Terry Adams

Previous
Pirelli P Zero System Assimetrico in stock 225/40/18 (24K miles) and 285/30/18 (12K)
Most miles I ever got out of any tire. Usual is 16-20K front and 8-10K rear.
Previous camber
Front L -0.4º R-0.5º
Rear L -1.2º R -1.4º

New
Michelin PS2 Size 235/40ZR18 N2 and 295/30ZR18/XL N2
I had to upsize because the stock sizes are not yet available. Car is lowered about 1.25" No rubbing or fitting issues. More rubber on the road feels nice.
New camber
Front L -0.1º R-0.1º (reduced due to excessive wear inside fronts)
Rear L -1.3º R -1.3º
Car was also corner balanced, plus coincidentally new pads and rotors.

Miles since installed: 700. I am not a tire guy or a track hound, so please bear with me.

My usual driving is 80% straight, 20% back road twisties, but these first 700 miles were more like 50/50. Spirited, not crazy getting it sideways.
On this car I have previously had (OEM, forgot brand they went so fast), Michelin SX MXX, Bridgestone SO2 and lately Pirelli.

Trying to recall new to new comparisons to be fair, the Michelin PS2 are:
Smoother, quieter and more comfortable straight line. They have a slightly less instantaneous initial turn-in, especially compared to the SO2 and Pirellis. I am told this is due to a more compliant sidewall construction.
After initial turn-in and once they take a set, they are very sticky. This tire shines in high speed sweepers, and handles transitions fine once you learn to anticipate a few extra milliseconds of turn-in. Hard to imagine you could even get the car sideways with these tires. Braking is excellent, even though this is a straight rib pattern inside, not the inverse "V" or "W". Tramlining, or whatever you call that involuntary lane hopping on the freeway, is greatly reduced, more likely due to camber changes.
Altogether a very reassuring set of rubber.

YMMV, not responsible if you commit stupid, no affiliation, blah blah.

brembo

Hi Terry

Any experiences with wet weather handling and/or aqua-planing with the Michelin PS2 yet?

GabiOsz

I had a nasty accident in my previous car with Michelin Pilot Sports due to aqua-planing! Is this a known problem, or just poor judgement on my part?

I lost the back end and ended up going backwards at 80mph on the motorway, before slowing to around 40mph when I smashed the rear end into the crash barrier having spun across three lanes of traffic, missed all the other cars but narrowly missed getting hit sideways by a large lorry!

Apart form that incident I found them to be very good tires, the ware was much more even than Continentals, and much less road noise. I use P- Zeros on my 993.

TrackJunke

Brembo,

I had my ps2s at the track right after I got them. In the rain they were great. Awesome traction. I also experienced them with very heavy rains on the way home and hydroplaning was pretty good also. These were full tread depth tire so keep that in mind. They are at their peak of rain traction.

Viken

I had the *pleasure* of driving my GT3 with PS2's in the rain a few times. At first, I tried to be extra careful because I was nervous with the fact that there are no direct grooves to channel water out through the outer tread. But, as I became more and more comfortable with the tire, I pushed the car further. To my surprise, the presence of water was mostly visual and I did not encounter any aquaplaning. However, I must say that I did not go through any standing water either. Aquaplaning, especially with wider tires, is just about inevitable in standing water. You need to be careful no matter what you drive on.

Viken

Unfortunately, it is a bit of both. Aquaplaning is only avoidable by carefully avoiding standing water and/or driving slower over it.

lexpilot

Would it be fair to say that these ultra high performance tires are worse in the heavy rain than "Touring" tires which are worse than those with M/S markings ?

nman413

My PS2s have been on the track a total of 5 track days, about 20 sessions and I'm about 2000 miles into them (of course they are only 3 weeks old too ) So far they are wearing very nicely and evenly. I'll take pictures if I remember too this weekend and post.

Viken

As a general rule, yes. However, it is important to note that the wider the contact patch, the more prone to aquaplaning a tire would be. It might even be an M+S tire as much as a maximum performance tire. That's why factory specified *winter* tires are always narrower than the summer tires.