Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tires

[Gunkk]

Got the Michelin Pilot Super Sports installed today. Contrary to a previous 2011 post and info on Michelin's own website, they are available in 235/50-R18 for the Genesis Sedan.

First drive impressions:
1) Quieter than Dunlop SP Sport Signatures, and much quieter than worn out Dunlop SP Sport Signatures
2) I have a local road that has several small roundabouts in asphault which is great for testing the grip and handling. When cornering, they don't seem to be working hard at all. These make very little tire noise when cornering, no significant tire roll. You throw the car, and it just grabs the road and turns.
3) They have a curb-protection feature to protect the wheel, but it's more subtle and built into the sidewall of the tire, compared to the abrupt rib on the Dunlop SPSS, which is probably more rubber that probably explains better cornering performance in #2 above.
4) They are much smoother riding tires than the SPSS's, absorbing small road imperfections, lane reflectors, expansion joints without a lot of bounce or noise at all.
5) Not a lot of side-ways pull when driving in dished asphault or over raised painted lines on worn asphault... but the local shop messed up the front end alignment so back she goes in the morning to get corrected and then I can see how the overall tracking is.

 

[Gunkk]

These tires also won top honors in Car and Driver's August 2012 summer tire comparison:

http://www.caranddriver.com/compari...mmer-performance-tires-tested-comparison-test

 

[scottdk]

They also list 1st place on Tirerack in the segment a notch above the Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position.

Lot's of positive reviews.

 

[OneFunGenesis]

Nice! Price paid?

 

[scottdk]

Nice! Price paid?

Total "Out the Door" Price $1,134.67 in my neck of the woods anyway..... Gunkk, what did ya pay?

 

[OneFunGenesis]

Not horrible for a good tire

 

[Gunkk]

$1059 OTD before the $70 Michelin rebate.

Best tires I've ever had on the best car I've ever owned.

 

[scottdk]

$1059 OTD before the $70 Michelin rebate.

Best tires I've ever had on the best car I've ever owned.

Pretty decent price for those tires. I paid the same price for a 245 45 19 Conti DW, which many people rave about both tires, but the Sports are higher rated on tirerack. I'm sure you've made a good choice

 

[Gunkk]

FWIW...
Tire Kingdom's $70 prepaid visa rebate deal is done (aug 25th), but Kaufman Tire is now doing the same $70 deal on 4 michelins. Takes the sting off the price tag.

But having made the leap, I can say the extra $ for the PSS's is well worth it, even without the rebate.

 

[Gunkk]

6 week update:

Still loving this tire. After driving in several Florida downpours on the highway and in town, I can say that the reviews and comments about wet grip are spot on. These things have just about the same grip wet as dry -- it really is amazing.

Moving from Dunlop SP Sport Signatures to the Pilot super sports improved the ride and feel of the car tremendously.

The only downside with these tires is that they are most certainly not low rolling resistance. My butt-dyno doesn't notice any difference, but after 6 weeks, 5 or so tanks of gas and a couple thousand miles, I have clearly given up about ~1 mpg in town and ~2 mpg on the highway due to the higher rolling resistance vs. the Dunlops.

All that improved grip and ride has to come from somewhere. But it would not deter me from buying Pilot Super Sports again in the future. They really are great tires.

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[scottdk]

6 week update:

Still loving this tire. After driving in several Florida downpours on the highway and in town, I can say that the reviews and comments about wet grip are spot on. These things have just about the same grip wet as dry -- it really is amazing.

Moving from Dunlop SP Sport Signatures to the Pilot super sports improved the ride and feel of the car tremendously.

The only downside with these tires is that they are most certainly not low rolling resistance. My butt-dyno doesn't notice any difference, but after 6 weeks, 5 or so tanks of gas and a couple thousand miles, I have clearly given up about ~1 mpg in town and ~2 mpg on the highway due to the higher rolling resistance vs. the Dunlops.

All that improved grip and ride has to come from somewhere. But it would not deter me from buying Pilot Super Sports again in the future. They really are great tires.

I concur about the MPG loss. Gotta love sticky rubber, but with my Conti DW's I only can get 27 mpg hwy now. Used to be right around 30mpg. Oh well, I like the sticky rubber now, and the ESC is less intrusive with this tire and also being a 245 width. Maybe if I stayed with the OEM size 235 I would have retained some of my hwy MPG's?

 

[homeofstone]

6 week update:

Still loving this tire. After driving in several Florida downpours on the highway and in town, I can say that the reviews and comments about wet grip are spot on. These things have just about the same grip wet as dry -- it really is amazing.

Moving from Dunlop SP Sport Signatures to the Pilot super sports improved the ride and feel of the car tremendously.

