When Michelin gave me back half the money I had spent, I was talking to the Manager at Discount Tires and he said that a LOT of people are having problems with Michelin nowadays, and that he personally has been on the receiving end of rants from customers who are not satisfied with any of the Michelin tires. He even confided that he now tries to dissuade people from purchasing them. On his personal car, a WRX (not my fault), he said that the Hankooks that he recommended to me was the best tires by far that he and several of his employees had ever installed.
Maybe Michelin is in the middle of a quality problem, much like the Firestone problem from several years back?
Regardless, never again for me.

 

GovtSlug,
I made the mistake of buying a set of Chinese tires (I think they were Hercules brand) for my 2002 XKR a couple of years ago. They couldn't have been more than a month or two old when I had to take a trip to a property we own that is about 125 miles away. I drove up and back in about a six hour stretch (each leg of the trip takes me about 1hr 40min.) After getting back near home, I stopped at a customer's house to finish up some work, and when I came out a little while later, I had a flat tire. Okay, I thought, there must be a nail in the tire, I'll just pump it up with my portable compressor and drive to my tire shop about 7-8 minutes away. No sooner had I put the air in, when it deflated immediately. I stuck my hand around the back of the tire and to my surprise, I could feel a split between the sidewall and the tread, big enough for me to put my hand through. I had just spent nearly four hours driving at speeds between 70-95, but was very fortunate not to have had an incident on the freeway. Figured it was a fluke thing, ordered another one, and less than one week later the same thing happened to the other rear tire. I got rid of those tires the same day and consider myself lucky to have not had an accident or been stranded.

 

Hmmm. Interesting posts on the PSS. I was planning to replace my original Dunlops with Super Sports but eventually went with Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Positions for budgetary reasons (hey, these are on sale). Pretty nice tires. Don't know how they compare to the PSS, but they are quieter and much smoother than the original Dunlops.

 

Jeez, tberg, that's scary! I've had a blowout on the highway, but not at motorway speeds, and that was bad enough. Not to be recommended...

I'll say it again: I'm still planning to get MPSS fitted, unless something better comes along before my P-Zeros wear out. I know Cee Jay had problems, but I can't recall any other reports of issues with the Super Sports. The other comments on them are positive, particularly if you're interested in grip & handling.

I think this is a case of "your mileage may vary" - with almost any product, you can find someone that raves about it and someone that vilifies it. Don't get anyone started on air filters or engine oil, you'll have a fight on your hands. And even good products have dud batches.

Bottom line: Don't buy cheap crap tyres from unknown manufacturers for your expensive GT. Beyond that, it's mostly a matter of the balance you are after between quietness, comfort, longevity and performance.

 

I got my Continental DWS 06 Tires this weekend. Only drove for a bit, but compared to the Dunlops it's a new world of quiet. I actually asked the dealer to check the diff & bearings on my car it was so noisy. If anyone want's a set of 20" Sportmaxx Tires in NJ as a set of spares, drop me a PM for a deal. They have about 50% tread I think... might make a good set of tires to kill on a track.

 

anyone know if there is something wider that will fit on the stock 19 wheels on a 2010 XKR?

 

You should be able to go up by 10mm with no issue, so 285/35 rear and 255/40 front. If you do that, your speed will under-read by 1% - since it normally over-reads by more than that, it won't be an issue. It's only 5mm wider on each side, so there should be sufficient wheel-arch clearance.

It's possible you could go wider, but you'd need someone who's done it to confirm that there are no clearance issues.