Originally Posted by asagaai
I have done 94,000 km on my FGX XR8, and have done track days, high speed runs, interstate country road blats etc, and had the original Dunflops, Nexens, Khumo PS 91's with 285s on back, and have done almost 20,000 km on Michelin PS4S now.
In terms of noise to my ear the PS4S are not more noisy than the Dunflops, and are quieter than the PS91s.
General Feel
General driving, the PS4S feel incredibly smooth, and I attribute this to very high construction tolerances regarding the tyre being very uniform in circumference, and you really have to drive them to feel this.
The tyre feels "softer" and more cushioning than say the PS91's in general feel when driving over bumps and lumps, but are actually a firm tyre with a slight initial absorbent cushioning.
Grip
These tyres on the front end grip hard, and do not get greasy when you run them hard-so should be pretty capable track tyre.
Rear end- initially I found them average, actually less grip than PS91's at that 90-130 km/h WOT when Khumos were operating in temps above 22 degrees. But the PS4S actually improved with grip with scrubbing in and mileage, and by 5,000 km they started gripping hard at the rear.
Operating Temperature Parameters
The PS91's -rear grip- when the temperature was above 22 degrees with sun on road, have approximate grip to the PS4S. But when the temp dropped below 20 degrees and the road was in the shade- the grip dropped off. And the colder it got the worse the PS91's became.
The PS4S in 8 degrees grips hard- virtually no difference to the tyre operating in 22 degrees and above. It is a phenomenal engineering achievement of creating a tyre that has a very broad performance curve where it is achieving some 90% of max grip across all temperatures- kudos to Michelin.
Wet
Never driven a tyre that is better in the wet. It still gives way, but if you turn off traction control in wet beware that it will snap and you first think jeez this tyre gives little warning and snaps- its just that when you do push it with the PS4s in wet you are going that much faster and using more throttle that when it gives the physics involved with higher speed take over.
But saying that- once the PS4S gives way in the wet, its like you can feel the grains of tar biting into the tyre as it slides and you can feel it biting- bit like smooth sandpaper.
The Dunflops in wet at slower speed felt like driving on ice- there was no biting granular feel of the tyre over tarmac, felt like ice skating.
Steering
The achilles heel of the PS4S. The steering feels reasonably heavy at slow sppeds, and on initial turn in there is that softness. It is not boat like, just a initial lack of precision, which the PS91s had in spades.
The PS91 felt nervy and twitchy on the steering which I liked- quick response- the PS4s is a little delayed, but is still a firm tyre as it does not erode into mass understeer.
But I miss the steering feel of the PS91.
Durability
The PS4S are wearing very very well at 20,000 km at present....
Overall
You will not get a better broadspectrum tyre for all conditions than the PS4S. It has incredible scope to run well in all temperatures, and conditions/dry/rain etc.
They are expensive but I will buy them again.
Hope that helps
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