The only downside with these tires is that they are most certainly not low rolling resistance. My butt-dyno doesn't notice any difference, but after 6 weeks, 5 or so tanks of gas and a couple thousand miles, I have clearly given up about ~1 mpg in town and ~2 mpg on the highway due to the higher rolling resistance vs. the Dunlops.

All that improved grip and ride has to come from somewhere. But it would not deter me from buying Pilot Super Sports again in the future. They really are great tires.

Regarding mpg, I have never checked the difference in mpg on tires, I may someday check it just for kicks. I suppose if I were economy minded I would if I had a little 4cly econmy car that gets 45 mpg. However, driving a 4wd Suburban, Merc E500, and Genesis 4.6, economy is not a thing I think much about. That said I think that a tire that uses less gas can save money and for me by putting 36,000 miles a year on the Genesis that could be a nice sum.

 

[syd-c]

had mine since april,great handling and ride. road noise improved over those shitty dunlops but its still a issue . one of the few weak points of the car. rotate regularly ,they wear pretty fast

 

[gameday22]

After 18k+ miles on my Conti DWS's this is what I see on average for my 2010 V6 @ 80+ mph, at 75mph I see around 28.9-29.2mpg....go figure:

 

[Ernie3647]

After 18k+ miles on my Conti DWS's this is what I see on average for my 2010 V6 @ 80+ mph, at 75mph I see around 28.9-29.2mpg....go figure:

At 70 I was averaging about 27 MPG on my 2011. Just put new DWS on. (Great tire)
Besides a great quiet ride let’s see if the MPG is affected.

 

[vitacura]

Well I just passed 30k miles on my OEM Dunlops and they are done. Horrible uneven wear despite tire rotations at the proper intervals. Oh well, I am now looking at these Michelin tires and they are $990 shipped from tirerack. There is also the promotion of getting a $70 MC reward card, seems like a great deal.
Will shop a bit but probably pull the trigger soon.

 

[Southern Boy]

I have followed this thread for some time and looked at all the brand of tires mentioned and recommended.
I purchased a new set of wheels for my Genesis and went from 17” stock wheel to 18” wheels. That put me in the market for a new set of shoes for my Genesis. I had a hard time with a thousand dollars for tires, so I did a little looking around for what was available.
My searches lead me to General G-Max AS03 ZR18 tires.
The Continental tire company bought General back in the late 90s along with Uniroyal and continues to manufacture tires under those brand names.
The bottom line is I purchased these tires (General G-Max AS03 225/50ZR18) for $574 delivered to the door from http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/home.do?vid=018638&yr=2011.
General G-max AS03 comes with a 45 day Customer Satisfaction Trial. If you don’t love them they will replace them.
http://generaltire.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/36
Information and video for General G-Max AS03 tires.
http://www.generaltire.com/tires/performance/g-max-as-03
http://generaltire.custhelp.com/app...sion/L3RpbWUvMTM1MTM3MjEzNS9zaWQvSFZQcWVPOWw=
I live in Florida so my main concern is wet and dry traction, but they also perform well in light snow.
I wanted a quite smooth ride and a good preforming tire at a reasonable price.
I have had these tries since June of 2012. The tires have about 5K miles on them and I’m very satisfied with them. IMPO for half the price and a 45 day Customer Satisfaction Trial they might be worth a look.

 

[Gunkk]

20 months and 17,000 mile update:

The Super Sports are still going strong. Tread is down to between 4 and 6/32nds with spirited driving.

I haven't rotated as much as I should, so the rears were a bit more worn down when I last moved them back to the front. Since the tires are directional, there is no side-to-side rotation on these without re-mounting them on the rims (which I did not do). All of my rotation/balances were done at a local tire-only specialty shop with a road force balancer. At the last rotation, one tire remained perfectly balanced with no weight needed (has been that way since I bought them). < 1.5 oz total on the others. No blistering, cracking, warping, cupping, or other issues. Roundness has remained near perfect and there remains to be zero lateral runout on the treads.

Dry grip is still fantastic - as good as they day I bought them. Wet grip is only marginally reduced from the wear, but still far superior to the Dunflops they replaced and nearly every other tire I've owned. Even with 4-6/32nds left they still do not hydroplane.

Ride may be a hair softer since there's less stiffness in the now thinner tread, but it also may be partly the fact that the Genny now has 50k vs. 33k on the suspension. Tire road noise as increased a little bit, but not nearly as much as I expected based on other posts.

All in all I am very glad I spent the extra $150 on these vs. <insert any other make/model here>. Well worth it. Tire rack is running a $70 promo off ~$800 for the test -- a very good deal. I would buy them again even without the extra promo incentive, and will gladly give up the 1-2 MPG sticky rubber penalty again.

 

[Gunkk]

Just noticed this is in the appearance, not PERFORMANCE thread. Can a mod pls move this thread over, merge with the other MPSS thread and then delete this post? Thanks!