SUPERCRUZ

So I have an 09 Z with a little over 10K miles on it. The original GY run flats were almost to the point of being slicks in the back so I ponied up a little more than $2K and ordered a set of the Michelin PS2 ZPs from the Tirerack back in July. Tires were on my doorstep within 2 days. I had a local Mr. Tire in Arlington VA install them and I specifically asked for the tires to be road force balanced. I actually pulled the wheels and took them over to the tire shop so as not to risk damage to the car.

Mr. Tire installed the tires and did a good job. After reinstalling them, I drove the car for a couple of weeks but noticed some vibration in the front. I called Mr. Tire and once again pulled the wheels and brought them in for rebalance. A major hassle. Got them back and installed and again drove the car for a few weeks. This past weekend, I noticed a lot of vibration once again in the front as I entered the highway at speed. The should not be happening. Again, called Mr. Tire and made an appointment to bring the car back in. This time, I spoke to Chistoff at Mr. Tire and he assigned Kevin to help figure out what was going on. Great couple of guys. Kevin was very professional and took the utmost care in putting my car on the lift and handling the wheels. Even let me hang in the shop and watch him.

What we found is when we spun balanced the front wheels, everything was okay. However, when applying road force to the tires on the front the machine would come back and say the tires could not be balanced. The road force was out over 42+ pounds on both front tires. Way more than Kevin thought he could adjust for by match mounting the tires to the rims. He suggested I call Tirerack and get a new set of front tires. Knowing these tires cost me close to $500 a piece and the reputation of Michelin, I was very disappointed. Tires were manufactured in Late 2014 but were not more than about 6 months old when delivered.

Long story short, I called Tirerack and after some discussion, they are shipping two new front tires. I did have to pay for the new tires but Tirerack will issue a call tag to pickup my old set of fronts and credit me once the old tires are returned. I take the car back on Tuesday for the install. All I can say is I am quite disappointed in Michelin and all the hassle I have had to go through with this new set of tires.

I am a Michelin fan and use them on all my daily drivers but I was very surprised by all of the trouble I am having given the reputation of these high performance tires. Anybody else out there experienced a similar issue with new Michelins on their Z?

kenw

Sorry for your situation I have had a set on for the last 3 years with no issue.

Guess you just got a bad one. Good luck going forward.

carpe dm

Bummer. I understand your frustration; I had the same thing happen to me about ten years ago. I was not as smart as you, as I just gave up finally, and bought two new tires. Thank goodness I have not had that problem again.

LFZ

Never had this issue with any set of Michelins I've bought...PS2 ZP, supersports, and sport cups. I've also never done RoadForce balance and never had an issue as well.

You sure you don't have any bent wheels or something else going on with the car?

Undy

...or with the installer?

GOLD72

Last January rather than buy a front set of PS2 ZPs for my ZR1, I bought the PSS ZPs from Tire Rack. Other than Discount struggling with getting the bead to seat, the new PSS ZPs have been very nice and no balance issues. I did have them Road Force balanced and they ride better than the OEM PS2 ZPs when new.

LS7Solstice

Did you notice the vibration immediately after installing them or a couple weeks after?

Could they have flat spotted? I have these tires on my Z06 and there are no vibrations whatsoever.

Dr.Ron

I have had to send back 2 or 3 Michelin tires over my last 3-4 purchases due to the road force coming out too high. Tire Rack immediately sent out replacements and call tags to pick up the returns.
Sometimes you get a bad tire & it's a pain, but what can you do?
Once replaced, everything was fine.

Ron

Dr.Ron

As luck would have it, I just got 2 new Super Sport run flats for my Z & one of them road forced to 38lbs after being spun on the rim!!! Back it goes!!
The other one went down to 25. Acceptable for the rear...barely.

Ron

soldier4life

is this issue limited to run flats?

SUPERCRUZ

Interesting.

SUPERCRUZ

Wanted to provide an update to my original post. So Tire Rack shipped two brand new front PS2 ZPs to my installer. I did have to pay for these but TR agreed to credit me back the full purchase price upon return of the old set. The new front tires arrived within 24 hours of my order. I made an appointment to see my installer this past Tuesday morning. Upon arriving, Christoff pulled the two front tires and unmounted them using their Hunter tire mounting machine. He even went so far as to replace the plastic carrier piece on the machine that rides around the rim inner edge and tire bead with an new one to ensure no damage to my rims. I was in the shop the whole time and gained a real appreciation for how difficult it can be to mount these tires. Almost a two man job if you are trying to be careful. At any rate, to make a long story short, we mounted the first new tire and balanced it. The road force came in at about 26 which was significantly lower than 43+ with the other tire. We then proceeded with the second tire install and balance. That second tire road forced at 36, better but not good enough. Christoff decided to take the second tire and rim and remount the tire rotating it 180 degrees on the rim per the machines recommendation. All I can say is this is a lot of work as we had to break the bead and partially demount the newly installed tire to rotate it on the rim. This time the road force balance came out at 23. I guess with the weight and construction of the runflat tires and OE rims, there is going to be some road force variance in them. Christoff told me to drive the car and report back to him. Well, I drove the car to work that day and put some highway miles on it and the tires are rock solid with no vibration in the wheel at all. Very happy.

Tire Rack was great to deal with. They put in a call tag for UPS to pick up the old tires from my house and credited me back for the mount and balance of the two new tires. UPS was at my door Wens morning to pick up the old tires.

Yes, this was a royal PIA but I am thankful for good vendors such as Tire Rack and Christoff and his team over at Mr. Tire in Arlington VA.

SUPERCRUZ

Great questions. My car doe sit for 1 - 2 weeks at a time but that is not enough to flat spot tires. My GY F1s were on there from new and sat for extended periods all the time and no issues. I do not do a lot of highway driving so I did not notice the vibration until after a few weeks of having the tires mounted. I immediately took it back for re-balance. I will say you have to watch your installer as most are not going to take the time to demount a tire and rotate it on the rim for proper road force balance. These tires were so far out on road force that no matter how you rotate them on the rim, they were not going to be within limits.

Dr.Ron

Yup, the one I sent back started at 53lbs!!
Tirerack did right though, immediately sending another one out and they'll refund $25 towards balance/mounting.

63Corvette

Um......................the Pilot SUPER SPORT tires are:
cheaper
last longer
stick better
......................just sayin

SUPERCRUZ

This thread has nothing whatsoever to do with whether Super Sports are better than Pilot Sport ZPs. Dr Ron bought Super Sports and he had to send one of them back for defect in manufacturing. Excessive Road Force balance issues. This thread is about Michelin producing tires with manufacturing defects. I have experienced it and others have as well as confirmed by this thread. I wanted ZP tires and I was not aware the Super Sports came in ZP configuration. The outcome may have been different if I had bought Super Sports but then again it may have been the same. Irrelevant.