Thoughts on Tires
 

Hey guys,

I'm finally looking into getting new tires, I've read some reviews online and have settled on Pilot Super Sports. I'm just looking to see if anyone can offer a compelling reason to go with something else?

Before the questions roll in I'll cover anything that might be relevant. It's an FRS with RCE springs on stock dampers. I have front control arm bushings, though I'm still waiting on the com-c top hats and will have camber adjustment front and rear. The car is tuned and I have a drop in filter, but otherwise the engine is stock. I also have subframe and diff mount bushings, but I doubt those would make any difference. I'm sticking with the stock rims until I see a compelling reason to upgrade, they look fine to me. And was planing on going with the stock tire size. (Should I go with a wider size on the stock rims?) My intention with these tires is a high performance street tire. I'm not looking for a track tire.

Thanks

Oh, and do we have any tire vendors on the board?

There are grippier tires out there, but we really liked the PSS as a summer street tire. They last a long time, they give good grip in dry and wet conditions, and they're predictable.

As for size, it doesn't hurt to go to a 225 on the stock wheels, but that's up to you!

- Andy

Interesting idea...I've been looking to upgrade wheels to save some weight and get to a wider tire. I was planning to get 17x8inch wheels and run 225 tire (most likely PSS).

But I honestly never thought about just slapping 225s on the stock wheels. Anyone else doing this? Any issues with clearance? How wide is too wide for the stock wheels?

Also, @DarrenDriven may want to move this thread over to the Tires/Wheels section.

Is there any down side to the wider size on the stick rim, Andy? I'd imagine they'd roll over a little more removing some of the feed back. But moving from stock tires I probably wouldn't notice.


Edit: I just looked at the specs and the 225 45 17 has a higher speed rating. They might even feel better. :)


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PSS are generally a little wider anyway, so I would just stick with the stock size. I did, and they are phenomenal tires. I'm sure there are better dedicated tires for auto-x, etc. but these offer such a good balance of quality, stickiness, and wear rating that they can't be beat for daily driving duties.

I ran 225 RS3 on stock wheels, stock suspension, made a large difference in stability consider it if you are even going to dump the money.

Pilot SS are not the stickiest of tires, they are certainly good in wet but dry, I would consider the new Dunlop StarSpec Z2. RS3 are better but they just get so loud after 3000 miles.

Yeah just a little more rollover but not a huge difference. It'll feel worlds better than stock.

PSS aren't very loud which is another plus.

- Andy

Quite, long lasting (relatively), predictable, and good wet and dry performance. I'm sold. Thanks a ton.

Are you still waiting on the properly fixed c-Coms? I gave up and have a set of Hvt camber plates coming. Also I ran two sets of 225 tires on the stock wheels no issues.

I've driven PSSs on our 135 and our 911 and they seem like really good all-around warm-weather tyres. They wear slowly, ride pretty nicely, grip quite well and feel pretty progressive to me. I haven't spent much time actually sliding those cars around since they're both street cars and both make a ton of grip for normal road speeds, but I do have a friend who said he had them on his S5 and that he thought they felt very progressive until you got a significant slip angle going and that then they became somewhat wild. I don't really know if that's the case, but they definitely have good feel for normal street driving (basically up to small slip angles). They're also surprisingly good in the wet-- they feel at least as good in the rain as the old Z1 Star Specs I had on my GTI did.

Hope this helps. Do post your impressions if/when you get the PSSs! I'm thinking of getting a set soon as well... still trying to decide between 215s and 225s on my 17x7.5s.

I'm curious if this has anything to do with platform. A buddy of mine has them on his STi swapped 2.5RS and he much prefers the breakaway characteristics of the RE11s, but he's only driven the RE11s on his Miata. Could be that there's some difference in breakaway characteristics under power vs under lateral g loading or a combo of the two, or, it could be that something in the suspension setup difference between the two cars leads them into being less progressive.

Nathan

Yeah, I am. I really like the idea of the product. This is the very last chance but my car is in storage so it doesn't really matter right now.

I will post my impressions, but it'll be at least March before I see my car.

That was my thought to, different platforms will respond differently. I know my old 2.5i on RE11's was great until a point, then all hell broke loose.

Can't handle the big H4? :bonk:

The PSS is in the same category as Hankook V12 Evo and Conti DW. If you're looking for better grip characteristics for DD, RE11A is probably one of the best DD EHP tires around. Get RS3 for dry pavement performance. :)

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll look into them!

215's and a medium grip tire. Have fun all day.

No need to go for the uber grip like the RE11A or PSS.


Truly depends on your driving style.

What kind of mileage are people getting out of the PSS? And is it on canyon runs, DD, auto x, a combo, etc? Tia.

The feel of the car will definitely change from stock as far as being less playful at lower speeds. If you are planning to track your car that's another thing altogether, everyone says definite improvement.

