I have owned both Goodyear and Michelin runflats and have had flats with both of them(but not with any other non-runflat cars that I own - don't know why). Here's some observations in case enquiring minds want to know.

Goodyears are very harsh and noisy and are horrible in wet conditions. When I got a flat, it was barely noticeable in normal around town driving, and I probably would not have noticed right away had it not been for the warning through the DIC. When parked, the attitude of the car was almost normal, and no one noticed the "flat". Those sidewalls are very thick and rigid. Of course, that's why they ride like solid rubber tires.

The Michelins are very quiet and smooth in the dry and excellent in rain. These past few days in Southern California, we have had record rains. Coming home in the rain a few days ago, I heard a thump from the front of the car while taking a sweeping uphill turn. The car wiggled slightly, then drove normally again, but I was not going very fast. Then the DIC signalled a flat tire. Turns out that this chunk of glass, maybe the base of a broken beer bottle, went right through the tire casing perfectly positioned between the tread blocks and opened a gash about 1" long, and I lost air pressure almost instantly. Here, I was grateful to have runflats.

I drove it "flat" for the next two days, totalling around thirty miles(I drove it to work in the rain twice because the tire shop near work told me that the tire would arrive but it did not). They are definitely different from the Goodyears. The sidewall flexed much more than the Goodyears and the car sat about 1 1/2 inches lower at that corner. It definitely looked flat, and even non-car people came up and told me that I had a flat, whereas a flat Goodyear looks about the same is an overinflated Goodyear.

When driving "flat", both tires do not feel very different from when they are properly inflated, but that is probably due to my driving very conservatively when the tires were "flat", and in the rain. Oh yeah, after one of the intermittent "flat tire" warnings, the DIC signalled "reduced handling" - probably to remind you not to unintentionally exceed the flat tire's limitations since it feels so normal.

 

Thanks for the comparison. I have obviously had the Goodyears on the car but never the Michelin's. I am running a set of the Firestones on the car now and have had flats in them. They seem to handle well in the rain and when you have a flat - didn't notice any flexing of the sidewalls when driving and the tire did not look flat, at least not to me. One of the big advantages of the Goodyears is that they are rated to 200 miles on zero pressure where my Firestones are only 50. Not many places around here that I would have to go more than 50 miles to a repair facility, but sometimes the added distance may come in handy. If it just weren't for the harsh ride and noise of the Goodyears...

 

Are there any problems associated with the DIC and the low pressure sensors when changing to another tire brand other then the OEM Goodyears?

 

Shouldn't be. Sensors and DIC don't care what rubber is on the car. Same even for non-runflats. Could even be helpful with a slow leak on a non-runflat. Last three "flats" I had were slow leakers from nails/screws, which I noticed when the tire started to look low (none of these on the Vette).

In these situations, DIC would have alerted to the loss sooner, maybe telling about the "flat" in the driveway, rather than when it went completely flat on the road.

 

No problem at all. I switched to the Michelins. When you do, just be sure they put the same wheel back in the same place and the system won't have to relearn the sensor. Also be sure the tire jockey that changes them is aware they're there so he doesn't snap one off. I watched the kid do mine and wasn't afraid to supervise. He got one mounted backwards (our tires are directional) and had to unmount it and redo it. He wouldn't have caught it if I hadn't been standing there watching his every move.

 

Thanks for the information. I ordered a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S ZP's last week because I heard Michelin was discontinuing them. As a matter of fact, they do not even show them on their website now. I still have 7 tenths tread on my GY's on the front, and 4 tenths on the rear but I don't want to miss these before they go out of stock. The tire store I ordered them from is going to store them for me until I have them mounted in April or May. A friend of mine had some mounted last summer and I could not believe the difference in road noise and feel when I drove it.

 

Also a good Idea is to ask if they can handle run flat tires. I went to a local tire store and they took two hours to get the run flats off and destroyed both right side wheels in the process. They didn't have the right equipment, and wouldn't say so. Then during the wheel replacement they pulled all the threads off one of the sensors and said it wasn't their problem, so that cost me another hundred bucks to get the sensor replaced. After they replaced the wheels they told me not to come back! Like it was my fault for going there.... And I too had to watch them. They didn't know the wheels had to go back where they came off of. Interesting thing was its a large company with stores all over northeast Ohio "Terry's Tire Town" yet they don't know about these tires or these cars? Bottom line, "don't let your guard down"

 

I had that happen to my 95 Z28 when I was having the GY GSCs replaced - they put one on backward and I had to point it out.

