or any summer tire on the market IMO.
Great in dry and even rain. They actually last quite a while too, definitely worth the money.

nowakm99, have you noticed any difference in steering response or feedback with the PSS compared to the stock tire?

I didn't notice a difference in steering response, but I went from RE050As that were down to 2/10th tread depth to brand new Michelins, so I think that says a lot about the Michelins. The only significant difference in feedback is that the Bridgestones squealed a lot more at the limit before giving up grip. The Michelins have to be pushed significantly harder and the auditory warnings aren't as pronounced.

That said, there is no drama with the Michelins once you exceed their traction limits. You simply get a neutral drift and can get the car back quite easily with small steering adjustments.

Seriously, you really can't go wrong with these tires. For street use, I think that they're very hard to beat. All you need to do is read the online comparison tests. Every tire comparo that I've read has the PSS come out on top.

Here's an example: Monsters of Grip: Nine Summer-Performance Tires Tested - Comparison Test - Car and Driver

Agreed. I remember reading one of the reviewers of the Scion FRS/Subaru BRZ commenting on how there is such a thing as too much grip for a street car. I'm thinking they have a point. I can still slide the back end out on curves, but I have to get it revving higher. I also get really bad axle hop when I try to get some tire spin for faster acceleration, unless I'm willing to rev the snot out of the car before dumping the clutch.

I also noticed a decrease in steering response (which was lightning fast after installing Racing Beat front and rear sway bars) until I increased the tire pressure up to 38-39psi, based on the fact that my old 2012 Focus Titanium Michelin PS3 tires had a suggested pressure of 39psi on the door sticker.

Thanks, Chibana. I've been thinking about upping the tire pressures a bit. Guess I'll give it a shot.

I've now swapped from this tire on my R3 19s to my 17" winter set and back again. Definitely a revelation!

My winter set is narrower and has a lot more sidewall (205/55/17), plus the tire is less performance oriented (Primacy Alpin PA3). Predictably, the NVH seemed noticeably better. What I didn't expect was how comfortable the wider, lower profile, XL load rated Pilot Super Sport would feel. After getting used to my winter set, I expected my summer set to feel loud and harsh. It didn't at all.

What did feel different was the handling, even nowhere near the limit. More precise, more communicative, etc. Again, totally predictable when comparing a 205/55/17 winter tire to a 225/40/19 summer tire. It also may have had something to do with the 5mm difference in offset between the two sets. What's remarkable to me is that the Pilot Super Sport can feel this much better and grip this much harder without a huge NVH penalty.

This is an incredible tire.

Also, on tire pressures: 35 psi seems to be the sweet spot for me so far, for what that's worth.

I have these on 17s - They're great tires, just pricey. though... I don't know about everyone's gripes with the stock bridgestones, haha. I didn't mind mine at all, though they saw nothing but the streets... you guys with the R3 wheels need to get a separate set of wheels for the track... those are expensive tires... not to mention the wheels are a lot of $$ to replace if something happens!

I actually went with them again. I just replaced my first set of Super Sports. I was originally going to go with BFGoodrich GForce Sport COMP-2s, but Discount Tire screwed me over by telling me they were in and they weren't. I spent about an hour waiting for them to remount the same tires because they had already taken two off before they realized their mistake. Then they were having a hard time finding them from a supplier. To make up for their mistake, they sold me a set of Super Sports for less than what the BFGoodriches were going to cost. The price had dropped on them since I bought my first set, too.

My summer rubber is a set of Michelin PSS in 245/45r17. I am super impressed! For a road tire, they really grip well at autocross. Below about 60F, they get very inconsistent. Since Fall is starting, I went ahead and installed my "winter" shoes. Cheap POS all-seasons are crappy, but they are consistently crappy. I can't wait to put the Michelins back on in the spring!