L8Apex

I put these tires on last week and have been very impressed with the ride quality, sound level and performance. This is a great tire! For the little rain we get here in S.CA, it poured today. On my way to LAX the roads were soaked with standing water everywhere. If I didn't look out the window I would have never known I was driving on water. This is by far the best performance tire I have ever driven on in the wet. It is amazing that you can get so much performance out of a "dry weather" tire in the ran.They stopped on a dime without triggering any abs under hard braking and never hinted at breaking loose on partial throttle acceleration. Simply awesome. Highly recommend.

DarkStar

What size did you go with, and how do they compare to the Michelins? thx.

L8Apex

front 245/40/18 rears 275/35/18. I think they are almost as good as the ps2's in the dry but would run circles around the ps2's in the wet. Considering they are 40% less than the ps2's, the Goodyears get my vote.

baldmike73

I have the exact same setup and love them. Only had mine on for about 2 weeks and love the performance as well.

DarkStar

you went with 275's in the rear...do you have any pictures? can you see the difference from the rear of the car? thanks again.

L8Apex

Yep! I actually had 285's on the rear but it did not work great with the stock wheels. You can definetly notice that they are a tad wider than stock. Plus the tread design is very aggresive. I'll take some pics when I get back next week. k?

DarkStar

nice, thanks! just about due for new tires.

BlackC230Coupe

Nah, the PS2s are way better wet and dry. The goodyears are very good though.

L8Apex

Define "way" I would agree that they (Ps2's) are a "tad" better in the dry. But in the wet...no way! The Ps2's simply can't pump enough water with the tread design.

The Goodyears are a "way" better value.

baldmike73

But for the price they are much better than the PS2's. I am very suprised so far with the F1's. Hope they wear well. Goodyear was not my first choice as well. I was originally thinking PZero or PS2's but am happy with the F1.

As for the 275 size as i went with that as well you can tell mostly by the tread design as it is a wide track and is definitely aggressive.

Uber Wagon

Hi - new here - thought I would post because I actually have some experience regarding these tires.

The sidewalls on the Goodyears SUCK. I had them as OE on my last car. DESTROYED them in a single autocross. Popped a sidewall bubble and bent a rim with a smallish sized pothole. Car felt sloppy without crisp turn in because of the exaggerated slip angle of the weak sidewalls.

Changed to Michelin Pilot Sport Ribs (Porsche OE tire) and car and handling were transformed. A ton crisper. felt like it was on rails. Sidewall is almost as stiff as a runflat - helpful on a 35 series low profile tire. Grip was better too. Rain performance not quite as good - but I am willing to get only "good" wet in exchange for EXCELLENT dry handling.

The PS2 is a VERY good tire - construction is similar to the old MXX3 tire that was OE on Vipers (1996 thourgh 1998 or so) and that I personally abused the crap out of on the track and NEVER had a failure or an issue. Compound is different across the tread pattern - good for everyway driving - not so goodfor track events - just as an aside.

The lower cost of the Goodyears just isn't worth it, IMO.

DFW01E55

Woohoo! Good first post, welcome to MB World!
Glad you're not shy, keep mixing it up, no punching below the belt!

L8Apex

Welcome to the forum! Quick ?'s Why would you autox with the Goodyear's or even Ps2's for that matter? (Must have been just for fun.) What tire pressures did you run and on what car? I have destroyed Hoosiers at autox with wrong tire pressures. I ran the ps2's on my pcar (street), yes its a great tire especially for a sports car. However, for me to spend 2x the cost for ps2's on the 55 does not make since. Several reasons:

1.The e55 is not a sports car, it's a daily driver. Not taken to the track or autox. (Although, I would love to see a 55 on an autox course )
2. For some reason I like to stomp the hell out of the loud pedal from a light which always induces tire ($$) smoke.
3. Considering this is the 3rd set of tires (rears) that I have gone thru in less than 15k miles, ps2 aren't even an option. For me it would be the same as wiping my **** with $20's.
3. A daily driven 55 will never see the performance potential of the ps2's. Unless it is on a road course. If that was the case I would ditch the ps2's and grab the Kumho 710. (yes Kumho).

