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I will soon be swapping my 20" Pirelli P-Zero tires with 21" rolling stock. The 25-series rears are rare in 21" diameter, so there aren't many choices, but the Tire Rack's testing illustrated the advantages of Michelin's Pilot Sport 4S over Conti and Pirelli... and even Michelin's own Pilot Super Sport.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S is in BLUE in these charts:
In Tire Rack's testing Michelin's Pilot Sport 4S out-performed Conti & Pirelli in every test except stopping and average cornering in the wet, but still close.
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The next charts compare Michelin's Pilot Super Sport against Pirelli, Kumho and Goodyear.
NOTE: Michelin is GRAY in these charts, instead of blue:
I have owned dozens of brands of tires and Michelins were the overall best. I had a set of Vredesteins a while back that had more grip, but they didn't last that long.
I am glad I read these reports or I may have bought the PSS to save $2.63
The Pirelli P-Zero's performed better than I expected, given my experience with them and the comments of others. My F has PSS's and I find them superior, to the Conti Sport Contacts I have had in the past, and far superior to the P-Zeros. But one aspect not covered above is wear. I think the one thing that drives most people crazy with the P-Zero's is the short life.
I think its interesting how only a few tenths of a second in a lap time or 1/10th of a second in slalom time separates the tires in this test - yet in my experience switching out the p-zero's for 4S's had a HUGE impact on driveability and enjoyment of the car.
Posting with a disclaimer - I have ALWAYS enjoyed exceptionally good performance out of Continental tires & have been using them exclusively on my BMW 7-series as well as the X5 Diesel that replaced it so I am willing to give them more consideration than most.
This post is also in consideration that the majority of us will continue to run the stock 20" tires. With "nearly" 4S performance in most of those charts above and 26% less expensive, the Conti's would seem to be a "thinking mans" choice. You get 98% of the 4S performance for 26% less dollars ($1,291.96 for the Pilot Sport 4S vs. $953.96 for the Continental ExtremeContact Sport).
We have also ONLY run Michellin's on all of our Lexus' & love the quality and durability even though they are generally more expensive so open to the 4Ss but only IF they actually do last 20% longer than the Conti's might
I put a set of Michelin PS 4S on my R model last week. I only have about 40 miles on them so they are far from being "scuffed in", but I can already feel a difference from the Zeros. For one thing, the rear no longer kicks out 2 to 4 inches just turning a street corner. The rear Zeros still had 6 or 7 mm's of tread [2nd set at 18K miles], so it wasn't a matter of wear. They are also noticeably quieter. Since I try to never drive the car in the rain, that advantage probably won't be realized any time soon.
The Pirelli P-Zero's performed better than I expected, given my experience with them and the comments of others. My F has PSS's and I find them superior, to the Conti Sport Contacts I have had in the past, and far superior to the P-Zeros. But one aspect not covered above is wear. I think the one thing that drives most people crazy with the P-Zero's is the short life.
The Michelin SS has an even shorter life than the P-Zero’s in my experience. Less than 6k miles on my Cts-V, and the MPSS’s are already heat-cycled. Back-end breaks out like crazy now anytime u give it too much throttle. Definitely a great tire when it’s brand new. Not so much after a few thousand miles.
The Michelin SS has an even shorter life than the P-Zero’s in my experience. Less than 6k miles on my Cts-V, and the MPSS’s are already heat-cycled. Back-end breaks out like crazy now anytime u give it too much throttle. Definitely a great tire when it’s brand new. Not so much after a few thousand miles.
The Pilot Super Sports on My 2012 Z06 and MB AMG were still going strong at over 10,000 miles - no step out from the rears. The rear P-Zeros on my current 2016 F-Type R were gone at less than 6000 miles from purchase date. I've only had the car for two months, but I got the date from CarFax. Even with the reduced HP on my F-Type S, the P-Zeros were garbage at under 10,000 miles. From what I've read in tests the Pilot 4S's are a step above the PSS.
>>Tire Choices, Ratings
