The 195/55R15 Tyre Thread

Woohoo!!!!
Finally wore out the front pair of michi ps3.

Thats 8 month of driving!!! (car off the road for 4 month)
Piss poor value considering the lack of dry performance.

So as is obvious, I think this is a crap performance tyre.
Its OK if you are a timid driver who never goes hard, but if you go hard in the dry...its below par and unacceptable as a sports tyre.


I get the feeling they have made up for the soft sidewall and low performance of the carcass with a very soft compound.

That cuts it in the wet, but falls short in the dry.
Having said all that, I am more than happy to run a pair on the rear of a FWD car.

Jo
 
Turns out these tyres were not as worn out as I thought.

If anyone wants to try some ageing ps3 (one year old) with maybe 2mm above tread wear markers, they are there for the taking. Would make a good tyre for a track day or driver training.
Suit local person, as the tyres are shod on rims and need to be removed.

Jo
 
Glad that this thread is still sort of going, it has been very informative.

My 406 V6 (205/60x15) is up for new rubber all round. I got C-drives before as they went really well on the Mi16, but after just 29 000 km, they are near the end of their useful life, and I would not be looking to get the same ones again.

One problem is that the rims do not have a center hole and it is difficult to find a place that can balance them, so I don’t want to have to get them half-balanced at the place where are bought, then have to pay another 50 bucks somewhere else that can balance them.

The choice is the usuals – Pirelli, Conti, Michie etc, plus I would prob consider a Toyo or Kumho. I’ve had both before (on lower-spec cars admittedly) and found them to be under-rated.

I’d much rather sacrifice the high-speed performance for a bit of longevity, but it would be good to still have it perform in the wet.

Any suggestions ?

Chris
 
jo proffi said:
Good point, worth explaining more.
If the tyre is touted as an ultra high performance tyre, then it goes to reason that when you subject it to ultra high performance conditions, it meets the challenge and doesn't surrender like a french soldier once the going gets tough.

The tyre did not exactly let go.
I would have expected it to let go and is what I planned, but it sort of held on and then it all turned to shit.
Thats what I'd expect if I had 25 psi in a bob jane special, not 38 psi in a ultra hi-performance tyre.

Maybe I'm just more familiar with a hard sidewall and less outright grip and have adapted a driving style to suit. :confused:

Whatever the reasons, Michi PS3 gets the thumbs down from me for ultra hard street driving.


Jo
Click to expand...

I read all of this thread by Jo with considerable interest. My usual plan is to go for wet grip (I drive rear-engine Renaults) & then fix dry grip & responsiveness with pressure tuning. I haven't driven on the PS3 but it attracted me. What is curious is the failure of increased pressures to alleviate the problem (38psi should suffice). Jo, have you tried changing the front-rear balance of pressures to lessen the understeer & take stress off the fronts a bit? Given the good wet grip it'd be a pity not to find a workaround. You might otherwise have to resort to the PS2, despite their crappish wet grip. They must be about the crispest thing around short of a Pilot Cup.

cheers! Peter
 
Try Bridgestone Adrenalin RE001s if you can get them. I bought some 15inch steelies for my 306 and put on the bridgies in 195/55R15 and I think they are s*#@ hot. Great wet and dry weather grip appear to be wearing alright. I have only understeered (controlled) on them due to a flat 90 degree corner in the wet and I have a sports tractor (xtdt) sedan with a heavy lump in the front, that and I might have been pushing a bit too hard. However they have been replaced with RE002s which look nice.
 
I have new RE002's on my Mi16, and in my brief time before the car blew a plug out of the head, they felt really good in the wet.


draftpunk said:
Try Bridgestone Adrenalin RE001s if you can get them. I bought some 15inch steelies for my 306 and put on the bridgies in 195/55R15 and I think they are s*#@ hot. Great wet and dry weather grip appear to be wearing alright. I have only understeered (controlled) on them due to a flat 90 degree corner in the wet and I have a sports tractor (xtdt) sedan with a heavy lump in the front, that and I might have been pushing a bit too hard. However they have been replaced with RE002s which look nice.
Click to expand...
 
I have them on the front of my Mi16 and Michelins on the rear.
In the wet if pushing a bit the tail will slide out while the front just grips...the opposite of what I would expect normally in a Fwd car being powered through a corner...
I love them, and my other cars will end up with them sooner or later...
 
