Michelin Pilot Sport S 5

Michelin has a Pilot Sport S 5 in 225/40 R19 developped for Alpine (apparently for the electric A290).

 

hopefully for 18” soon.

 

How many years is timing out for you, Taz? And does it depend on factors like storage / climate and how hard they have become?

 

Darius, here's an article on the Tirerack website that might be helpful: https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/how-long-do-tires-last

Several other articles as well:
https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/how-does-age-affect-tires-part-1
https://www.tirerack.com/upgrade-garage/how-does-age-affect-tires-part-2

 

In the UK, I'd settle for any alternative to Pirelli. When I had mine replaced last February, it was even a struggle to find a set of those. There were no tyres from any other brand available.

 

At the moment it's the same here. If I want to replace my MPSS on my 575 it's only P Zeros. Not a fan.

 

Continental France doesn't have any, I just checked their tyre finder out of curiosity. I had my Pirellis fitted by the supplying dealer, paid for by the previous owner as part of sales prep work. I asked for Michelin or Continental as a preference but none in the UK. The alternative would have been to ask for c£1.5k off and sort myself but that would have meant taking the car with 14 year old Michelins. Unused Continental or Michelin do randomly pop up on UK eBay though (there are C rears right now at a good price). It might mean buying fronts and rears from different suppliers at different times though. Manufacturing dates would need to be checked carefully.

 

Could you order from the US and have them shipped. TireRack seems to have a variety of brands that I think would work.

 

Yes, possibly. I have 5 years before I need to think about it again assuming I put up with the Pirellis that long. I don't have experience of another good tyre on it (the Michelins that were on were shot) which is probably for the best right now.

 

AFAIK Continental sells totally different stuff in Europe compared to USA. ContiSportContact 3 in EU and ExtremeContact Sport 02 in USA.

 

Taz, France for MPSSs is a good idea. France is less than 100 miles from London though it feels a lot further sometimes. I will look into that in spring and it gives an excellent reason to take the 575 to the continent with its smooth tarmac and less traffic.

 

Darius, keep us posted how you get on, I may do the same with my 550, albeit has 575 alloys fitted.

did you get my message about the 575 toolkit you were looking for, you never replied, I have one for you?
cheers
Mark

 

Will do. I used to know some folks at Michelin so I will start enquiring in the new year.

Speaking of getting Michelins in France, in the late 90s I was a young journalist in London and took a press Lotus Espirit V8 (the late, twin turbo version) to Burgundy with my new girlfriend. After a coffee stop at a service station we found a nail in the rear tyre sidewall. Either unlucky or someone had inserted it. Changed to a space saver, called around but it was Saturday afternoon and all the tyre places were shut til Monday. Limped at 30 mph to Burgundy.

The next day I had the genius idea to leave our nice Burgundy hotel and drive to Clermont Ferrand, Michelin home, to have maximum chance of obtaining a fresh tyre from the factory in whatever unusual size the Lotus took, on Monday morning. (This was before a functioning internet). Monday morning arrives, I drive to the factory to be told that the distribution centre is in Paris, hundreds of miles away, and they don't sell tyres at the factory.

I had to be back at work the next day (my day job had nothing to do with cars) so we drove to Lyon airport, handed the keys to the Sixt car rental dude and told him Lotus would be around to collect, got on a flight home and told the press office their car was in a car park in Lyon, minus one XZX or whatever Michelin made then. Haven't had a Lotus since. That new girlfriend is now my wife of 24 years.

Mark thank you for your message, have replied now, sorry.

 

I was just looking at the Michelin web site, they list that they have these tires in 17", 18", 19" and 20" rim sizes, just not the correct sizes for a 550 or 575. Hopefully they will soon as need to get rid of the P-zero junk that are on the car now.

 

Terry, you are correct, I didn't realize there was a difference between the Sport 5 tires and the Sport S 5 tires. I did find a Michelin site that showed one 19" S 5 tire, 225/40 R 19.

 

As in post #2, thazt's the tire for the electric Alpine A290 (which is the "sports" version of the newly introduced electric Renault 5).

 

Michelin either doesn't know or care that its performance tyres are confusingly named. A PS4 is a general use comfortable high speed tyre for a powerful saloon/sedan car. A PS4S is a supercar tyre. And if you say you have PS4s on your car, it could mean either. I saw a F40 at a show with PS4 tyres and wondered if its. owner knew what he was doing. Sidewalls just not stiff enough for the handling of that car I would think, though I don't know what the originals with that car handled like.

I wonder what a new OEM tyre from 20 years ago would feel like on our cars compared to what we have now? I guess much worse than the currentP Zeros we all dislike? Tyres are so much better now, no other part of our cars has had this subtle but constant improvement. Imagine if our engines were 20% more powerful just through better fuels (or whatever - I know fuel wouldn't give that increase)

 

So is there any possible 18" Michelin PS4S or PS5 available to order any place in world? What are the correct size for 18" OEM wheels?

 

Yes it is, Terry. They've been on my 550 for over a year and I'm very happy with them.