2.5 Roadster / Roadster Sport Tire Thread

[Doug_G]

After running AD08's on the rears for a while now, I have one additional comment. If you floor it from a standstill, the AD08's often produce one little chirp as you accelerate. The original AD07's didn't do that, even if the wheels did slip a little. However, I can see no other performance differences.

[cinergi]

After running AD08's on the rears for a while now, I have one additional comment. If you floor it from a standstill, the AD08's often produce one little chirp as you accelerate. The original AD07's didn't do that, even if the wheels did slip a little. However, I can see no other performance differences.

mm, yeah now that you mention it, I agree. I do chirp the tires on occasion especially if I'm turning from standstill and flooring it.

[jory]

i recently got a rear flat tire on the SF bay bridge. ended up opting for the michelin pilot super sports. after a few hundred miles they are doing great.

[btown]

I put Michelin Pilot Super Sports on the rear a while back, so I figure it's time to give an update. Please see my previous posts in this thread regarding traction control so you'll understand what I have to say next. I'm still running the original Yokos on the front, so the rear tires are .1" larger than they should be. I ran the calculations to determine what amount of tread wear would be required to get to the point where the rear tire size was what the Roadster expected (again, read up on my previous posts regarding TC). According to my calculations, that point would be 20% tread wear. So I've been watching for the startup TC issue to go away, because it will be a decent indicator of 20% tread wear. So far I've put about 4500 miles on these tires and the startup TC issue is still present, but just marginally. So I am confident that I'm just starting to get closer to the 20% wear point. At this rate, I'm estimating these tires may last as long as 25,000 miles (5X the point where the TC issue totally disappears).

Overall I continue to be pleased with these tires. They are sticky enough to launch without TC in most reasonably flat dry pavement situations. I would NOT be willing to give that up! Where I notice the biggest difference is in cornering. The AD07s and AD08s rarely broke loose and even when they did, they didn't really squeal and tended to grab again fairly quickly. The Michelins will squeal on fairly aggressive cornering and definitely break out much sooner than the Yokos. Fortunately, after putting over 13K miles on the Roadster, my juvenile desires to push corners really hard have faded and I've settled down into a more reasonable driving manner. I still do full on launches regularly, but I just don't try to nail the corners... especially now that I'm not running the Yokos. I don't track the car, so I feel very comfortable with the new limits I have on cornering. It's a small sacrifice for not having to replace the rear tires every 6-7K miles and in the end, I may actually be safer than before. Now I know fairly well where the cornering limit is. With the Yokos, I tended to be way overconfident because it took so much to break them loose.

I really like this thread! I never would have tried these tires if I didn't read about them here. Thanks all!

[Tesla 940]

So I've been watching for the startup TC issue to go away, because it will be a decent indicator of 20% tread wear.

Curious why you don't just buy a thread depth measurement tool - they are only a couple bucks - and stop "guessing".

Like you I like this thread so I know what tires to buy. I'm only on my first replacement set - Toyo's. The Michelin's sound like a good option for my current type of driving.

[dj905]

After burning through three sets of AD07s on the rear (@47,000km), I decided to make a change. I switched to the Super Sports on the rear a week ago, and so far they are great. For the front tires, I still have the original AD07s. I am not seeing any issues with TC on either acceleration or regen. I have also noticed some improvement in energy economy in highway driving (seems to be at least 5%), and I will keep an eye on this to see if it continues.

Thanks to others on the thread for suggesting these tires.

David
Radiant Red 909

[hcsharp]

After burning through three sets of AD07s on the rear (@47,000km), I decided to make a change. I switched to the Super Sports on the rear a week ago, and so far they are great. For the front tires, I still have the original AD07s. I am not seeing any issues with TC on either acceleration or regen. I have also noticed some improvement in energy economy in highway driving (seems to be at least 5%), and I will keep an eye on this to see if it continues.

I've also noticed an increase in range with the Mich Pilot Super Sports of at least 5% and more like 10% or more when it's raining. The tires are lighter and have lower rolling resistance than the Yoko's.

I put Michelin Pilot Super Sports on the rear a while back, so I figure it's time to give an update. ...<snip> At this rate, I'm estimating these tires may last as long as 25,000 miles (5X the point where the TC issue totally disappears).

Wow my experience is just the opposite. After 5,000 miles I'm almost at the wear bars. They aren't wearing as unevenly as augkio's tires that he corded but I'll be surprised if I get 8,000 miles out of them. I'm kind of disappointed with the tread life but they're guaranteed for 15,000 miles so maybe I'll get some money back. I didn't think I drove that aggressively!

Overall I continue to be pleased with these tires. They are sticky enough to launch without TC in most reasonably flat dry pavement situations. I would NOT be willing to give that up! Where I notice the biggest difference is in cornering. The AD07s and AD08s rarely broke loose and even when they did, they didn't really squeal and tended to grab again fairly quickly. The Michelins will squeal on fairly aggressive cornering and definitely break out much sooner than the Yokos. ...

Once again, my experience is just the opposite (except I agree about the launch performance and squeal). I find it virtually impossible to break the rear tires loose before the front AD07s. I don't find them to have any less grip whatsoever in corners compared to the AD07. There is a very slight difference when you first turn the wheel but not much. The ultimate cornering grip is very strong and predictable. When it's wet, they're stronger than the AD07.

[Vger]

Wow my experience is just the opposite. After 5,000 miles I'm almost at the wear bars. They aren't wearing as unevenly as augkio's tires that he corded but I'll be surprised if I get 8,000 miles out of them. I'm kind of disappointed with the tread life but they're guaranteed for 15,000 miles so maybe I'll get some money back. I didn't think I drove that aggressively!

Hmmm, sounds like you could have an alignment issue. Perhaps excessive toe-in. Guys up here in the Pacific NW commented on that on our local email list.

[hcsharp]

Hmmm, sounds like you could have an alignment issue. Perhaps excessive toe-in. Guys up here in the Pacific NW commented on that on our local email list.

That's possible but the tires are wearing evenly across the tread. I'm about to have the alignment checked.

[btown]

Curious why you don't just buy a thread depth measurement tool - they are only a couple bucks - and stop "guessing"..

Good point Tesla 940. Never trust theory and mathematics without verifying with direct measurement! Although I did like the idea of being able to monitor from the comfort of the drivers seat. I think I'll take your advice and go buy one though, since the Roadster is requiring me to keep an eye on tire wear like no other vehicle I've owned.

Ok, I don't have a gauge yet but I did take a quick measurement of the tread depth which I think is about as accurate as I can get without having a gauge in hand at the moment. It turns out I'm at about the 50% point rather than the 20% wear point which I had hoped. I also checked my actual miles on these tires and it's 4,600 miles (I was only off by 100 miles).

So I would like to officially restate my estimate for the Michelin Pilot Super Sports to be around 9,200 miles. I'm sure I'll run them down until all wear bands are hit all the way across, so I'm now estimating I may be able to get somewhere around 10K miles. The warranty will help in that regard, so I'm still pleases with the tires overall.

Now.... Anyone have any theories on why I still have a slight startup (first few minutes of drive) TC issue??? The tires were supposed to be just .1" larger in diameter than the stock tires. With 1/4" of wear so far, the tires now have 1/2" trimmed off the original diameter. So these tires (in theory) are now 24.5" diameter vs the stock tires which start out at 24.9". Yet I still see a slight startup TC issue. Hmmmm.....