**Unofficial Tyre Thread**

[Gaygle]

Michelins last considerably longer.

My front Michelin PS4S tyres have done 24k miles so far and are on 4.2mm. My rear Michelin PS4S tyres have done 18k miles so far and are on 3mm.

This includes a track day and 95% of my driving is fast country A roads. Really impressed with how long they're lasting.

 

[Ev0]

I’ve got a feeling the PS4S on the RS3 won’t be lasting stellar miles but will be interesting to see, fingers crossed

 

[Havana_UK]

My front Michelin PS4S tyres have done 24k miles so far and are on 4.2mm. My rear Michelin PS4S tyres have done 18k miles so far and are on 3mm.

This includes a track day and 95% of my driving is fast country A roads. Really impressed with how long they're lasting.

Echo this...my front PS4S did 32k (mostly motorways but also early in their life a Nurburgring trip) and the rears the same, but they are now about 3-3.5mm and due a change...ordinarily that change would come soon, but under present circumstances probably not for a good couple of months yet!

 

[Havana_UK]

It doesn't seem like they do. Goodyear have made massive improvements in wear over the years and all the latest tests with wear projection testing suggest the outlast the PS4.

Which is annoying, as I've now got a set of PS4 fitted

I noticed the same review also projected Continentals out-lasting Michelin...this I don't buy AT ALL! Goodyears I could believe, but Contis are made from the creamiest of creamy Stilton.

 

[ahenners]

£100 cashback offer on PS4's made them cheaper.

No brainer then!

 

[Chris1712]

Happy with my F1 SuperSports so far, actually the only UHP tyre available in my size anyway!

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there

I need to get new tyres for the S2000 as it came with some ditch fingers, even worse not XL so the rear feels like its trying to collapse in high speed corners, somewhat band aided by increasing rear pressures to 36psi from 32psi as I don't care about the wear rate as they are some Toledo TL1000 with very weak sidewalls.

So I was gonna buy PS4, but albeit there is a shortage no doubt due to Covid19 and as such the rear size of 245/40/17 is not available and I do not wish to move away from stock sizes, plus the fact the car has VSA so fitting different sized rear would no doubt have the VSA going mental.

As such my other alternatives which also seem very highly rated are:
F1AS5
Conti Premium Contact 6
AD08RS

Cannot get the older AD08R either, I know the new RS version is less grippy due to having to meet new EU rules for rolling resistance, hence slight compound change for less grip which on a tyre which did not have huge grip in the wet before might not be great on an S2000 driven all year round, there one advantage is sidewalls are decent strength.

Before anyone mentions PS4S or Goodyear F1 Supersport, they are 18" upwards only.

So right now it seems to take a choice of the F1AS5 or the CPC6 so is anyone here running either of those two, if so how happy are you with them and what were you running before please?

 

[adam cool dude]

I run F1AS5 on my Saab. Seems to handle 300BHP through the front wheels and grips well for what it is. Although I have nothing to compare to as have run AS2 and AS3 previous on the car. It is a shame the old AD08R is not available anymore. It was pretty much the perfect performance tyre for the road. Not sure what I am going to switch to when my Celica needs new boots.

 

[Clarkey]

Sucks the R isn't available any more, can't get Bridgestone RE71R either. Kind of forces buyers into using a stickier/even less economical tyre. Bit of an own goal for the EU. I wonder if brexit will mean we can import decent sports tyres again in the future.

 

[Simon]

Goodyear AS2 were great all year round on mine but it was a stiff setup being a 99 on poly bushes and Koni yellows wound up to stiff. Might be very different on yours but I think AS5 are stiffer sidewall ?

the wet grip was very good and turn that VSA crap off

 

[Gibbo]

Goodyear AS2 were great all year round on mine but it was a stiff setup being a 99 on poly bushes and Koni yellows wound up to stiff. Might be very different on yours but I think AS5 are stiffer sidewall ?

the wet grip was very good and turn that VSA crap off

Well I think the sidewalls are improved but who knows, I've seen S2000 owners rave about PS4 and some moan about soft sidewalls on those, so I cannot see the F1AS5 being any worse to be honest and the F1AS5 is a much newer tyre which seems to be as good as PS4 and even beat it in some test, particular wet and surprisingly longevity so I guess Michelins secret is out, so am thinking I will just go with the F1AS5 in XL as will be a huge improvement over the current old/budget tyres which are not even reinforced and thus no doubt explains why the rear end feels a bit wayward in high speed corners.

