Luke, please provide your input on this new tire as well as the Exalto, Primacy, etc...

Thanks.

__________________
1988 Mercedes-Benz 260E

Well, I was actually hoping to avoid this conversation (especially with you Dan) but, here goes.
Michelin came here to Indiana and held a meeting for the introduction of the new Pilot Sport A/S (all-season)which uses a tread design similar to the Pilot Sport. During the meeting the lauded their ability to manufacture the tire with 3 separate tread compounds in the surface area. silica enhanced compound in the center area, standard all-season conpound in the majority of the tread body and performance compound on the shoulders. arranged like this
perf | All | silica | All | perf


They then stated that they had some independent testing organization test the tire against several all-season competitors and even a performance tire. The tires they tested were the Dunlop Sport 5000, P7000 SS, and the Goodyear F1 GS (performance tire). The Pilot Sport beat the competition by a wide margin with the F1 GS coming the closest on the track but, still losing by almost 2 seconds per lap.

Then comes our testing which included the Dunlop Sport 5000 and the P7000 Super Sport from Pirelli (which I'm not a big fan of) as well as the new Pilot Sport A/S. As I always do I first checked the pricing of the competitors and was amazed at what I saw.

Dunlop $108.00 ea.
Pirelli $120.00 ea.
Michelin $192.00 ea.

When on the road portion of our testing all of the tires were well behaved and did not exhibit any bad characteristics. Noise levels were similar as was the ride quality. Then we started the track portion of our testing (which takes 2 complete days) on Thursday. From the very beginning most of us realized the not only was the Pilot Sport A/S not that much better than the others, as we were told, but it was actually losing in most peoples minds.When I took the wheel of the test cars on Friday afternoon, with the second set of tires still in pretty good condition, The Pirelli's were predictable and pretty fast, the Dunlops (which are one of my favorite tires) were a tick slower but, much easier to drive aggressively. and the Pilot Sports made me look like a world of outlaws driver allowing the back end of the car to swing out at very moderate throttle inputs. I turned the slowest lap times with the Pilots and they just would hold the line nearly as well as the others.
My money would still go to the Dunlops even though the Pirelli's were slightly faster because of the adverse weather characteristics of the Pirellis (they just don't like cold rain and make too much noise). I'll keep the extra $84.00 that the Michelins would cost in my pocket. I don't care how many babies they show me sitting in tires


Luke

__________________

Please, call me to place orders or for more info
use my name for on-line orders

Thanks Luke

__________________
1988 Mercedes-Benz 260E