JoeTaylor

Hi Everyone,

When I bought my '88 S4, it had the standard wheels and unused tires that had flatspotted somewhat from being parked so much. I wanted to upgrade and bought a set of 17" Cup 1 wheels from a '93 GTS owner.

I put a set of 17" Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's on the car. After about 12-13,000 miles I have worn out the rear tires and need to replace them. Front tires are prefectly fine. I only drive around locally and on the highway some, no track time.

I did some research on Tire Rack's web site and found that the treadwear rating of the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires is 200, IE a soft tire tread.

I want to put Michelin Pilot Sports on the rear again. Then I saw that Michelin offers an all season verion, the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus with a treadwear rating of 500, 2.5 times more, a much longer wearing tread.

Does anyone knows, would it be ok to put the A/S version of the Pilot Sport tires on the rear of my '88 S4 and keep the PS2's on the front? Or is there a compatibility issue?

The saving is about $160 for a pair of 255/40/17 tires ($548 vs. $390 for the pair).

It would be nice to have the rear tires last longer than 12-13,000 miles this time around.

Thanks,
Joe Taylor

James Bailey

No problem at all....just think of it as your front tires have more stick than original the rears about the same as original....

Stromius

Same conundrum as you Joe when I got my 18's. Went with Kumho Ecsta ASX for the price, 400+ treadwear and AA traction. Probably not as sticky as PS2s but I am still doing fine on wear. I had an out of round issue on both my fronts after two years. After getting annoyed about wheel chatter I went in and had them do a rebalance. Smart tech spotted the out of round and tread wave and replaced them with new set. YMMV

Dave928S

If it was me I wouldn't mix compounds. Once tyres are up to optimum temperature you'll have a predictable difference in performance between front and rear that you might find acceptable. The different compounds will, however, have different rates at which they get up to temperature, and different 'work' required to keep them at that optimum temperature ... and that will mean unpredictable differential performance front to rear a lot of the time. Throw in variable terrain, water, etc, etc and there are just too many variables to be throwing in another. IMHO.
I guess it depends a lot on your driving style and whether you burn a lot of rubber ... ... or it's high speed handling you're after.

James Bailey

Normal driving locally and a bit on the highways none of his tires will be at optimum operating temps. He is already running wider rear tires than stock. It really is no big deal.

Tony

BUT.....if you have Turbo Twist wheels make sure the spokes point the same direction on both sides of the car.

James Bailey

Right or the unequal turbulence might cause the car to flip over at high speeds..

JoeTaylor

Smiles, haha... flipping over.. well I have Cup 1's, not Turbo Twists.

Other than cruising down I-95 and a bonzi run up/down the entrance ramps - my driving is pretty tame.

Of course, in my mind - I am an F1 driver.

Joe

Leon Speed

How would your insurance feel about this?

Dave928S

All I was doing was responding to the question, and pointing out is that there will be a handling/performance difference between the two compounds. If you had a different tyre on each corner it would be even more pronounced ... and I wouldn't do that either. When you're just rolling along and not taking your tyres to the limit it probably wouldn't be an issue ... but it might be a totally different story when you need every bit of performance in an emergency or during any high performance run .. a bit late to find out then.

I've driven cars with mismatched tyres that handle like crap because of it ... maybe these tyres might be OK ... maybe not. For the few bucks involved I wouldn't mix tyres up, considering those four very small patches are what keeps me and my car on the road ... but I guess we all do what we feel comfortable doing.

Gary Knox

Joe,

IF your driving is essentially on straight roads, I don't think it would be too much of a problem. I have the Pilot Sport all seasons on a MB 560 SEC, and they have pretty good response there. But they are NOT like the PS2's I have on the 928's.

For driving on the twisty rural roads we have here in southeast PA, I'd probably get a full set of the all season Pilot Sports and sell the "good PS2's" on eBay, where they bring a pretty good price. I agree with Dave that I wouldn't mix soft and hard compound tires on the F & R axles for sporty driving.

Gary Knox

James Bailey

Right or wrong in the US Insurance companies could care less what speed rating or wear rating tires you run, maximum legal speed being about 75 MPH. Most states there is NO SAFETY inspection of any kind for tread wear !
As far as wear ratings go each maker assigns there own rating so brand to brand there are differences. Also rubber is not a stable compound and degrades over time and changes with heat cycles. I cycle ten different 15 inch wheels with Kuhmo tires of different ages and compounds on the old very brown 1980 as well as a set of 17s and run a pair of 18s at times. I have used the street tires on the track at times then switched to the 15s later in the day. It takes all of two laps to get comfortable with the limits of that particular setup.
It really is not that big a deal just like when the roadway is damp or wet or in a downpour you simply adjust your driving to the traction available......God forbide you drive on ice and snow.

Lizard928

I have run different f/r setups to gain my desired tractions.
However the difference between 200 and 500 might be a little high.

If you go this route I do hope that you are a good driver as you may be inducing a ton of oversteer and the rear end wanting to pass you as you brake really hard.

I would think it much safer to find a different brand in the 240-300 range but not any higher than 300. Or take off the fronts and sell them and get 500 all around.

You might be ok with 200/500 split. But in an emergency situation is where it will bite you. And you never know when that might be.

dr bob

I was casually browsing the tire rack website a couple days ago, looking at Bill Ball's recent tire selection and comparing with the PS-2's. It's getting close to new-tire time for me so wanted to see what's latest/greatest. Anyway, there was a very specific discussion/comment about mixing the tires. Recommendation is that it's OK, so long as the new tires go on the rear. Sounds like that's what's going to happen for the OP so no worries.

I am interested to hear comments from folks who have the AS version, relative to the PS-2. I love the PS-2 but the cost-per-mile could be better. A UTQG score of 2.5x the PS-2 is certainly welcome, but is the ride quality and noise of the AS level comparable? We don't get snow, seldom see rain and never on purpose, so now benefit for the AS rating except the treadwear.

FWIW, I'll have about 15k on the PS-2 fronts when they get swapped off this time, 12k on the rears. First time I've put all four on at the same time since I started buying them. Rears should last abit longer now that I finally did the rear alignment myself last year.

JoeTaylor

Colin,

As a former "road warrior" who put +30k miles a year on a car, I quickly learned that Michelin tires held up better for me than cheaper tires. IE, I never had to change a flat with the Michelins in the dark on the side of the freeway.

My idea was to stay with the same brand and type of tires on the car, as it happens that the A/S version has the higher wear rating as compared to the PS2's.

Money really isn't the issue. If the front tires were just as worn as the rears, I would go with a set of 4 A/S tires, just because they would last longer.

Joe