To each their own.

zoink

Am I on crack here?

I checked discounttire.com and found:

Front (245):
PS2: $268
F1: $281

Rear (275):
PS2: $334
F1: $311

Only couple bucks difference....

Uber Wagon

Of course the autocross was just for fun - we do enough racing - trailering, nonstreet legal car, etc - that taking a "lesser" car to a club event and kicking butt on strret tires is a blast.

Tire pressures were set at about 40 F / 44 R cold on a VW R32.

There are some things I don't skimp on - and tires is one of them. I usually don't drop the hammer off the line as much as I get a good kick out of running through the twisties and I want the best handling tire underneath me.

I am probably biased toward Michelin because of a long standing relationship in a time trial / driver's ed series - however, they have never let me down and I will support them for that. The differential between the Michelins and the Goodyears was about $150 per 4. At 1x vs 2x - I might make the same choice as you - but - bend one rim due to a crappy sidewall and all your savings are out the window.

When my Conti's give up the ghost, the Uber Wagon will be shod with Michelins. But that's just me.

I just wanted to give a heads up about what I consider to be a major issue with the F1 - the weak sidewall.

L8Apex

No. Just the wrong vendor site. Try tirerack:

Front (245):
PS2: $268
F1: $172

Rear (275):
PS2: $332
F1: $195

Savings of $466 for 4.

Rudyrono

I've had F1's on other cars and I found that they get hard after a few months. Even moderate throttle causes them to break loose. Enjoy them for the first couple of months.

Fast55

I have to agree. Neither is a race tire, but the F1's OWN the PS2's in the wet (It wasn't even close on my blown E430). As I don't ever drive the 55 in the rain, that isn't an issue, and yes, the PS2's are better than the F1's in the dry, but not that much better. The softer sidewalls can be somewhat compensated for by increasing tire pressure. They also do not tram-line as bad as PS2's, but that is more of a road issue in my area than one tire being better than another. In the 18's, Tire rack has the F1's at $172.00/$264.00 (fronts on sale), while PS2's are $258.00/$298.00, so that's $872.00 for F1's, and $1,112.00 for the Pilots. That's almost 25% less.

baldmike73

Goto Tirerack: I paid

Fronts: 172
Rears: 200 (or something close to)

as they were on special and america's tire matched the price. had to pay $30 per tire to install vs. $11 but still worth the savings. And if something happens they were not a big hit to the checkbook. I and a few others saved around 400-500 for a set of tires that will last a year.

L8Apex

Thanks for the info. This is my second set of Goodyears on the 55, so far so good. I have abused these tires in the past with no issue, but I'll keep an eye on the sidewall.

What DE/Time trial event do you run in? CA?

Uber Wagon

Viper Days / Viper Racing League.

L8Apex

POC for me. I think we might be going to the 710's.

Ru guys going to a spec tire?

Uber Wagon

Time trials sponsored by Michelin - thus the "Michelin Challenge Series"

Viper Racing League - sponsored by Hoosier - have a VRL spec tire - pretty much the Grand Am tire.

Been that way for years.

Yacht Master

L8Apex

I had a set of the F1s first gen. on my e430 sport they were hands down best rain tire I ever had, and here in Florida that speaks volumes. At 6k miles MB called me in for harmonic dampener inspection and during the service found a break in the side wall of my rear tire and told me to replace it. I went to Good Year and they told me I was crazy and that the tire was ok. Well at 8k miles they got so loud I replaced them. I will never own a Good Year tire again because of the Good Year Dealer that told me the bump in the side wall was normal, you can search tire rack feedback form, many had side wall problems and F1s that got real loud after 7k miles. Yours are newer I would get road hazard coverage.