Tire Reviews thread

[JP's_Stinger]

So I realized, while searching through this "section" of the forum, that there wasn't an OFFICIAL Tire Review thread, which is lacking, IMO. So there it is, consider it fixed!

We want to know what tires you're running on your Stinger, your impressions with those on the car (review), how they feel on the road/track (dry and wet), the pros and cons, how much you paid for the tires, if you would buy them again or not, how long they lasted, etc.

Please, try to stay on subject, there's already plenty of threads on wheels, offset, setup (staggered or squared), etc. Pretty straight forward, but could be very helpful for those shopping for new tires!

 

[MerlintheMad]

On August 8th last year I replaced my OE rear tires at c. 18K miles; the cost was $305 each for Michelin Pilot Sport 4S; after mounting and tax it was a total of $667.65. Not cheap. I thought that would be the most expensive of the two sets. Nope. A month later, at c. 22K miles, I replaced the OE front tires with the 4S; each tire was $325; total cost after mounting was $710.63. Ouch!

I really, really like the way these 4S ride and handle. I've pushed harder than with the OE Michelins and not heard any "chirp" while carving curves; although I did manage one stab of oversteer, once; but they were quiet about it.

I've had these tires up in the high Uinta mountains, in below freezing conditions, down to 20F in fact, with slush and forming ice on the road. This is not a time to see what the limits of a tire are: so I didn't find that limit. I kept my cornering speeds either side of c. 30 MPH (in a 45 to 55 zone). They performed very well, despite being entirely out of their design element. I was impressed that I never felt like I was losing control. I wouldn't want to brake for any needed reason with these tires in those conditions, however.

Rain has been limited to very light showers. Again, in wet conditions I would not push any tire to see what it's limits are. In any sort of weather I dial it back. You'll have to get someone to chime in with feats of daring-do to find out how well the 4S handles rain.

The End.

 

[JP's_Stinger]

On August 8th last year I replaced my OE rear tires at c. 18K miles; the cost was $305 each for Michelin Pilot Sport 4S; after mounting and tax it was a total of $667.65. Not cheap. I thought that would be the most expensive of the two sets. Nope. A month later, at c. 22K miles, I replaced the OE front tires with the 4S; each tire was $325; total cost after mounting was $710.63. Ouch!

I really, really like the way these 4S ride and handle. I've pushed harder than with the OE Michelins and not heard any "chirp" while carving curves; although I did manage one stab of oversteer, once; but they were quiet about it.

I've had these tires up in the high Uinta mountains, in below freezing conditions, down to 20F in fact, with slush and forming ice on the road. This is not a time to see what the limits of a tire are: so I didn't find that limit. I kept my cornering speeds either side of c. 30 MPH (in a 45 to 55 zone). They performed very well, despite being entirely out of their design element. I was impressed that I never felt like I was losing control. I wouldn't want to brake for any needed reason with these tires in those conditions, however.

Rain has been limited to very light showers. Again, in wet conditions I would not push any tire to see what it's limits are. In any sort of weather I dial it back. You'll have to get someone to chime in with feats of daring-do to find out how well the 4S handles rain.

The End.

Michelin PS4S are definitely at the top of the class, in term of all around performances. It's pretty rare that you can buy something and get exactly what you can expect out of it, every time. As usual, Merlin, your insight is well written and very useful. Thanks for that

How are they holding on, after a year, tread wise? I'd really like to hear from people who tried to get Michelin to enforce their so called "tread life warranty"...

 

[MerlintheMad]

Tread life is still an open question. I haven't noticed any untoward wear yet. I'll hopefully be able to find this thread later to post an update on the subject of tread wear.

(edit to add pics: I'm really pleased at this point: c. 13K on the front, and c. 17K on the rear Michelin PS4S; this is far better than I was getting by this point on the OE PS4)


(edit-edit: Oops. I completely spaced that I had the Nitto Motivo A/S on from December through the first week of March. So, subtract c. 4.5K miles from that tread mileage. We need a smacking my head/ face-palm icon. )

(For that matter: did I get c. 18K out of my OE PS4 rear and c. 22K out of the OE PS4 front? Or did I space off the Nitto Motivo A/S during the winter of 18/19 too? Which raises the question, again: how do tire manufacturers determine total tread mileage on one of their tires, when someone is making a tread life warranty claim: if the owner also ran other tires while running up miles? How do you actually document that so the claim is accurate and believable???)

