Even Road and Track likes the Michelin PSS on track

[TBone]

Take a look at Road and Track's article.....

Performance tire throwdown
Wherefore art thou, feedback?

By Robin Warner


Tires affect everything. You know this, right? That connection to the road impacts steering feel, handling, grip, and ride—the things we love about our cars that separate the good ones from the bad. So when the original Continental ContiSportContact tires wore out on my 2001 BMW M3, I decided to explore some options.

Specifically, I wanted to know how the car would do on tires from different performance categories. For example, would a less expensive all-season tire kill the BMW's precise steering? Would a higher-performance tire yield crisper handling? Is there such a thing as too much grip?


To answer these questions, I visited Tire Rack's small test track in South Bend, Indiana. With the assistance of advisor Woody Rogers, I measured lap times and drove three different tires on a variety of surfaces to suss out noise and ride quality. We didn't find the one tire that does everything perfectly, but we did come up with one that suits our tastes.

GOODYEAR EAGLE F1 ASYMMETRIC ALL-SEASON
[ Ultra High Performance All-Season ]

ROAD >>Steering feels buried under a thick pile of pudding. The crisp handling supplied by the M3's stiff suspension is muted by these squishy sidewalls, but I've never enjoyed a comfier ride.
TRACK >>Cornering is like standing on an exercise ball, wobbly and unstable. The grip just isn't there—fun, though, as you can easily overwhelm the rear.
LAP TIME >> 31.35 sec



YOKOHAMA ADVAN NEOVA AD08 R
[ Extreme Performance Summer ]

ROAD >> "Can you feel those sharp bumps?" Rogers asks. "Those are tar strips!" On this tire, you feel everything.
TRACK >> Sharp turn-in, more steering feel, monster grip. But extra grip can amplify a car's tendencies, and the M3's once-mild understeer becomes relentless. Lap times drop, but at a cost: No more sideways fun.
LAP TIME >> 29.97 sec




MICHELIN PILOT SUPER SPORT
[ Max Performance Summer ]

ROAD >> Huge steering-feel improvement over the all-seasons, not as stiff as the extreme summers. Turn-in slightly delayed compared with the Yokos, but the linear relationship between lateral force and steering weight makes driving a joy.
TRACK >> Proper roadholding, more communication. Fell in love with the car all over again.
LAP TIME >> 30.14 sec


Our Verdict:
We assumed that the stickier, faster Yokos would make the M3 more entertaining, but they made the car lose its flow. The Michelins—the closest to the M3's original rubber—were our favorites. Engineers tune a car's suspension to a few specific tires, so if you're happy with how your car feels, stick with the status quo.

HTTP://WWW.ROADANDTRACK.COM/BOOT/FEE...BBER-TIRE-TEST

T.

[White_SS/RS]

All is well, and I'm not an advocate for goodyears but a cars suspension is tuned to the tire it will come with. (And they specifically state this in their review) In this case the PSS's are the closest to the M3 tires putting them in favor with the chassis. It would be interesting to conduct this same test utilizing the 1LE as the test car.

[So Cal Camaro]

Michelin PSS are the best street tire period, they are much stickier than the 300 TW rating indicates. They work awesome on the track and autox, wet or dry...unfortunately I have convinced too many I race with of this fact and now it is getting damn hard to have an advantage anymore....

And as an example, one of the guys with a 2014 1LE raced against me on boths days, he ran about a 1/2 second slower than me both days. He bought Michelin PSS for the very next weekend, and he won both days by about .200 seconds. So, while anecdotal as hell, Michelin's work very well.

[ssmike]

As soon as I wear out the Invos these will be my next shoes!

[toehead93]

I cant open the thread for some reason but I cant get past the fact they used all season goodyears, that seems downright stupid to me unless they used all season pilot sports as well. Of course the summer tire wins, this article is imo useless. This is not the goodyear f1 supercar g2 tire.

[toehead93]

Originally Posted by So Cal Camaro

And as an example, one of the guys with a 2014 1LE raced against me on boths days, he ran about a 1/2 second slower than me both days. He bought Michelin PSS for the very next weekend, and he won both days by about .200 seconds. So, while anecdotal as hell, Michelin's work very well.

For me this only means anything if he is very experience driver and has driven on the track many many times. Otherwise this could just be him being more comfortable with the track and/or his driving skills. i dont doubt it i just look at both sides to see it as subjectively as possile. He could have had the same results in the goodyears with a change in tire pressure as well. And he might have gotten a new alignment with the new tires, too many variables to know for sure is my point.

[TBone]

Good. Nobody else believe this either so that it is easier for the rest of us to get the PSS'.

Hey D (SoCal), I saw on FB Danny Popp was testing some tires. What was his verdict?

T.

[ddunerider]

Originally Posted by So Cal Camaro

Michelin PSS are the best street tire period, they are much stickier than the 300 TW rating indicates. They work awesome on the track and autox, wet or dry...unfortunately I have convinced to many I race with of this fact and now it is getting damn hard to have an advantage anymore....