It is booked for alignment on May 1st and bush inspection and I also have some goodies on the way:
- Hardrace rear toe arms, pillow/spherical (to adjust rear toe)
- Hardrace front tie rod ends, spherical (to adjust front toe)
- Hardrace front and rear drop link replacements.

So toe front and rear won't be an issue for adjustment, then just to see if camber will adjust, if not new bushes job or go for hardrace upper front rubber bushed arms with camber adjust and might throw in some mugen compliance bushes to freshen those up and is it those that adjust caster on these cars?

Coilovers not decided on yet but will probably go with KW or Ohlins and drop the car around 10mm as am quite happy with ride height.

 

[Simon]

All is adjustable as you know. Castor is adjusted via the most likely bolt to seize so fitting new compliance bush means you gonna have new fasteners anyway (3 piece, bush bolt and adjuster)

lower arms do camber so if they seized you aren’t going to get full adjustment either.

Hope all these work around a are cheap cause I would rather sort the issue even if it is a bit of pain. Have Honda bolts/ fasteners come down in price yet?

 

[Gibbo]

All is adjustable as you know. Castor is adjusted via the most likely bolt to seize so fitting new compliance bush means you gonna have new fasteners anyway (3 piece, bush bolt and adjuster)

lower arms do camber so if they seized you aren’t going to get full adjustment either.

Hope all these work around a are cheap cause I would rather sort the issue even if it is a bit of pain. Have Honda bolts/ fasteners come down in price yet?

No idea on Honda prices, I grabbed the Hardrace parts as they were all brand new but all half price as an abandoned project S2000 track car and people seem to highly rate the rear toe arms particular when lowered.
I will buy a pair of Mugen compliance bushes and then anything else that is seized or knackered replace with Honda/Mugen parts to get it all fully adjustable again.

I assume the Mugen compliance bushes you get just the bush so I need to source the bolt and adjuster also?
Lets pray for ease that its not totally seized up, when I had the car in air for a few days I was hitting bolts with penetrating sprays every day in the hope they might have worked their way into the bolt and helped somewhat but I know their effect is somewhat limited but the garage will have impact tools and heat so one can hope, otherwise they can give me a list of stuff I need to get and I can go shopping and then take it back to get that all done.

My alignment aims were gonna to be:
Upto -1.00 camber per side front
Front toe neutral
Caster around +6
Upto -2.00 camber per side rear
Around 15 minutes toe in per side rear, for a total of 30 positive toe, I would have gone higher on stock toe arms but the uprated toe arms supposedly call for less toe as been uprated they reduce the rear steer nature.

Any thoughts on that for fast road use with progressive break away and not to crash it settings.

 

[Simon]

The rear tow arms from hard race move the control arm don’t they to reduce rear wheel steering don’t they so I’m not sure

They work well with lots of camber on a Goodyear. I ran 2 back and 1.5 front I think, really did load up nicely. Check my post on s2ki I shared.

Also get a front lower brace for subframe. Have you got a master cylinder brace yet ?

 

[Gibbo]

The rear tow arms from hard race move the control arm don’t they to reduce rear wheel steering don’t they so I’m not sure

They work well with lots of camber on a Goodyear. I ran 2 back and 1.5 front I think, really did load up nicely. Check my post on s2ki I shared.

Also get a front lower brace for subframe. Have you got a master cylinder brace yet ?

You got links to these braces mate, I looked under mine and noticed it had a lot of factory braces up front so wondered if it was maybe something Honda introduced on later models?