 

[Oryan]

It's been about 10 months since I've put Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+'s on this car. This isn't the first time I've driven on them but so far, so good.

There was nothing wrong with the original PS4's per se; Virginia just gets cold enough, long enough, and will give you snow just often enough to make summer tires year-round an iffy proposition but the winters are nowhere near brutal enough to justify winter tires.

So, dry grip, my tires are bigger, wider, and I had more suspension mods done but I don't see a real drop in straight-line traction. In a month or two we'll see how a JB4 changes this, but the car will launch with little fuss and just goes. Road noise, not much of any. The smaller sidewall sends a few more indulations into the car but nothing all that noticable if you aren't i it all the time. In turns is the biggest difference between these and the PS4's. They will go around if you make them, but they may not do so quietly. But they're very easy to control if they do let go and they gradually make noise and you can feel them losing it before you're in the sh!t. Keep in mind I have to TRY to make them come loose.

In the wet I don't drive nearly as aggressively because I'm not that dumb. But they will go handle rain like a champ. No complaints here. The extra width makes my particular application a bit more prone to hydroplaning but so far nothing alarming, but in the rain, or a storm, you can drive like normal.

Can't comment on winter weather but grip doesn't drop off much with temperature which is what I was looking for.

As far as treadwear..12k miles on them, no sign of needing anything for a while.

 

[vipeboy2000]

It's been about 10 months since I've put Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+'s on this car. This isn't the first time I've driven on them but so far, so good.

There was nothing wrong with the original PS4's per se; Virginia just gets cold enough, long enough, and will give you snow just often enough to make summer tires year-round an iffy proposition but the winters are nowhere near brutal enough to justify winter tires.

So, dry grip, my tires are bigger, wider, and I had more suspension mods done but I don't see a real drop in straight-line traction. In a month or two we'll see how a JB4 changes this, but the car will launch with little fuss and just goes. Road noise, not much of any. The smaller sidewall sends a few more indulations into the car but nothing all that noticable if you aren't i it all the time. In turns is the biggest difference between these and the PS4's. They will go around if you make them, but they may not do so quietly. But they're very easy to control if they do let go and they gradually make noise and you can feel them losing it before you're in the sh!t. Keep in mind I have to TRY to make them come loose.

In the wet I don't drive nearly as aggressively because I'm not that dumb. But they will go handle rain like a champ. No complaints here. The extra width makes my particular application a bit more prone to hydroplaning but so far nothing alarming, but in the rain, or a storm, you can drive like normal.

Can't comment on winter weather but grip doesn't drop off much with temperature which is what I was looking for.

As far as treadwear..12k miles on them, no sign of needing anything for a while.

i'm considering the A/S 3+ once the primacy tour a/s our stinger came with wear down some... i'm not the most happy with the primacy since they aren't a uhp a/s tire.. they also make some noise on certain pavement. I run michelin's cheaper brand bfg comp 2 a/s on our bimmers and have been pleased with them mostly in the dry, not the best in the wet...

i'm debating on the comp 2a/s vs the pilot sport a/s 3+ for the stinger.. tireracks testing shows dry performance between the two are very close, however i may spend the extra cash to get the pretty noticeable increase in wet performance on the michelins.. I really wish ours came with the 4s's but since i would rather not have to swap out the tires in the few cold periods we get in TN, I probably won't consider those. Also looking at goodyear eagle exhilarates..

 

[Ozstung]

Conti contact 5 great grip but not much life left, have done 26,000km and disappointed in the life span. With a staggered set up obviously the rear have worn quicker particularly in the centre. The fronts have worn on the edges and have virtually no tread. Ps4 next.

 

[JP's_Stinger]

View attachment 48013
Conti contact 5 great grip but not much life left, have done 26,000km and disappointed in the life span. With a staggered set up obviously the rear have worn quicker particularly in the centre. The fronts have worn on the edges and have virtually no tread. Ps4 next.

I like the drop very much!! How satisfied are you with the Eibach springs & sways? Are you considering adding the Whiteline Endlinks as well?