And as an example, one of the guys with a 2014 1LE raced against me on boths days, he ran about a 1/2 second slower than me both days. He bought Michelin PSS for the very next weekend, and he won both days by about .200 seconds. So, while anecdotal as hell, Michelin's work very well.

[So Cal Camaro]

Originally Posted by TBone

Good. Nobody else believe this either so that it is easier for the rest of us to get the PSS'.

Hey D (SoCal), I saw on FB Danny Popp was testing some tires. What was his verdict?

T.

Hey T.,

I saw the same thing, I haven't heard anything from Danny, but will try to find out what he likes...as I know others who were there, just got to contact them....Danny did tell me to trade the Cobalt's out for the Hawk pads he runs, DTC30's....not sure if I like them as much as the Cobalts....

[ssmike]

Originally Posted by So Cal Camaro

Hey T.,

I saw the same thing, I haven't heard anything from Danny, but will try to find out what he likes...as I know others who were there, just got to contact them....Danny did tell me to trade the Cobalt's out for the Hawk pads he runs, DTC30's....not sure if I like them as much as the Cobalts....

Wait....what? Danny like DTC-30's better than CF's? I've heard everyone trashing the Hawks and saying to spend double the money on CF's. I bought DTC-30's from JDP, who also runs them on their car and swears by them. I was afraid to use them because of a couple horror stories about the Hawks ruining rotors, throwing sparks, etc. I have them up for sale but heck, if Danny runs them they can't be so bad, right?

[toehead93]

Originally Posted by TBone

Good. Nobody else believe this either so that it is easier for the rest of us to get the PSS'.

Hey D (SoCal), I saw on FB Danny Popp was testing some tires. What was his verdict?

T.

I am not a disbeliever, I am just pointing out this article does nothing to help us compare the PSS to the G2s. I am considering the PSS and cannot find a straight up comparison of the two.

What is the difference between the PSS and PSS ZP (is ZP runflat?) Also, are there left and rigth tires like the G2s?

[So Cal Camaro]

Originally Posted by ssmike

Wait....what? Danny like DTC-30's better than CF's? I've heard everyone trashing the Hawks and saying to spend double the money on CF's. I bought DTC-30's from JDP, who also runs them on their car and swears by them. I was afraid to use them because of a couple horror stories about the Hawks ruining rotors, throwing sparks, etc. I have them up for sale but heck, if Danny runs them they can't be so bad, right?

I have only autox'd with the Hawk's so far and they work good, but they don't have the same bite as the Cobalt's at hard full stops...I am going to be on road course in May, will have better idea of how they perform then. They will kill rotors, but so do any good track pads.

[So Cal Camaro]

Originally Posted by toehead93

I am not a disbeliever, I am just pointing out this article does nothing to help us compare the PSS to the G2s. I am considering the PSS and cannot find a straight up comparison of the two.

What is the difference between the PSS and PSS ZP (is ZP runflat?) Also, are there left and rigth tires like the G2s?

I believe in personal experience, not what someone else tells me...I have tried many different tires to get to the Michelin's, so have experience of how other tires react to compare them too. I would say you just need to try a set...

[JDP Motorsports]

Originally Posted by So Cal Camaro

Michelin PSS are the best street tire period, they are much stickier than the 300 TW rating indicates. They work awesome on the track and autox, wet or dry...unfortunately I have convinced to many I race with of this fact and now it is getting damn hard to have an advantage anymore....

And as an example, one of the guys with a 2014 1LE raced against me on boths days, he ran about a 1/2 second slower than me both days. He bought Michelin PSS for the very next weekend, and he won both days by about .200 seconds. So, while anecdotal as hell, Michelin's work very well.

I've been running the PSS since they first came out and love them! The only issue I've had is outer edge separation but I did find out I had an issue with rubbing that led to the last failure... I'll be ordering a new one and I'll continue to run them... THey hold up well considering the abuse I put them through...

Originally Posted by ssmike

Wait....what? Danny like DTC-30's better than CF's? I've heard everyone trashing the Hawks and saying to spend double the money on CF's. I bought DTC-30's from JDP, who also runs them on their car and swears by them. I was afraid to use them because of a couple horror stories about the Hawks ruining rotors, throwing sparks, etc. I have them up for sale but heck, if Danny runs them they can't be so bad, right?

Haha... I've been running that combo for 3+ years now... It WORKS!!! I was surprised to see that you were selling them; I was actually going to message you to see why? I have had excellent results with the DTC-30/HP Plus combo. If someone says they don't work then they need to evaluate the entire picture; maybe they're flat out over driving the corner... It happens and with a 4000LBS pig it's easy to do...

Feel free to hit me up anytime with questions.

Kind regards,

Jordan Priestley
888.308.6007