Mich PS4s initial impressions
10-16-2022, 12:23 AM
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Mich PS4s initial impressions
Yes another thread about the PS4s, this time on a 2015 boxster S. I have good news and a little bad. Car is stock on the Carrera S 20 inch wheels with the base suspension, no PASM or x73. Tires are stock size 265 35/20 rear and 235 35/20 front. Prior to the PS4s I had the OE P zeros which were yes, 8 years old. My excuse for this travesty is that I bought the car in Jan 2022 and it had 5200 miles on it. The P zeros looked brand new but like you'd expect were as hard as glass. So I drove it accordingly until I got around to getting new tires.
First the good news. The PS4s is so quiet it's remarkable. Some of this is new vs old but it's also a very quiet tire. The P zeros were so loud I needed ear plugs on rough pavement. The PS4s grips very well and has a progressive break-away that doesn't scare you. I haven't put many miles on them or tracked them yet so I can't really rate their ultimate performance. There are plenty of tests that say they are good so I'll defer to them.
The not so good news is that I've lost some steering feel. What I mean is that the PS4s has a fair amount of sidewall flex. Noticeably more than the P zero. This may be by design in order to "bend not break" under high cornering loads. It is also no doubt due to the fact that the tread width (according to tire rack) is 1/2" wider than the P zero (8.6" vs 8.1"). I noticed it immediately when I saw the tires mounted. The fronts in particular. Given my front wheel width is only 8" it makes sense that a 8.6" wide tire would have some flex. Had I known this up front I might have made a different choice and possibly gone with the newer P zero PZ4. I had 200 TW tires (falken RT660) on my old car and really liked the steering feel. I even considered the Cup 2 tires but they wouldn't pair well with my suspension. And there's all the other down sides to running 200 TW tires on the street.
I'm interested if anyone else has experienced this. Overall I think the PS4s is a great tire. I just wish it was sized a little differently for my application.
First the good news. The PS4s is so quiet it's remarkable. Some of this is new vs old but it's also a very quiet tire. The P zeros were so loud I needed ear plugs on rough pavement. The PS4s grips very well and has a progressive break-away that doesn't scare you. I haven't put many miles on them or tracked them yet so I can't really rate their ultimate performance. There are plenty of tests that say they are good so I'll defer to them.
The not so good news is that I've lost some steering feel. What I mean is that the PS4s has a fair amount of sidewall flex. Noticeably more than the P zero. This may be by design in order to "bend not break" under high cornering loads. It is also no doubt due to the fact that the tread width (according to tire rack) is 1/2" wider than the P zero (8.6" vs 8.1"). I noticed it immediately when I saw the tires mounted. The fronts in particular. Given my front wheel width is only 8" it makes sense that a 8.6" wide tire would have some flex. Had I known this up front I might have made a different choice and possibly gone with the newer P zero PZ4. I had 200 TW tires (falken RT660) on my old car and really liked the steering feel. I even considered the Cup 2 tires but they wouldn't pair well with my suspension. And there's all the other down sides to running 200 TW tires on the street.
I'm interested if anyone else has experienced this. Overall I think the PS4s is a great tire. I just wish it was sized a little differently for my application.
Last edited by Nip are; 10-16-2022 at 04:54 PM.
