I recently put PS2s on my car, and at first I loved them (compared to run-flats). Then I noticed they like to tramline on heavy grooves in the cement portions of freeways, which had me wondering if I should take them back and get GSD3s instead. But, every time I drove twisties, I fell in love with them again.

Three days ago, my DIC reported a two lb. discrepancy in the left rear. Sure enough, it had a nail in it. Had that repaired without mishap, but as I was re-installing the wheel, I was wondering if the 2.5 inches of missing rubber over three grooves in the tread was not as good of an idea as Michelin originally thought it was, and I waffled once again about liking them.

Well, tonight, a storm hit my area. Wet, wet and wet! The car drove on extremely wet roads just as if it was dry! I tried several rabbit starts to try to get them to break loose, and was surprised when they wouldn't. I even tried heavy gas from a stop around a corner. Again, nada. Man, these tires grip even in the rain! Obviously, those humongous grooves really work!

So what if they follow heavy grooves in some freeway sections? With the great ride, low-noise, killer dry and wet traction, these PS2s are a VERY nice tire. Not to mention how well they're made. They track very straight, and 3 tires needed very few weights to balance them. And, the other one didn't need any! I even double-checked this with a re-balance after 45 days. I think it's fair to say these tires ROCK!

 

That is a great review . Where did you end up purchasing the tires from?

 

Great review thanks

I only ever drove the PS2s I had on mine in the dry. Always wondered how they'd drive in the wet.

Have to say my AS ZPs stick like glue in the rain although even they struggle when it gets icy.

 

Costco

 

Thank you for sharing your experience with the Pilot Sports. I'll need to get new shoes over the winter and that's one of the tires I'm considering. Still haven't decided runflat vs. non-runflat (with AAA for backup!).

If you don't mind my asking, could you PM me with the installed price? I have a membership at Costco as well.

 

Michelin= French Company, French Profits.

GoodYear= American Company, American made. American Profits.

The Car is American Made, it deserves AMERICAN tires.

~Maverick

 

I recently purchased PS2s for my vette as well - although sadly I don't have much time behind the wheel since installing them. However, I can comment that they were excellent all around performers on my previous vehilce (BMW M3). As a Seattle resident I put plenty of miles on in the rain and never once had an issue.

 

I to have the Pilot Sports....the tires ride great
but i hear what your saying about picking up nails
nails luv em'

 

I've got import tires on some of my other cars.........but NOT the Vette!

 

than why are some bolt metric?
american this, american that, 90% of the items in our homes are not american made. every time you reach for a plate to eat look on the back of it.

 

I just removed the PS2s from my '01 Z06 (4/32" tread, more than half gone), and installed an 18/19 combo with C6 Z06 Goodyear SC F1 EMTs (used, about 3/4-tread life). I gained almost an inch of width on the fronts, and a little over an inch on the rears. However, I have gained ZERO in performance, wet traction, handling, etc.. I have only gained weight, as these wider EMT/runflat tires are kinda heavy (though, in comparison, PS2s are maybe abnormally light for a full treaded street tire).
Goodyears are definitely GOOD tires, but Michelins are GREAT tires. Yes, Corvettes come with GYs, but Vipers, Porsches, Mercedes, and others come with Pilots (I'm not a Viper fan, but do respect most hi-po Euros).
I am no 'authority' on any of this, but when it comes to making recommendations for Corvette mods or performance parts, 'street' tires for a C4/C5/C6 is the one category when I will give the same answer.
Headers? Yes, shop around and find what you can afford and what kind of power you anticipate. Cams? Heads? Same thing, do some research and decide how you drive your car and what other mods you are willing to make. Tires? Michelin Pilots!
Remember, tires are your FIRST, LAST, and ONLY link to the final performance potential of your car, your safety, and the overall enjoyment when driving it. Regardless of where they are made, or even how much they cost, you SHOULD get the tires that will fill these requirements. Unlike some performance parts that only get realized on a dyno, tires generally speak for themselves.

