Michelin pss review

Hello prime,
I couldn't find any info other than word of mouth here about these tires so I hope this helps any of you looking to run these. I have not tracked my nsx YET... Plus I am no super guru tire guy so tread lightly and look at this as informative or not informative rather than a matter of what's right and what's wrong.

Some background,

I run Advan rg3 in 18x8 and 19x10 specs. Previous tires were Nitto nt555 due to sizes being available in 215/275 sizes. The nitto's were extremely harsh riding with a hard compound. Makes for a wonderful drifting tire. I'm supercharged and after bolting the apx exhaust on my ctsc I could get wheel spin at the end of the rpm band in 1st gear and into 2nd after bolting on his extremely awesome exhaust, I'd only wheel spin in the 4K rpm band in 1st prior to the exhaust being bolted on.

I was extremely concerned about switching over to the pss due to the 225 front. I have already smashed up the front fenders a hair by bottoming out. I am lowered on BC coils and I'm a heavy guy so that doesn't help things. It took a long time to dial in the height and dampening of the coil overs to where I wouldn't bottom out during hard acceleration dips before mounting the pss.

So I took a shot at the pss and installed them today. Here are the many many pro's and very little cons...
Tires are 225/35/18 and 265/30/19 Michelin and Nitto was 215/35/18 and 275/30/19

Pro's:
1)Far less balancing weights needed on these versus the Nitto. I spent a long time rubbing off the double sided tape everywhere from my wheels.
2) These are non directional tires! A huge plus as they can be rotated left and right.
3) Lighter than the Nitto.
4) The sidewall is much larger then the Nitto. This makes for much better ride in my opinion.
5) These tires mean business... They are super sticky. Stupid sticky for a street tire. Be prepared for pebbles flying and making noise on gravel prone roads.
6) THESE DO NOT RUB ON FULL LOCK! LET ME REPEAT, THEY DO NOT RUB ON FULL LOCK WITH OEM FENDERS AND FENDER LINERS!WOO HOO!!!!!
7) The ride quality, the handling, the braking, and the traction is everything you have read about.
8) These things should be in an R-comp class. I cannot even get wheel spin now unless I dump the clutch in a dig.
9) I actually can drive the car on the stiffest damper setting with almost zero change in ride comfort. BEFORE THESE TIRES, I RAN AT FULL SOFT BECAUSE I KEPT LOOSING FILLINGS FROM MY TEETH.

Con's:
1) Price
2) Stickyness probably means much faster wear. Too hard to tell this early.
3) I am bottoming out on the fender liner during high speed dips far more frequently. This was an issue before and I still have room to raise the car some. So this may not be a con as I need to dial in the suspension and alignment.

I will get some pics once I get the ride height dialed in and aligned properly. But the biggest issue I almost didn't buy these was tire rub at full lock. There is none. These tires come extremely close to the liner, but did not rub.

can you tell us the offset of the wheels...ET?

What is the front offset?

Haha dammit beat me to the punch Doc

Whoops, thought I missed something
Offsets are sos spec +37 front and + 35 rear which are the bbk friendly spec with gobs of oem brake clearance and a concave front wheel.

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Also, since I could not find any info anywhere on the pss total tire width, I measured it at 8 and 1/4" Nitto 215 measured a dead 8"

good data point...have fun!

^^^ Yup, I agree unconditionally with Billy's article 100% and have read it a few times.
But for those of you who dare run 18/19 set ups, now you have some info on a tire that has broken record lap times on other high dollar cars. It doesn't come with oem spec fittings as I mentioned. So as I said, just my take on things...
If oem size is it for you, then follow the light. Just thought I would add my views on this tire. Take it or leave it.
But this tire means business and isn't a secret. I am just extremely glad it does not rub at full lock.

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docjohn said:

good data point...have fun!

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Thank you docjohn, I am glad you got my point of this as a review for non conventional sizes rather than turn it into another pissing match thread. It was the way I chose and I only hope this gives people a perspective on this tire versus other choices. That is my 1 and only intention.

regardless ,as others have said if we all did the same mods how exciting would that be.....I think there are lots of owners who experiment but never share their experience....that's a shame.

Are you having any TCS issues with the 225/35/18 and 265/30/19? Like, do you see it engaging more often than before?

My first test drive was on twisty roads in the hills which are bumpy as hell. I never used to take this road with the previous tires due to comfort. Driving hard through this area I had no traction control issues as the car just grips like crazy.
I have only had a chance to drive it 1 time since the swap. Hope to get some more seat time this week.

First of all, glad you like the tires. I was just talking to Matt Farrah and Fenton (forget his prime name) about them last week.

The pebbles sticking to the tires won't last long. What does last long is the tire itself. Just in case you didn't think it could better, a lot of people report up to 25k+ miles on a set... YMMV obviously.

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The additional NVH is a downer though but I don't blame the tire for that. The 225/35 series sidewall is so thin! It's actually pretty darn good for that little of a sidewall. It's comparable or slightly better than the hard Dunlop Z1 in a 215/40/17 that I had before. Hard to notice tell for sure because I swapped out a bunch of suspension and steering components very recently.

