Which Pilot Sport 4S?

[bpeckham]

As far as the brand-specific designations, I agree with MUG, that they could be designed for a vehicle that’s not technically a sports car, or could be designed for a sports car that’s lighter or heavier than the Z. Brand/model-specific higher-end tires can also have multiple tread compounds across the contact patch, where a ‘generic’ may only have one, maybe 2.
my thought is if it’s specifically designed for a sports car relatively close to the weight of a Z (not an Ariel Atom, for instance) then it should be fine.

So the question is: which BMW is it?

 

[bpeckham]

Getting the new tires today, and I stated thinking about if I needed a break in period for the tires. In the past I'd never really driven any differently on new tires, but the Z is a bit more of a beast than my earlier G37 and G35: more power and torque on a lighter car combined with the 007s (which break loose if you look at them funny).

So Google led me here:

https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/how-do-i-break-in-tires

500 miles!? Seems like FOREVER, but maybe it's the lawyers talking.

O wise Nissan. Z Club, what is your sage advice?

 

[RobotAZ]

Getting the new tires today, and I stated thinking about if I needed a break in period for the tires. In the past I'd never really driven any differently on new tires, but the Z is a bit more of a beast than my earlier G37 and G35: more power and torque on a lighter car combined with the 007s (which break loose if you look at them funny).

So Google led me here:

https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/how-do-i-break-in-tires

500 miles!? Seems like FOREVER, but maybe it's the lawyers talking.

O wise Nissan. Z Club, what is your sage advice?

There are two tire break-ins. First is traction. Other is breaking in the physical tire components.

Traction is 100-200 miles on PS4, both summer and all season, with summer being shorter. NVH while breaking in is almost always 500 miles now with the compounds used in modern tires. I’ve had a set before, Conti I think, that I balanced at 2,500 and still had to balance at 5,000 miles. No Michelin I’ve ever owned needed more than 50 miles to prove round and balanced, or not. I did balance my wife’s 20” Murano LTX at 5,000 because the small shop just didn’t do a good job. Her tires are 3 years old and the dealer tech is becoming increasingly amazed at the condition of her tires as time goes on. They gather to look at her tires, baffled. They look new and have at least 20k miles on them. They are a size up and that size has a very deep tread and is one of the best tires ever made.

That said, Michelin PS4 have always balanced perfectly for me, even more so than decades of using the LTX varieties in various vehicles that are also very round, good tires.

I want to say my 10 or so sets of PS4 were smooth in 25-50 miles or less. Required no additional balancing. 75% of tires will need to be rebalanced after break in because they balance them not broken in and they aren’t as good as Michelin’s best. They’re just far better quality than anything I’ve tried. Maybe there’s better grip or mileage out there, but I have zero reason to try another tire. They’re that good IMO, but any good tire for these cars is fine in terms of grip for me. It’s smoothness and noise that matter the most.

 

[bpeckham]

It's done.

 

[bpeckham]

Strangely the date codes are all over the place (well, late last year and early this year). I might have expected the front and rear to be different, but none of the tires have the same date code.

• 0125 Front Left
• 5224 Front Right
• 0225 Rear Left
• 4424 Rear Right

Nothing to worry about here, just surprised.

 

[AlanZ]

Strangely the date codes are all over the place (well, late last year and early this year). I might have expected the front and rear to be different, but none of the tires have the same date code.

• 0125 Front Left
• 5224 Front Right
• 0225 Rear Left
• 4424 Rear Right

Nothing to worry about here, just surprised.

What size and tires did you ultimately go with and from where? Tire rack?

 

[bpeckham]

What size and tires did you ultimately go with and from where? Tire rack?

Stock sizes, so nothing exciting. The links are back on comment #14.

 

[RobotAZ]

It's done.

Wow that looks stretched you could easily put a 295 on there.

 

[bpeckham]

Wow that looks stretched you could easily put a 295 on there.

Maybe next set.

It's actually not as stretched as it looks in the photo, I think the wide-angle lens distorted it a bit.