Just put on the newest Michelin Pilot Super Sports in 265-30-19 and 295-30-19.

Noticed during my drive home that the car felt less edgy then driving on the Corsa's.

Going to do a track day soon & hoping they feel as good as the Corsa's or better on the track.

Jim
MachC5


The Pilot Super Sport is Michelin's Max Performance Summer tire initially introduced as Original Equipment on several of the world's most sophisticated performance vehicles, including the exclusive limited edition Ferrari 599 GTO, Ferrari's fastest road car ever. Developed for drivers who care about how tire technology enhances their vehicle's performance and safety, Pilot Super Sport tires expand the Max Performance Summer tire performance envelope by delivering durability, handling and traction while increasing tread life.

Building on the development of racing tires designed to carry Prototype and GT class cars to endurance race victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring and Road Atlanta's Petit Lemans, Pilot Super Sport tires are designed to deliver consistent performance and longevity by blending Max Performance driving characteristics with extended tread wear.

While the importance of tire treadwear in endurance racing may not be immediately apparent, Michelin tires set records during the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2010. One of the 2010 LMP Class leaders completed 46 consecutive laps on one set of tires with an average pace just 1% off of the pole position qualifying time. That’s almost 400 racing miles on one set of tires at an average speed of 150 mph.

Additionally the overall winner used just 11 sets of tires to cover a record 3,362 miles, averaging nearly 140 mph and almost 300 racing miles per set of tires. That represented almost a 25% wear improvement compared to just one year earlier where the overall winner needed 14 sets of tires to cover 3,235 miles. By developing longer wearing racing tires without sacrificing performance, Michelin tires allowed the teams to run record race paces while converting some of the time previously spent changing tires in the pits into productive time covering more miles on the track.

While Pilot Super Sport tires are designed to allow sports cars, sporty coupes, performance sedans and supercars to achieve their full potential in dry and wet conditions, like all summer tires they are not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.

The Pilot Super Sport features an asymmetric design molded of Michelin’s Bi-Compound tread rubber featuring a Le Mans-inspired dry compound outboard side-by-side with their latest generation of wet compound inboard. The low-void outboard shoulder features a track-type compound to withstand the stresses of high performance cornering while the notched center ribs and inboard shoulder feature a compound designed for superior performance at very high speeds and in wet conditions.

The tire's internal structure features twin steel belts reinforced by spirally wound Twaron cord. Twaron is a polyamide cord that offers a lightweight, high-strength reinforcement above the steel belts to enhance high-speed handling, wear and durability. Michelin FAZ Technology (Filament At Zero degrees) winds the Twaron cord around the tire circumference much the same way fishing line is wound onto fishing reels to allow Michelin engineers to tune tension and strength. The Pilot Super Sport features a polyester carcass to promote a comfortable ride and responsive handling.

Pilot Super Sport tires are comparatively light, with weight savings of up to 10% compared to other tires of similar dimensions. This reduces unsprung weight to improve handling.

 

I have a set of 18" of the latest PS3 variety on my C43. Very good tyre will excellent grip in torrential downpours. I experienced that grip last night on mountain roads. Top class and highly recommended

 

What tire pressures are you running on the street?

 

Alex -
Right now pressures are at the door sticker 48 front and 44 rear.
And they feel very comfortable, like they have less pressure.
Even better then the Bridgestone's we were both running.

Jim
MachC5

 

It's a great street tire but no match for the Corsa on track.

 

I would be interested in your thoughts as I am seriously considering getting rid of mine. For daily commuting they are great tires but for agressive driving the sidewalls just can't handle it as they cup too easily, which makes the car very twitchy.

 

Technically the dooe sticker pressures of 48/44 are recommended for speeds in excess of 155 mph. The recommended pressures for street driving up to 155 mph are 38/33. I usually ran right around the middle for the street at 42/38 with the stock corsas and at 44/40 with my wider RE-11s.

 

I'll let you know about the falling sidewalls after the next track day.
But, if the pressures are set right, that should not be an issue.

 

I am running PS2s on the front and PSS on the rear. I think they are a really nice improvement over PS2, which was arguably the previous best non-R compound tire. I will be putting the new PSS on the front, probably after I finish running at Road Atlanta in October. I am also considering running some more negative camber to prevent the outer sidewall issues.

 

I'm happy that the PSS's feel comfortable at 48/44, as we all know higher tire pressure means less bent rims.

 

machc5 how were the pss on the track?

 

Go on this coming Thursday & Friday to NJMP.
Let you know soon.....

MachC5

 

Thanks look forward to hearing your opinions

 

Went to NJMP yesterday with new PSS tires and brake pads.

Started out slow and worked towards pushing the car as hard as I dare.
First thing was to get the brakes bedded in and the tire temps and pressures up.
Bled the tires to the Jim B recommend pressures and started to explore the PSS limits.

Right to the point.... I like them...!
And I pushed them harder, then I ever pushed the Corsa's.

As a Note: Last year I used Pilot Sport Cups on my EVO and these are very close to them.

Jim

 

Jim what pressures were you running and where is your suspension set at? Truly surprised by your findings.
Thanks
Larry

 

Larry -
Finished the day at 46 front 38 rear and feel I'm about 90% there with figuring them out.
I've never adjusted the ride heights but went as far as I could adding camber with the stock components.