The way I see it the stock tires are keeping me out of trouble. Have 2 sets of stock wheels and tires now.

There might also be the weight issue as unsprung weight seems to be the best thing to keep low to improve performance.

Hoosiers are lighter than EHP tires. Everyone should run Hoosiers then. :bonk:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp1kuo6xkbE"]Regular Car Reviews: 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 - YouTube[/ame]

Hoosiers for the track day bro!

MPSS.

It will make the car boring every time you're not breaking the law. At least that's how I feel. Now I need car Viagra: b00st.

I suggest a Cialis and Levitra salad with a handful of Extenz! LOL. Once your g/f gets out of the hospital ask her how she likes you now. LOL

I think 225/45 x17 on 17x7.5 or 17 x 8 wheels are probably the right size for this modestly powered car.

I have 225/45x17 winter tires on stock 17x7 rims and additional rollover is not noticeable. I prefer the handling of the wider tire on bare roads, even though softer rubber than stock.

My Impreza was super easy to drive and really predictable... until you went into a corner too hot and let off too quickly. Don't do that. Bad ju ju.

Nathan

LOL... that was good.

Not really. For street usage, it's comparable to last-gen Extreme tires in terms of dry grip (and way better in the wet). See Car and Driver Monsters of Grip test. Yes yes, I know they will get hotter and lose some grip at the track, but that's not what this thread is about.

OP isn't looking for track tires, PSS are probably the best-performing real-world warm-weather street tires you can get. And the lighter weight does improve the quality of feedback/feel and ride a bit.

FWIW, I have PSS as daily tires on my RX-7, and Z1 StarSpecs for track work. Back to back weekends they were more comparable in terms of grip than I expected, but the PSS feel a lot better on the street (StarSpecs felt like wooden clogs in comparison).

I like the RS-3s I have on the s2000, but grip in cool temps and particularly in the wet is nowhere near PSS levels. And on the street, I'd say they're about equal in warm dry conditions.

RS3 in rain and snow is so fun though. :burnrubber:

+1 to these. I had MPSS as a DD tire and I couldn't take it, changed back to stock wheel/tires. Utterly boring.

*shrug* Good excuse to buy a FI solution. The stock tires may be more fun, but I don't trust them for shit.

Meh, they are fine in the dry, and quite communicative. They just overheat quickly.

I couldn't get over the wet handling and rain is the flavor of the weather here when it decides to weather. I swear the MPSS are better in the rain...

The stock tires are hopeless in everything. Deliberately so.

Poor grip, abrupt breakaway and noisy.

Oh, no doubt about the rain, or just damp asphalt, OEM Michelins are VERY slippery on those, where on PSS one can drive quite spiritedly (although I wouldn't recommend it on the street, overall grip in the wet on PSS might be similar to dry grip on OEM, but the wet breakaway is much more violent on any tire).

But in the dry, OEM Michelin grip of .9g is good enough for most applications and allows for some fun at street-legal speeds.


This just shows that you never tried to push them in the dry, or that your driving style needs work.

I find OEM Michelins quite gradual in their breakaway (in the dry) and noise only adds to the communication they provide.

Still with the personal jabs eh?

You're pretty much alone in your description of this car's behaviour on stock tires. You must be underemployed in your current vocation unless you really do drive race cars for a living and just fake deep ignorance of vehicle handling.

You seem to be deeply confused about everything, but keep popping up in every tire thread and act as if you know everything. Only personal jabs have any hope of shutting you up.

Yeah, I'm entirely alone.

Go learn to drive your car, dude.

To everyone else - click on Mike's quote, it's a thread about track impression about MPSS compared to OEM rubber.

We have a track video with the stock rubber coming...

Won't work, just give up.

The biggest handling issue I see with the stock tires (aside from the poor wet grip) is that they don't like any kind of shock loading at all. I had to swerve last night pretty suddenly to avoid a rather large dead something in the middle of the Grapevine and the TC kicked on pretty hard. I managed to miss it but it wasn't confidence inspiring. My V12 evos or RS760s on my old Impreza would have shrugged off a similar maneuver.

Nathan

Ignore list is beautiful dude!


The OEM tires broke away in a completely progressive manner and the noise definitely told you what they were doing - as a noobie driver even I can tell this. I can also say they weren't confidence inspiring in maneuvers or in inclement weather under braking and cornering. The newer and higher limits of the MPSS mask a lot of my crappy driving, rob the car of fun, and only breakaway predictably when hot - I find the cold breakaway rather sudden and aggressive. All of those downsides aside, the MPSS turn the car into a grip MONSTER, which is something some people may enjoy.

I think OEM Tyre are not that bad, lots of fun BUT with good road condition. You can still push them and they are quite progressive in break away situation still the Michelin ALPIN I have on are grippier then OEM tyre... Same corners I need more throttle and aggressive steering to have some fun with the rear of the car.

Exactly.