Michelin Tires
 

I am replacing my tires on my 05 C6 Z51. I am considering the two Michelin tires, Pilot Sport PS2 ZP and the Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP. Any insight would be appreciated.

Just installed a set of four on my 08. Very pleased, quite and much improved ride over the Goodyears.

I put the Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP on my 08 Pace Car Coupe before I traded it for my Z06 and really liked them.. If you do a search you will find a lot of info on them here. I really liked the 55,000 mile warrenty! I drove them in below freezing temps, heavy rain and they performed very well. Granted they may not be the best track tire but I don't take it to the track..... I wish they would make a set in the Z06 tire sizes!!!

Mark :flag: :flag:

Considering where you live you may want to go with the Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP, but in warmer weather a Z51 should have the Pilot Sport PS2 ZP. You really can't go wrong either way, when I need to replace mine it will be the Pilot Sport PS2 ZP, but I'm in California. :thumbs:

Which tire did you purchase?

Thanks

I got the PS2 [ non run flat ] . Great tire .

I've got around 10,000 miles on the new set of Michelin PS 2 ZP's I put on my 2009 Coupe Spring of 2010. They provide great feedback and performed great at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch a few months ago when I took my car on their track while attending Level 1 Corvette driving school. Amazing grip which is why Spring Mountain shods all the track cars with Michelin PS 2's as soon as the cars arrive for track school duty.

George
Twisp, WA

:iagree: I replaced my Goodyears with Michelin PS2 ZP's over a year ago. I find the Michelin PS2 ZP's to be a much better tire, especially in the wet. I'm also in California, So Cal to be exact.

:cheers:

Michelin...
 

PS2 ZPs all the way! Being in Minn and if you drive your car in the winter, the ZPs may not be ideal for you so you would want to consider the A/S to compensate for the lower temps. JMHO

I have had PS2's on many of my other cars, but alas I can't get the size I require for my new ride (345/25/20) so I have the Nitto Invos which I actually like quite well. but the PS2's are the gold standard that the others are measured by. The PS2 ZP would be the way i would go (if they came in the size i needed).

Hey HBJG I also live in Anaheim Hills!!!

I replaced the OE GY's with the Michelin A/S ZP tires on my C5 and they were great. I'm going with the Michelin PS2 ZP on my 09 Z06. If I had the C6 Z51 as you do, and wanted a tire that was driven year around I would go with the A/S. If you limit your driving to the summer months(or live in Phoenix) then the PS2 ZP's would work fine.

Really depends on the weather and when you drive your car as to whether you need an all-season tire or a summer tire.

The A/S ZP tires will be better in temps below about 50'F, much better below freezing, and infinitely better if there is any snow on the road. They will also cost somewhat less and last longer, so your cost per mile will be about half of the summer PS2 ZP.

The PS2 ZP will give you better grip on warm days.

My solution:

Two sets of wheels/sensors; PS2 ZP for summer and A/S ZP for cooler months.

Based on everything posted here I guess it boils down to what you want to do with your car. Our last Vette, a C5, we ran the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires and absolutely loved them in place of the Goodyear RunCraps. I don't take my wife's car on the track as it is just a driver...no Z06, no ZR1, just a run-of-the-mill '08 C6. The Pilot Sport A/S tires gave us traction in the winter (yes, we drive it all year including in the snow here in Wisconsin) and were a he// of a lot quieter than the original Goodyears.

From what others are posting it is not the greatest track tire...so it all boils down to what you want to do with your car. Me, I just want to enjoy driving it as much as I can and don't want to hammer the he// out of it on a track; I did that with my '66.

:iagree: Same with my 09.:)

Ultimate dry warm weather grip= PS2.
Very good grip and cold weather performance and better tread life= Pilot Sport A/S Plus.:thumbs:

I have the Pilot Sport A/S Plus ZP with about 15,000 and they have little were. I live in the northeast they are great compared to stock tires.