 

[Ozstung]

I like the drop very much!! How satisfied are you with the Eibach springs & sways? Are you considering adding the Whiteline Endlinks as well?

Yes very happy with the set up i can't see myself needing endlinks the cars control is just right now. Because my car is RWD and i purchased the springs before they made them to suit Rwd my car suits about 5mm lower at the back. My Eibach spring were to suit AWD.

 

[JP's_Stinger]

Anyone's running Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 on their Stinger? I could have a sweet deal on 4 brand new Indy 500 and I'd like to know what I sacrify, ride and tear wise, and what I'm gaining, other than paying half the price of 4 Michelin PS4S??

 

[DevLF]

I'll be running Federal 595RS-RR once I figure out what wheels I'm putting on the car. Ran them on my Evo X and they were great. Perform as good as the Toyo R888 but are quite a bit cheaper.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Anyone's running Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 on their Stinger? I could have a sweet deal on 4 brand new Indy 500 and I'd like to know what I sacrify, ride and tear wise, and what I'm gaining, other than paying half the price of 4 Michelin PS4S??

There are a few forum members running (or ran) on these. Comments are favorable. The price is favorable alrighty! I considered getting these tires as I replaced the OE Michelins. But "my" tire guys talked me out of it. "You get what you pay for", was the tl;dr version: which centered around how the tire feels and sounds as it gets into the last half of treadlife. It doesn't perform as well as a worn tire as the Michelin does; and the Firestone is noisier. So they say.

 

[SOCAL2.0]

never ran them on my 2.0 stinger but did on my Chrysler 300S. Loved the tires and they wore like iron and were pretty silent. My daughter replaced them with Michelin 3S+ cause she goes to Arizona and New Mexico in Winter. She says there is very little to choose between the two. Of course snow and lower temps are much better on new tires than Firestones with 40,000 miles on them.

 

[Nexitus]

Rains too often here outside the two months of summer I get. So I swapped the OEs out to A/S tires almost immediately after running the OEs for a few wet/damp days.

Got the Conti Extreme Contacts, works very well so far!

 

[Freelancer]

So, with 12k miles on my OE summers, this morning, on the grooved surface concrete highway coming into downtown Chicago from the far south suburbs, I hit a downpour while entering an 'S' curve that when dry I take at 80-85 if not even faster (that is what traffic dictates at 4:15am). But as the rain was heavy, I totally reduced my speed to below 70. Damn if that didn't help one single bit. It felt like i was driving on marbles. Front and back where wobbling all over the place. Reduced my speed to below 50 and I could still feel the float. I had noticed it a few weeks before and chalked it up to the crazy grooved surface of the road. But after today....

I am lowered on Eibachs with sway bars and the attached alignment.

I did notice an increase in jumpyness over bad roads, but no different than my STI was, so I have to assume that what happened this morning is 100% a tire issue and not a combination of tires, springs, sways and alignment. Dry the car is tight and flat in corners and has fantastic grip. I am just amazed that the tires could go south that quickly. My OE Dunlop Sport Maxx on my STI had very little tread left and NEVER felt like this. Any one have any thoughts?

 

[MerlintheMad]

So, with 12k miles on my OE summers, this morning, on the grooved surface concrete highway coming into downtown Chicago from the far south suburbs, I hit a downpour while entering an 'S' curve that when dry I take at 80-85 if not even faster (that is what traffic dictates at 4:15am). But as the rain was heavy, I totally reduced my speed to below 70. Damn if that didn't help one single bit. It felt like i was driving on marbles. Front and back where wobbling all over the place. Reduced my speed to below 50 and I could still feel the float. I had noticed it a few weeks before and chalked it up to the crazy grooved surface of the road. But after today....

I am lowered on Eibachs with sway bars and the attached alignment.View attachment 48359

I did notice an increase in jumpyness over bad roads, but no different than my STI was, so I have to assume that what happened this morning is 100% a tire issue and not a combination of tires, springs, sways and alignment. Dry the car is tight and flat in corners and has fantastic grip. I am just amazed that the tires could go south that quickly. My OE Dunlop Sport Maxx on my STI had very little tread left and NEVER felt like this. Any one have any thoughts?

You might be lucky. A guy on here in Cali went bassendackwards into a guardrail in the rain on his very worn Michelins. I don't test gription in the rain, period.