 

[Simon]

one example, spoon is same design
https://www.endlessrpm.com/whiteline-00-09-honda-s2000-ap-front-lower-control-arm-brace/

 

[Gibbo]

one example, spoon is same design
https://www.endlessrpm.com/whiteline-00-09-honda-s2000-ap-front-lower-control-arm-brace/

Similar to what I fitted on Mustang, assume this improves the steering feel?

 

[Simon]

Yes

 

[Rroff]

Having been running the Bridgestone Turanza t005 on my Navara for awhile now - though they are excellent in the wet, during that rainy period we had at the start of the year they were great to have and the contact with the road felt confident in some quite extreme conditions, when it is actually dry so that things are getting dusty dry rather than just normal dry days they seem vague and heavy. Fuel economy rating they have on several sites/reviews seem grossly exaggerated - in the rain again they aren't too bad there but in more normal conditions they struggle into average for what I'd expect. While not to annoying levels they are also pretty average for road noise as well despite again being rated well for that in some places - either I got used to it a bit or they settled down a bit after ~50-100 miles or so but still could be better there.

Probably continue running them for now but considering switching to some Pirelli Scorpion ATRs.

EDIT: Going to have a bit of a play with the tyre pressure in drier conditions but when I had a ball joint replaced recently I got them to do all that as well and they are a well regarded garage for things like that so likely got it setup better than I can.

 

[Gibbo]

Hi there


Just had new tyres fitted to the Honda S2000 replacing the new rear Toledo TL1000 budget tyres and near 10 year old Bridgestone tyres on the front. So, of course, anything would give an improvement as the car was understeering heavily.

It was a choice between PS4, F1AS5 and the CPC6, PS4 was dismissed due to supply issues and I just preferred F1AS5 plus it seemed to come out on top of equal in all reviews.
Now I'd normally wait longer before posting a review of a tyre because of items like release agents coming out the tyre etc, three tyres are dated 2020 and one is 2019. I had XL versions fitted.

However, upon the first drive the following is immediately obvious with new tyres:
- A slight ride improvement, the jiggles and jolts are still felt but they are more cushioned.
- Car no longer understeers.
- Car is stable at high speed the rear end no longer feels like it is collapsing in long sweeping high-speed bends.
- Braking performance is in another league.
- The tyres do not feel soft or spongy, nor do they feel firm, but steering response is spot on and the car has that cornering on rails feeling.
- Outright grip is in another league in dry. Wet to be tested but the hype about F1AS5 is around its wet performance.


So improved ride quality, but more direct steering response, the car will turn into a corner or roundabout at too high a speed but it just does it and communicates brilliantly what is happening if it does push a little you have the option of applying more lock and the car responds to that. The high-speed sweeping corner issue where the real felt like it was collapsing has now gone, the car is perfectly stable and very confidence-inspiring. Braking is in another league, I was thinking about a brake upgrade but now those ideas are squished as it was simply down to rubbish tyres.

The worry over Goodyear was soft sidewalls, well I am getting no feeling of spongy tyres, it is dry and 16c today and on my short drive out the tyres heated up very well and become sticky so absolutely no fears of soft sidewalls it seems Goodyear have maybe mastered that whilst still maintaining ride quality but keeping sporty handling characteristics as well. The grip is simply staggering, an extra 10, maybe 20mph over the rubbish tyres and I even left TC enabled which use to be very intrusive on the front end due to understeer whereas now it is hardly interfering at all, once the release agent has gone I shall turn TC off but they feel incredibly grippy but also progressive, but that can be tested once warn in more.

Overall I have been a die-hard Michelin fan really since the SuperSport and stuck with them since, but I am glad I have tried the F1AS5 now and truly think it may actually be a better sporty tyre than the PS4, but do remember my car is around 1250kg and with myself and the Mrs in the car around 1400kg, but I am very impressed and highly recommend them. When it comes to changing Ferrari tyres I may give the new F1 Supersports a try over PS4S.