 

Sometimes, Michelin just makes better tires. Just ask the AMERICAN Corvette Racing Team. If they're good enough for the C6R, they can't be that bad.

 

Wrong! It deserves the BEST tires that I can find!

I'm as patriotic as the next guy, and I try to buy American when I can, but I also try and buy the BEST QUALITY products that I can find at the best price.

Edit: If GY made the GS-D3's in a runflat in stock C5 sizes, I probably would go with them. I believe they are an excellent tire. Since I want the added security of a runflat, I will go with the Michelin PS A/S ZP's.

 

Let me put it this way: if Michelins are French and France is home to some of the biggest socialists in the world with unions out the wazoo "protecting " its workers by making sure they get good wages and taxes their citizenry and corporations out the butt ...AND ... on top of that there are transport costs, import costs, etc. to get them to our shores driving their price higher I would think Goodyears would be REALLY competitively priced to match.

But they are not.

Which makes me wonder.

One thing I can not stand is feeling like someone somewhere knows there are people who fall for certain hype and then slap a "corvette tax" on a product rather than making sure their products are TRULY competitive (traction, weather, wear, noise, etc.)

I am certainly not trampling on anyone's patriotism but capitalism is what makes us great and sometimes the market needs consumers who will demand more (and go elsewheres to get it) in order to get companies to pay attention.

OK, now that I am certain I will generate a firestorm of controversy I will go away and observe from afar.

 

 

I aslo have the Michelins, love em (and I cant get them to break loose easily either).

But, dont compare them to the GY's on price alone. The GY's are stiffer, and are rated to run 200 miles with a flat and are authorized repairable after a run flat incident, where the Michelins are rated at 50 miles flat and not guaranteed after a run flat incident.

But having said that, I chose the Michliens due to the handling and better ride. All things considered I feel they are a better tire for my use.

 

Michelin makes good tires and I fault no one for buying them. However the GSD3s last longer (according to CU), grip better on wet and dry pavement (Car & Driver), and cost less (Tirerack). For these reasons, I prefer the Goodyear GSD3s. Certainly, not everyone likes Goodyear tires and I respect that, but I will continue to buy them as I am very happy with mine.

 

Yes, but isn't Corvette a French name and Chevrolet was a Frenchman.
I wouldn't knock it, I love to drive all over the French.

 

Hey, Dave, I ran 3 sets of the GSD3s on my C4, and while they have a killer tread design, seem to have a wider profile on the road, and never tram-lined grooves in freeway cement, I was able to break those tires loose by accident in the wet, which I would expect to be able to do with ANY tire in the rain, but I kid you not, the PS2s seem to be better in the wet.

This is not to say GSD3s are not a good tire. In fact, when I bought the PS2s, at the time I would've preferred to have had the GSD3s, but Costco does not carry Goodyears anymore, and I felt that their deal on the PS2s was so good, I simply had to TRY the PS2s. I could've taken them back once I felt them tram-line those freeway grooves, because Costco has a no-questions-asked return policy even on tires, but now that I've had the experience of PS2s in all kinds of conditions, I have to say that I am quite satisfied.

With that said, I don't think you can go wrong with either the PS2s or the GSD3s, and because both of these tires are such good tires, there certainly is not any reason to switch to one or the other if you already have either tire on your car. In other words, if PS2s are not available at a better deal the next time around, I would not hesitate to go with GSD3s and not look back, either, because I know I'd be happy with those, too, as I had been in the past.

I just started this thread because I wanted to offer my experience, not to bash other tires, or waive my non-patriotic flag, or whatever else some others might think of me. I just thought it might help others who may be faced with the same "which way should I go" dilemna I faced when trying to decide on a tire. The Costco deal is really what pushed me to the Michelins, nothing else, because I really did want GSD3s. The PS2s were US$1083.75, including 7.75% sales tax. Includes life-time balance and repairs, and road hazard warranty (and I already had to use the repair warranty).

However, the next time you need tires, if you have the opportunity to try PS2s with no obligation, you might just want to, because they really are an excellent tire.

 

Thanks for the review - good writeup.