 

BLAZBYU---- Glad you posted this. Never used them but talked to them once and I agree, they pretty much sound braindead even in person. Sorry to read about your grief but again I REALLY appreciate the input.......... Whatta great place this forum is..

 

They would be receiving a summons to small claims court from me....

 

My car got hit a few weeks ago and had $7k in damage to the front right of the car. When the repair facility was ready to return the car to me they realized I had a flat tire (Goodyear EMT). It wasn't obvious to any of us.
I planned on getting the PS ZP's when my Goodyear's ran out. I didn't know they were going to be discontinued.

 

I have the Michelins and am happy with them but I don't think I would have bought them if I knew they were being discontinued. If you have an unrepairable flat, finding a replacement could be a problem.

 

Nice write up dude, thanks

Maybe someday, someone will make a runflat that sounds, handles and feels like a high performace tire. Someday.......

 

I was told by more than one tire shop that they can guarantee no damage when removing a runflat tire, but cannot guarantee the same when installing it. I have switched to non-runflat Goodyear GSD3s and not only saved a nice chunk of money, but have also lost 26+ lbs of unsprung weight, enhancing the ride quality considerably. In my 30 years of driving, I have had one running flat. The other few have been very slow leaks that allowed me to get to any tire shop for repair.

 

I was thinking of the Michelins, as well as rotors/calipers for next summer's mod project. Are the Pilot Sports being superceded, or just discontinued? Also, has anyone used the Z06 "flat fixer" with Michelins?

Thanks,

hhntr111

 

Nice write-up. It's always nice to have choices and it helps making informed decisions. Great post!

Paul

 

Great info. But I opted for non runflats. Due to having had a flat in my runflats and nobody wanted to fix it. So I bought a plug kit and a compressor and fixed it myself. So since I have the technology I bought GY D3's and love them. No more bump steer and they stick. My .02

 

Glad I got mine in October. Hopefully they will be replaced by a A/S runflat that's even better.

 

I was thinking of putting the ZP Pilot Sport tires on in the spring.
After reading this thread I e mailed Michelin about the availability of ZP tires and following is their response.

The Michelin Zero Pressure tire for your vehicle is still available in the
Pilot Sport A/S. The part number for the front tires is 43220 (245/45ZR17).
The part number for the rear tires is 69224 (275/40ZR18).

I also followed some links at the Michelin web site for Pilot Sport tires. There is a note on the Pilot Sport page that says "some sizes available in zero pressure tires". A click the link brings up a pdf document that lists the stock C5 tire sizes as available as a ZP tire.

 

i thought the weight difference between goodyear eagle f1 gsd3s and eagle EMTs was more like 25lbs per tire
gsd3s weigh 29lbs each and i thought the emts were like 50 a piece
anyone have exact weights
i know the D3s weigh 29lbs ive shipped several dozen of them

Terrys tire town is a bunch of clowns
i took my prelude there back i nthe day to get the brakes inspected
they wanted 850$ to replace the rotors calipers and pads and poth brake lines (the 1 foot flexible piece that goes to the caliper)
i told them they were ****ing crazy and that id do it myself for that much
then they said ok and pulled my car off the rack
no mroe than 5 minutes after i left i sprung a leak in the right rear brake line and lost brake pressure
luckily i lived about 5.5 minutes away
i examined it and surely enough looks like someone cut a 1/2 inch gash into the line
(maybe cause i didnt wannt get screwed for 850
later bought all parts mentioned for 225 at autozone and replaced them myself in about 2 hours

same store about a year prior i took my integra there to get the oil changed (they gave me 10$ oil changes when i bought a set of tires there)
maybe 2nd or 3rd oil change they pull the car out and righti n front of my eyes it drops the filter and spills oil all over the parkinglot
im like wtf
then they pull ti back in and the service guy tells me they didnt tighten the filter enough lmao
was it at least finger tight?
ok so then to really make it good they put a new filter on and since it lost oil
they go ahead and put 5 more quarts in
(its a 4.5 quart system and they didnt drain it)
i make it down the block and check engine light come on and i lose power
exhaust had filled with oil and my 175$ o2 sensor was fried
they replaced that and ''cleaned" the exhaust system

ok the first 2 were bad and i dunno why i even went back
i guess convenience cause its right around the block

i take the vette in for mount and balance of all 4 and an alignment cause i just bought it and wanted to make certain everything was good

they say sure we can take care of that

2 trips later they still hadnt gotten the alignment right so i called rex the regional manager and got my money back
im done with them now