Pilot sport AS Plus. ZP

Since you don't track your car and live in MN I would go with the A/S ZP version. The weather doesn't have to be moist for the normal PS2 ZPs to get lose. Wear is about 2x as good with the A/S, about $100 each or so cheaper also. I wouldn't even consider driving a C6 with PS2 ZPs in anything that resembles snow. A friend said he had to leave his car and go back and pick it up when the dusting of snow melted away.

I sent the post to Jim (Gearhead Jim on this thread) because he and I share a continuing dialogue in how some tires perform. I sent this to him this past weekend.

At the very least, rix, I think we are talking apples to apples here since my car is (just slightly newer) a Z51-equipped C6. Having driven 1 and 1/2 sets of the Goodyear Supercar RFTs, and liking them (unlike many who post) and now running the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 ZP in stock sizes, we are probably pretty close to being similar, car-to-car.

Altho I don't presume to know two important ingredients, how you like to drive and when you like to drive, at least for the latter having worked for a dozen years on the Bloomington Strip, I think I can guess when you drive your car.

If this helps you below, great, and if you have questions that I can help you with, send them along.

"Jim, I think I did learn something last night that I thought I'd share with you since you are a careful tire buyer.

I've now had the tires on the car since Mar. 23 and as I recall that was a fairly warm day, probably well above 50. Yesterday, Saturday, I drove up to my friend in Maryland.

I drive this particular section (almost have to if I'm going home via highway) from my friend's house about 50 miles away last night. The major road home is in Virginia, concrete, older and hasn't been repaired in any major way since I got the Vette in Aug. '07. And it IS deteriorating along the 10 mile stretch that I drive. Even in my cushy '01 suv, you can feel the bumps, expansion joints, small cave-ins, holes not repaired, etc. In other words, it surely doesn't equate to some of the Chicago area's worst, but it's getting there---just give it time.

Here's what I noticed tho last night. Outside temp varied betw. 43 and 45. My tires were pumped to about 31 cold in the AM, and on the ride home rose to about 33/34 on all 4. Just about the same as the Goodyears (Supercar RFT) that I rode up and down this road, too, in same ambient temps. Recall: mine are the Pilot Sport PS2 ZP, not the All Seasons which could ride smoother.

There is now no doubt with 6K miles on these tires (and even with the suspension slowly deteriorating, as any car will with age---my car's now at about 27.8K miles) that these Michelins are softer-riding than the Goodyears (Supercars) that I know and like. I do hope they (Goodyear) eventually make the Gen 2 Goodyears in my size so I can eventually buy and ride on a set, but I'll say this: if these tires continue to give decent service and last about as long as the Supercars did (fronts still had decent tread depth at 21.8K miles when I took them off), there is nothing wrong with these tires. There is no way my Supercars, even with a slightly fading memory of how they rode, would be riding like these tires at 6K miles.

As to grip, I can't say really that there is that much more with the Michelins. It's there and it does stick just slightly better than the Goodyears, but to me, it is negligible. Not some quantum leap that your comment would be, WOW! The one good thing I could say about the Goodyears was that, to me, they were very predictable---no sudden letting go. Now, if you want to overpower them as we have read about in CF, sure, anything is possible including sliding off an on-ramp or hitting a jersey wall at speed.

In actuality, I have yet to feel all four Michelins begin to let go altho I have felt the back end wiggle, at times. Which means to me that all my nannies are on and doing their thing, maybe too well. And that either my suspension setup or how I'm taking a particular curve is not correct. Or all the above. So be it. Unfortunately, I don't have all those good, vacant, wide (read: forgiving) roads where I can test out the max ultimate grip to the point of where I make a mistake and it not being costly or body-damaging.

I agree with your thoughts that for you, and your driving there is every reason to get All Seasons. There's just too much "weather" that you can hit going from North to South that would make that the wiser choice even if you do give up a little ultimate grip. The ultimate grip part is probably not something you are seeking on the long trips anyway. And frankly, it may come at a point that you and I can't tell that the All Seasons give up anything to the regular Pilot Sports for summer.

Hope this helps you. I know it's early on in the life of these tires, I hope, But the ambient temp combined with the feel of the road surface that I know so well prompted me to send you this because it did make an impression on me."