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Jinks said:

My first test drive was on twisty roads in the hills which are bumpy as hell.

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Just imagine if you actually got a set of proper dampers on your car I'm not knocking.. i'm just speaking from experience.

Oh trust me, I hate the BC dampers they suck! I was gonna go V3 soon but I am not so sure I like dialing in suspension. I like to just bolt on and go, so I might even do some bilsteins on lower perch.

RYU said:

First of all, glad you like the tires. I was just talking to Matt Farrah and Fenton (forget his prime name) about them last week.

The pebbles sticking to the tires won't last long. What does last long is the tire itself. Just in case you didn't think it could better, a lot of people report up to 25k+ miles on a set... YMMV obviously.

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The additional NVH is a downer though but I don't blame the tire for that. The 225/35 series sidewall is so thin! It's actually pretty darn good for that little of a sidewall. It's comparable or slightly better than the hard Dunlop Z1 in a 215/40/17 that I had before. Hard to notice tell for sure because I swapped out a bunch of suspension and steering components very recently.

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Just imagine if you actually got a set of proper dampers on your car I'm not knocking.. i'm just speaking from experience.

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The michelins on my mdx lasted 70,000 miles from new and the only reason I replaced them with new michelins was due to running over a nail. All 4 tires had plenty tread left. Looking forward to many miles on my Nsx set

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Jinks said:

The michelins on my mdx lasted 70,000 miles from new and the only reason I replaced them with new michelins was due to running over a nail. All 4 tires had plenty tread left. Looking forward to many miles on my Nsx set

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Also, @RYU can you please share your alignment specs or a link to it on the pss?

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These size tires fit the Advans like a glove. Zero stretch, perfectly square. Shots taken tonight in garage. If I ever get another day off work this month I will post some better pics.

I would say your fronts have very mild stretch and your rears have slightly more stretch. According to Billy's article you have perfect stretch so your sizing seems pretty spot on. Some stretch allows for pre-loading the sidewall IIRC. They don't look square to me, at least from the pics though.

My alignment settings are pretty aggressive and is setup for my car with non-compliance suspension parts, big brakes, and an OS Giken LSD. I'm happy to share if you're still interested.

I just got some more seat time today after raising the front coils about a 1/4" No more rubbing of the fender at high speed dips now. That allowed me to really push hard on these new tires. I also dialed back the dampers a few clicks soft.
I cannot believe this is a performance tire. The ride quality of this tire is ridiculous. It's firm but rides excellent even with a budget damper system like BC. Cornering and steering is where this tire really shines aside from awesome ride quality.
I took the bumpiest harshest roads today on my drive which I previously would try to avoid. The roads met their match I must say. If any of you are running 18/19's BUY THESE TIRES!!!

I love the PSSs on my CTS-V. I would almost, almost give my left nut to have them in NSX-friendly 17/18 sizes. SIGH.

they are fantastic tires, very high performance yet comfortable and long-lasting.i had them on my M3 and would also love to be able to put them on my NSX. thank you for almost sacrificing this significant body part to help us get them.

Mine was rubbing at the track this wknd

Under hard compression the tire is just too tall and mine runs on the frame. I need to raise my car now.

how would these compare to the Dunlop Z11 and Yokohama ADO8R, are they that much better

RYU said:

Mine was rubbing at the track this wknd

Under hard compression the tire is just too tall and mine runs on the frame. I need to raise my car now.

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That seems to be the only issue with my set. Under hard cornering and compression, the tire makes slight contact with the front left fender liner and nowhere else. But I could live with this for everything else this tire offers in a 18/19 size. I can also raise the car a hair more on the BC coil overs.The more I drive on them the more I think, damn, my car has never felt this good on messed up California roads... This is definitely NOT THE TIRE FOR SOMEONE RUNNING EXTREMELY LOW HEIGHT. But Jesus did this tire transform my cars Handling characteristics!
The contact mine seems to make is on the outer left fender liner right on the upper 8mm locking tab. I think if you adjusted the toe a little bit inward this would alleviate the rub under fully hard compression. Other than this issue which was always apparent for me prior to swapping tires, everything else is spot on and I would buy another set in a heartbeat. The only other downside for me is loose pebbles being grabbed by these tires and thrown towards the fenders making noise. How long does this last? But all in all, I take the car on terrible roads now and these tires make mince meat of imperfections and reminds me of driving one of my other cars.

I have to say, every Michelin I've used on my RS's has taken little to no wheels weights. Incredible.

So if i'm lowered on stock springs with Bilstiens on the lower perch, I should be ok with 225-35-18 front/275-30-19's rear?

what wheel and et?

davidf said:

So if i'm lowered on stock springs with Bilstiens on the lower perch, I should be ok with 225-35-18 front/275-30-19's rear?

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How much gap do you have between the front tire and the fender liner?
I think you'd be just fine but I have not experienced the bilstein/Oem shock combo.