Pugnut403 said:
I have them on the front of my Mi16 and Michelins on the rear.
In the wet if pushing a bit the tail will slide out while the front just grips...the opposite of what I would expect normally in a Fwd car being powered through a corner...
I love them, and my other cars will end up with them sooner or later...
Click to expand...

Wow, thats a really dangerous way to set up your car.
Assuming the car is stock, you have too much grip difference between ends.
If the tail end cant keep up with the front under power, just imagine what will happen if you have to lift off. :eek:


Jo
 
jo proffi said:
Wow, thats a really dangerous way to set up your car.
Assuming the car is stock, you have too much grip difference between ends.
If the tail end cant keep up with the front under power, just imagine what will happen if you have to lift off. :eek:


Jo
Click to expand...
"Spin, spin, spin!" Murray Walker.
 
I agree which is why it's getting another pair of the Bridgies on it...
Hasn't done many kms like that...was just that the Michies on the back had good tread when the fronts wore out so I got a pair on the front.
Then the CV joint died before I did many kms or any wet driving so it was only recently when I actually got to experience it in the wet like that...
Those Michelins on there have bugger all wet grip....balance is ok in the dry.
And you can bet I'll be damn careful in the wet until I have a matched set on there....
 
Standard advice is to put one's new tyres on the rear (even with FWD) on the grounds that mild understeer is safer than mild oversteer. It also has the advantage of chopping out the old tyres on the front faster.

What sort of Michelins were these? They don't sound like PS3s but more like something from the Energy range.

Cheers! Peter
 
I've got Adrenalines on my S16, They are better than the G3's before them, but I still haven't found anything as good as the original yokohama's the car had when I got it, or the Potenza S02 Pole positions after those. But bang for the buck wise the Adrenalin is hard to beat.

Even though tire technology has moved on, IMO the main problem is that 15" is no longer a performance size. I actually suspect that the real performance tires from 15 years ago (the sort I was paying $320+ per corner) were equal or better than anything that is available in the 195/55R15 size today.

Tony.
 
Wintermute said:
Even though tire technology has moved on, IMO the main problem is that 15" is no longer a performance size.
Tony.
Click to expand...

I agree. :cry:
the clio and the integra type R were probably the last perforance hatches to be be shod in 195/55/15 and thats almost going back 10 years.

Jo
 
jo proffi said:
I agree. :cry:
the clio and the integra type R were probably the last perforance hatches to be be shod in 195/55/15 and thats almost going back 10 years.

Jo
Click to expand...

Then again, if you don't mind upsizing to 215/55-15 then the Michelin TB15 is street legal & available. Crisp & taut as anything & good in the wet. Mind you, they cost $510 apiece.

One distributor's URL for them is:

http://www.europeantechnique.com.au/michelin/Tyres/tb 15.htm

cheers! Peter
 
Damn...The Cdrive is discontinued.:cry:

It has been replaced with the cdrive2, but after my experience with the 'new and improved' michi PS3 I'm not exactly overjoyed at the concept of spending on the new Cdrive2.

Jo
 
Option anxiety set in today, so I let my wallet decide for a change.

Ended up buying two bridgestone RE002 for about $40 more than one PS3 would have cost me.

ITs way too early to comment on them, but if they make my one year old Michi PS3's on the back misbehave I'll be impressed.
Somehow, I dont think that is going to happen though.

I have to sing the praise for Jobson tyres in Hornsby (sydney's north)

They were good to talk to on the phone, had stock in my size (seemingly a rare thing these days), ran a very clean shop, listened to me when I said my car is 'soft' and has jacking issues if done wrong, allowed me to locate jacking points, informed me of the existing rim damage, used a torque wrench for final tightening,and asked me what pressure I'd like on the new pair, and checked the two existing tyres.

Jo
 
Bridgestone adrenelin re002

For $140, I'm sold.:approve:

I just returned from a spirited drive around the race track, and whilst I was too cautious in this atrocious weather to really let loose with brand new rubber and unknow front/rear ballance, I can say from what risks i did take these tyres are not bad.
I'll reserve judgement for how good they are until I have put a few Km on them, but for $140...jeez thats possibly the cheapest tyre I have ever bought.
That aught to apeall to the tight asses or cash strapped among you.

I'm still a big softy when it comes to eliminating oversteer on the street, so I'm happy to run the PS3 on the rear and will probably replace the rears with new Ps3 when that balance starts shifting towards oversteer, but for now things seem nice and docile.


Jo
 
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