Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 Reviews - Page 11

As fitted to my Alpina B3 3.3 Saloon - the PS2 was developed in conjunction with Alpina for the B3. As a result, they are the recommended tire for the car - indeed, the Contis which were fitted to the car when I got it felt terrible.

However - I have to say they're not the best tire on the market.

Although grip in the dry and wet is staggering, they do tend to break very suddenly. The only other tires I've experienced which do this in a similar fashion are race slicks! That said, I suspect some of this is down to the E46 chassis.

The real bugbear with these tires is the road noise - they really generate huge amounts of noise. They're noisy when new, noisy when wearing, and really noisy below 4mm wear.

The other thing worth noting is that they only seem to have 6mm tread when new!

The wear on the Alpina is shocking - around 12K on the rears.

Chuck in the ?1200 per set price, and they don't seem to be very good value.

Wouldn't recommend unless you have to fit them

I've run with PS 2's all round now for 3k having previously got through 3 sets of Bridgestone RE040's in 44k.
I don't think I'll get anything like 15k average I was getting out of a set of the stones but the PS2's perform so much better in the wet while having similar grip in the dry.

They are reasonably progressive but have much softer side walls than the stones so not as good in the corners in the dry due to more lateral movement; they also give slightly less feedback.

Overall comfort is way better than the stones both in terms of ride quality & road noise.

Having tracked with the PS2's & the 040's in the dry I prefer the 040's; their stiff side walls & up to temp grip is better for track use but in the wet the PS2's win every time.

Would I buy them again? The jury's out on that one - both tires are good at different things, it depends what you want from your tires.

If I was to base my decision purely on wear rate then the answer would be no; they are a very good all round tire for general road use but longevity is not one of the PS2's strong points, not with my driving style anyway.

I am fast comming to the conclusion that if you can put up with the noise & poor wet/cold performance the Bridgestone RE040 fitted as OEM equipment to the Z from 03-06 is not such a bad tire after all.