Soloontario

The C7 Z06 comes with an option for Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s. For those of us with C5Zs, the same tire comes in 295/30-18 which would be great for a square set up. Michelin claims they are faster than the old Sport Cup (despite UTQC ratings that increase to 180 from the older tire's 80 but we all know how accurate those numbers are )

Would love to know the relative performance/longevity of these Michelins vs something like Rival S, Bridgestone Re-71Rs or even Yokohama aD08R for track use (not autox as for me they don't need to heat up instantly).

Also with the multiple tread compounds, does it need as much camber as other tires? What are good pressures?? How about resistance to heat cycling???

Interesting how some "super" cars now come with these tires OE and record phenomenal grip.

JeremyGSU

I don't have any experience with these as far as grip but I'm sure it's impressive. The only thing I've read about them is they wear out quick. If you have any experience at all and can handle it I would think using take off slicks from someone like GT Tire would be a better option for track usage than buying these expensive Michelin's all the time. Those are very expensive tires.

Poor-sha

I ran through 3 sets of them this year on my C7Z and typically got 5 track days out of them. I just do HPDE and typically I run in red and black groups when possible so I get double the sessions. For comparison the only set of R7 I ran lasted about 4 days before I corded the outside edge of the LF.

My car has the stock non-Z07 suspension and GM recommended track alignment (-2.0 camber all the way around). When the MPSC2 went it was the tread block one inside from the outer edge that peeled off the tire. I'm wondering if this is pressure related but can't find anyone at Michelin to ask.

GM recommends 27 PSI cold on the C7Z which is what I run. They start to fall off at 35 PSI and badly at 37 PSI. Of course all of this is in a 3500+ lb C7Z and these are the runflat variety so I'm not sure if your tires will be different.

The MPSC2 do have a ton of grip and hold up reasonably well in my view until they shed that tread block. Jim Mero said they are only at their best for two laps though so what do I know.

I've seen lateral G's as high as 1.8G on the MPSC2 and pretty regularly can get over 1.6G. For comparison the fresh A7s I ran the same day were giving me 2.0G at their maximum (or that's all I was able to extract from them).

Frankly, if they were cheaper I'd live with the slightly less grip of the MPSC2 and them all the time. At least on the C7Z I love the way the car feels on them but what do you expect when a tire was designed along with the car.

Hope this helps.

Soloontario

Yes, I was wondering if the run flat variety would make a difference, stiffer sidewall and all that.

Interesting info about the pressures.

Bill Dearborn

That wear pattern sounds similar to the old BFG R1 R compound tires that were so popular in the 1990s. It was called the Groove of Doom. BFG said it came from people not running enough air pressure in the tires which caused the tread to buckle and wear in that spot.

The original C5 EMT would exhibit a similar wear pattern when pushed hard on the track. That wear would appear in the tread block to the outside of the center of the tire.

Bill

Poor-sha

Yup, that sounds like the same symptom Bill. I've been trying to get contact info for a Michelin engineer to ask them about this but at this point the tire pressures I start at are what the owner's manual calls for on track.

I wonder if it's a function of pushing the car too hard before the pressures come up to some level?