Current Selection of A/S Tires for CTS-V V2

[Motorfingers]

I'm about ready for tires. My current tires are Goodyear F1 Asymmetrical A/S and they have been good tires for the street. On a good surface they will hook up fine when needed, feel and handling are excellent (max peak acceleration just over 1 g both left and right; happens just as traction starts to be an issue), noise is fair, and ride is very good.

The Tire Rack isn't selling these in their recommendations for my car anymore, although Goodyear is still selling them. In the past I relied on TheTireRack recommendations and road tests but they tend to use a BMW M3 for high performance A/S tires. That might have been a chassis that was vaguely comparable to that of my 1997 ETC but it doesn't represent my V2 at all, so I go to V people for real user reports on tires now.

I just noticed that Michelin has a new tire for us, Pilot Sport A/S 3+ (W or Y rated), with UTQG rating 500 AA A. The wear rating of 500 is YUGE for this category of tire. My experience with Michelin A/S tires is that if you have the right model tire on your car, they are unsurpassed for wet performance and consistency, work on snow or ice almost as well as a winter tire, and they do not get hard and lose traction after a few years like almost every other brand.

I'm open to other brands, particularly Goodyear and Bridgestone. Anyone care to comment before I go and get the Michelins?

 

[Tuna]

When my current Michelin Super Sports need to be replaced, I'm going with the A/S 3. I have not tried any other brand of tire on my cars so I can't comment on them. Too bad the A/S 3 was not available when my first set of PS2's wore out or I would have them on the car now.

 

[Motorfingers]

Tire History

My experience in recent years is that ultra-high-performance all-season tires approach the performance of ultra-high-performance summer tires for some brands, like Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone, and probably others.

I can't use summer tires because I don't have room for another set of tires and wheels, or for a third car.

I find that the cost of ultra-high-performance A/S tires, although higher than summer tires, is less than summer tires plus winter tires, and I believe that you need a set of (at least) rear rims for winter tires on a V2. And, you give up warm spell performance when the winter tires are on the car. We have actual snow/ice on the roads a tiny percentage of the time here.

The conventional wisdom is that tire stickiness decreases with the UTQG wear rating (see Tire friction and rolling coefficients, scroll down and click (more) under Friction Coefficient). I've found that Michelin and some other tire makes violate that general rule at a higher price, apparently through rubber compounds that are specifically formulated to achieve this. There are other tricks too; my motorcycle tires use harder compounds in the center of the tire where the bike rides when not cornering, and stickier, softer compound on the sides for better cornering grip. Michelin and others vary their tire compound and tread design to achieve similar tricks for dry and wet traction with less wear than would otherwise would be seen. I've seen tire advertising that features variable tire compound and tread design to maximize the advantages of that.

At any rate, I'm making arrangements for mounting Monday and will have the tires shipped to the shop. I'm going with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ tires unless I hear something compelling today or tomorrow morning.

 

[Tuna]

At any rate, I'm making arrangements for mounting Monday and will have the tires shipped to the shop. I'm going with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ tires unless I hear something compelling today or tomorrow morning.

Been awhile. How are your new A/S tires doing?

 

[Motorfingers]

New tires doing great

Been awhile. How are your new A/S tires doing?

I put them on the day of the first hard freeze, and as with previous Michelins they are great in the snow and ice, as good as you can get without studded tires or aggressive cold-weather tires that don't do much for a CTS-V. Because of the weather and lack of time for country drives, I haven't done much for the max-g-force display, though. The other day I had an opportunity to fail to brake for a right turn without alarming other traffic, and got a corner-on-rails reading of 0.98 g, so the handwriting is on the wall, the first time that I decide to challenge traction I will get better than the 1.05 g peak for normal driving that I got from the Goodyear Eagle F1's.

At this point my main issue is that my keyless fob needs a new battery every few weeks.

 

[Tuna]

That's good to hear.

Too bad I still have too much tread on my SuperSports to toss them and install the A/S 3s. Plus, with the temps not getting much above 40 here in the Heartland, my V-Wagon stays in the garage most of the time.
Later,