Tire comparison chart

These statistics are based on the subjective comments of the T/R customers, including me (who come from all walks of life and drive all kind of cars in all manners).
IMO they are helpful only to weed out the tires that receive multiple bad comments, as for the good comments, different people look for different qualities.
But this is of course only my personal opinion.

 

I am surprised Neova is not in there..

 

Hi guys,

I'd be curious to hear from folks if they have had experience of different tyres on the 550. I've personally gone from a f355 with P Zero's that were very grippy even when cold and would warm up very quickly, to a 550m with as new Michelin PS2's which frankly I find shocking in comparison. Yes i know there's a load more torque but I've literally sat there whilst nissan micras can accelerate off the line faster as the rear politely just squirms and sways at sub 2500-3000rpm.

I suspect some of it is the car i.e. 355 to 550, but it can't be all of it as when cold you can spin the rears so easily without having a lead foot, and it takes a hell of a work out to get heat into them. That said they are reasonably predictable, have about 8mm of tread to start with and seem to wear very well, around 1mm in 3000mls, albeit you tend not to push too hard as you know the tyres will protest for the most part. Even today after belting it a couple of times in a straight line, braking from around 150 I changed down to 3rd at around 70 for a corner and still braking in a straight line the back end giggles like a turkish belly dancer. Very controlled but quite alarming at the same time the way the tyres seem to simply forget what they are there for.

Someone else told me re the Bridgestones which I considered as my brother switched to them on his 355 and likes them, that the car would pull heavily to the right under acceleration and the left under braking, 4 wheel alignments showed all ok, and tyre switch to Pirelli's resolved the issues.

I know that car magazine Evo ran a long term 550 and they commented that they were very amazed at the difference between the Pirelli's and Michelin's, Michelin's lasting twice as long but grip levels made the car feel completely different more so than they had ever seen on a tyre change on the same car.

I'm considering putting Pirelli's on mine to hopefully give it a much more surefooted stance as I really think the Michelin's whilst wearing better offer far too low a grip level compared to others I've driven of similar hp especially outside all bar the hottest summer days in the UK.

I would be curious to know of others experiences and if I'm on my own in thinking the Michelin's are a tad lacking in the grip department and also if anyone has direct experience positive or otherwise of switching from or to the Michelins from another brand. For the record I have 255's at front and 295's at the rear on standard rims.

Jon

 

I have run both P-Zeros and Good Year F1s on my 550s

The P-Zeros have better grip. The F1s are very good though.

John

 

I also went from a 355 (w/p-zeros) to a 550 with ,first the original PSs, then the PS2s. I think that comparing the two sets of tires on the two cars is a mistake....very different beasts (most importantly, in the torque department).

In regards to the 550, I found the PS2s to be incredible tires....great grip (both dry and wet).....I couldn't care less about the relative lifespans of different tires.
I never have had trouble with the rear end stepping out or getting "giggles" in conjunction with acceleration/braking/turning forces. From the way you describe your experiences, I might suspect some suspension issues?

With respect to launches, I found the best launches were attained with the traction control on, and with the sport mode engaged. With trac. control off, it would just spin the tires uselessly (unless you could feather the throttle JUST right over the course of a 5-10 seconds (almost impossible to do on a consistent basis...)...with sport mode off, the traction control just shuts down the power as soon as the steam starts coming...also not good for quick getaways!


Certainly, everyone is entitled to an opinion, and people do have different ideas as to what they want from a tire.......but put me down as someone who is very happy with the PS2s.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Jsuit, interesting re your experiences, does make me bias towards the Pirelli's for outright grip.

Goldyf355, like you say, everyone can and likely is going to have slightly differing opinions and I do respect your own re the Michelins. I did comment however that I accepted there are of course going to be differences between a 355 and a 550, that said ultimately a car is a car and how good it is, is defined in part by how well it uses and puts power down, not just how much there is. The 550 is a great car but different tyres can have a huge impact. My 550 was fully 4 wheel aligned to ferrari specs before I purchased it last year and the tyres were as new, so fairly confident there's no probs in either of those departments.

Like yourself I have no experience of the Pirelli's or anything else on the 550 barring the PS2 which seemed to me to lead a long but slippery life, hence the question if anyone could confirm any cross product comparison ideally with the Michelins and a.n.other.

I would totally agree with you that the Michelin is a good tyre, I suspect that 10-15k mls road use lifespan is feasible with average abuse which is incredible for a 500hp car and they are very predictable, but I'm afraid I wouldn't describe it as a great tyre as I hope and suspect there is better out there in sheer grip and sure footedness terms. Likely tyre life is going to drop big time but my query was to ask if folks had seen similar experiences to the one I had read re Michelin-Pirelli on the 550 which I quote concluded in 'I’ve never before encountered such a gulf between two makes of tyres on the same car.' Or indeed the chap that told me of the wayward Bridgestone's that a switch to Pirelli's transformed the car.

At nearly a £1000 a set with alignment costs, for many folks tyre life is important as the gulf in wear rates seems to be up to 100% but again this would normally highlight major compound differences in the tyre which would normally translate to big differences in ultimate grip and experience.

Of course, just my humble opinion and I hope others post their own

All the best

Jon

 

i use pirelli p zero rosso in 255/30/20 and think there great
expensive though

 

I tried a set of PS2's on the 575 and took them off immediately. Soft sidewalls dangerous over 130mph if you see those speeds often.

PZero Rosso's are a bit firm, but the 575 suspension seems to respond well and accurately to them. The compound is a bit hard tho. Def better than the PS2's tho IMO.