When you look at the layout of NJMP's Thunderbolt Raceway the right hand side has a feature called the "Jersey Devil".
It's a fast and decreasing right hand with a quick switch to a tight left hand that leads you out to the 1/2 mile drag strip.
If a tire or your car has a cornering issue you'll find it going thru this section.


The Southern Road Circuit at New Jersey Motorsports Park is our signature Thunderbolt Raceway.
Featuring 2.25 miles of asphalt, 14 challenging turns, a one half mile straightway.

MachC5

 

Someone else with a like type reaction to the Michelin PSS tire.

Michelin Pilot Super Sports!
By Nate Rater
from USA
I participated in the Michelin 25th Hour PSS Event in Fontana which compared this tire to Pirelli PZero's, Continental ExtremeContact's, and GoodYear F1's. We tested wet and dry braking, auto-x, and road track, and in every instance the PSS came out on top. And not by a little margin either!

In the wet and dry braking versus the GoodYear Eagle F1 we saw on average 7 feet shorter stopping distance in a dry 55mph stop, and a 1.5 foot shorter stopping distance in a wet 45mph stop. Which may not seem like much, but that could be the front of your car....

In the auto-x the PSS was matched up against the #1 Tire Rack tire, the Continental ExtremeContact DW. Immediately I could tell the Conti's were rolling over in the hard slalom where the PSS just felt solid. Must be that Variable Contact Patch working... After we got done there the Conti's were worn really badly. The tread blocks were turned into triangles, where the PSS just looked a little worn.

On the road track in an IS-F I had a hard time getting the PSS's to get squirly and floaty. But the harder I pushed the better the tire seemed to get. After a few laps I switched over to the Pirelli equipped IS-F and it was back to the feel I am used to feeling. Squirly, floaty, screachy, inconsistent. I may have put up the same lap times with these tires, one more time in the PSS equipped car and that would have changed quickly!

I was not expecting the differences to be this obvious... But it was. These will be on my E46 M3!

 

Great news for CLK-BS owners, and anyone else they offer sizes for! Thanks MACHC5 for taking the time to do all the testing and providing your thorough reviews .

Not saying anything different to your review, but just a mention, that often people buying new tires, only compare how the new tires feel/perform etc to the old/worn out tires they just took off . Not saying this is the case with you, just something that is hard to remember when anyone replies to how a new tire performs . I am sure you remember how the stock tires performed when new in your comparison!

I will only ask 1 questions, how well do they let go? I am sure you know how enjoyable it is to dance the backend of your car, and how well the stock tires let go gradually and controlled, and came back when asked . I know it has some to do with the suspension, but the tire plays a big part too.

Thanks again man!

 

Jeff -

I'll always remember my 1st on track outing at POCONO when the car was new. The Corsa's did not impress me anywhere near as well as the PSS's did.

The PSS's let me know what they were doing, even when side stepping 6" in the rear while heading under the bridge and out on to the 1/2 mile front stretch at ludicrous speed.

Jim

 

Are you running these sizes on the stock wheels? I just did a track day in my SL55 with PSS's on the its stock 18" wheels and were blown away by these tires. Now I want to get a set for my CLK63BS wheels (currently wearing half-worn, but heat-cycled out corsas), but noticed the lack of a 285/30 on tirerack. Min rim width per tirerack for the 295 is 10".

 

The PSS in a 295/30/19 will not fit on the stock BS wheel.

 

I'm running 19" OZ Ultralegger's with stock width up front and 10" wide in the back.

MachC5
Jim

 

Had the same dillema on the CBS. The 295's will fit on the factory rear 9.5" wheel with a bit of stretch. In terms of handling, the rear end moves a little bit more over hard transitions, but it's managable. It looks a little silly though. I have 19x11 wheels coming to replace the factory wheels which fixes the issue and tighten things up a little more.

The PSS's are awesome tires. I burnt through the CBS's OEM Dunlop SMR rears in 3000km's, down to the cords. I have 6000km's on the PSS's now, and a visual inspection shows maybe 20% wear out back. Very impressive.

In terms of grip, on the street, the Dunlops and PSS's perform exactly the same, with a bit more predictability with the PSS's. Same outright grip level, around 1g sustained at the limit. I had Corsa's on my CLK BS, but I can't really make a direct comparison.

At the track (disclaimer, I've only been able to make it to AutoX's so much lower speeds), the PSS's perform just like they do on the street. The Dunlops OTOH warmed up after 3 or 4 runs and was in another world, sustaining 1.3g's around every corner.

Can't beat the PSS's for street use.

 

imho 295 on a 9.5" wheel is really a waste of the tire since the contact patch "rolls" up away from the road (and the stickiest part of the PSS is the edge). I'm considering getting 275's for the rear wheels as they perfect for 9.5's, but I'd hate to lose any rear tire. I will probably pick up a set of 19x11s and run 305s (this is on an SL55 w/ CBS wheels).

Did you go with the factory rep 19x11's from AdvancePerformance?

 

Well I took my super sports off and replaced them with a used 305/30/19 Corsa with my original 265/30/19 Corsas. The car now handles the way it is suppose to when driven aggressively. As I said in prior posts my car began twitching after the super sports were put on. The twitching is all gone now. Anyone want to buy a set of Pilot Super Sports lol