Hi everyone, I'm wondering if somebody tried the new Michelin Super Sport tyres on a Scud. I've read that the 458 is equipped with these tyres and they are semi-slick like the Pzero Corsa, so i would like to know if someone experienced the Michelin SSP and what's the feed back in term of grip/performance/longevity on road/track... Thank you
Nice grip, suppose to last longer than ps2's and overall great tires for road and track. Pzero corsa is more like track tires and they don't last at all. I don't have a scud so I don't know how michellin super sport will do but I've tried several cars with super sports they're extremely good. IMO.
The Michelin Pilot Super Sports is a great tire. I have them on one of my cars, great dry grip, great wet grip, superior to the stock 10+ years old tires installed in the 430 Scuderia (Pirelli Corsa System). I like the fact that 255/30R19 and 305/30R19 fit the Scuderia stock wheels and add a little protection against curb rash. It is the factory tire for the 599GTO, a car that currently has the fastest lap time at Fiorano by a street car. The 458 Italia just started to come with MPSS in late 2011. These tires along with the other changes in the 2012 Italia, is what makes the 2012 Italia perform even better.
With the Michelin PSS sizes you recommend, do the tires protrude out a lot (width) from the OEM Scud rims?
As a first-order approximation, a 255 and a 305 compared to a 235 and a 285 are about 20mm wider or stick out 10mm more than the stock sizes. However, as a second-order refinement, you need to consider that the section width is based on a measured rim width, for which the Scuderia wheels are smaller. The general correction for this is 40% of the rim difference. A typical 235 is measured on a 8.5" wheel while a 255 is measured on a 9" wheel, so subtract/add 0.2" for each 1/2" of wheel width change, so 10mm -0.2" = 0.2" or 5mm. The 305 is typically spec'ed on a 11" wheel, so +10mm - 10mm = no change. Now, the reality is that you need to look up the specific measurements for the exact tire (TireRack is a good source). Then, you need to consider that all numbers are nominal and can vary QUITE a lot. Max performance tires and R-compounds tend to run a bit wider, say +5mm. However, in the case of the 235 Corsas, they run WAY small -- a lot closer to a 225 with section width well under 9". The rear 285 Corsas also run small, mine actually measuring with a section of 11.25", well under the spec of 11.7" (on a 10" wheel). So, yes, it varies with each size and can also vary with different tires from the same batch. In the case of the MPSS, they are spec'ed about true to size for their performance class and should measure about 9.8" front and 11.9" rear on Scud wheels (taking above 40% correction into place), so the fronts should be "stick out" about 0.4" past the wheel and the rears about 0.45" past the wheel (stock is 0" front and about 0.125" rear). Caveat is this is based on the manufacturer specifications. For example, I just got some 295 Trofeos (different car) which are spec'ed 11.9" section which is a bit on the large size (typical is more like 11.7") however they are actually a ridiculous 12.25" or almost a 315! Also, the tread and sidewalls are ultra stiff, so they are only changing about 25% of the section width for each rim width change. So, there, I've got a fitment problem. It's not uncommon for tires to be "off" by 10mm in section width, even from their measured specs. If you are still with me, the short answer is you won't know until the actual tires are mounted (due to often significant differences in manufacturing tolerances), but it shouldn't be anything obnoxious -- on the order of about 10mm (0.4") past the wheel which I think is nice for curb protection. * Sorry for all the mixed metric/English conversions. That's the way it is as wheels are spec'ed English diameters and widths while tires are metric
Thanks for your detailed explaination dude! I had to read thru some of it a couple of times but yeah...got it!
No problem. Sorry you had to read it a few times. I was being terse. If I went into detail, it would probably be 20 pages ;( Glad you were able to follow... One piece of important information I left out is that the physical wheel outside "lip" is typically about 1" wider than it's rim width (as measured from the inside of the wheel where the bead seats). With the bead seating area and lip, it's pretty close to +1" (both inside and outside total), so an 8" front Scud wheel (from the tire's perspective) is about 9" wide (from your perspective). So a 9.8" corrected section width MPSS 255 tire would be 9.8" - 9.0" = 0.8" divided by inside/outside = 0.4" out past the edge of the wheel. Or about 10mm. That's where that calculation came from...
