The Michelin 25th Hour

Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend the Michelin "25th Hour" event. It was basically a PR event intended to introduce their new top end Pilot Super Sport to the public, and spread the word about how good they are. I got the invite courtesy of my friend and Lemons co-driver who got flown to Dubai to test these tires last year before they were released to the public. Lucky bastage!

The event was held at California Speedway. The day started off with registration and a briefing session where the staff introduced the tire (and it's many features), all the people involved in hosting the event, and went over the schedule for the day. Michelin claims the PSS has 12% better handling and is twice as long lasting as its nearest competitors - a big claim to make, but we were there to see for ourselves!

The driving portion of the day was split up into three events. First up was the autocross. A course was set up which included two slaloms and a decreasing radius sweeper. We drove three laps each in two new BMW 328i automatics which were identically set up except one car had the Pilot Super Sports and the other had the Continental Extreme Contact DW, which is Tire Rack's #1 seller. We were told to drive the cars hard, and I first drove the Conti-equipped car. I intentionally understeered around the sweeper and went into the slalom too hot to upset the car. The car felt okay, but it was clear it wanted to push at the limit and didn't respond well to sharp steering inputs mid-turn. Then I hopped in the PSS equipped car. Immediately I could feel the difference. The tires were much more forgiving at the limit and kept the car in line much better. They had more grip left when I intentionally made the car push, and responded much more precisely to sharp inputs. I was seriously impressed, and was not expecting to feel such a dramatic difference on a relatively small course. Afterwards, they pulled up the cars so we could see how the tires looked after being abused. I was in the first run group, and even then you could tell the Conti's tread had rolled over and deformed quite a bit more than the PSS. I've seen photos from the end of the day posted by other drivers, and the Contis were down to the wires whereas the PSS still looked good, which attests to them lasting twice as long.

Next up was braking. Again, we were in two identical 328is, but this time the PSS was compared to the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric. We did two three 55 MPH hard stops in the dry, and three 45 MPH stops in the wet. The difference in feeling was negligible (especially with ABS giving my right foot a massage every time), but the cars were equipped with a black box that recorded stopping distances, and the PSS stopped about 5 feet shorter in the dry and about a foot shorter in the wet.

Next was the road course. This time we were put behind the wheel of Lexus IS-Fs equipped with the PSS and Pirelli P-Zero Neros. The infield section of the ALMS course was set up, and we were allowed to get up to about 100 and flog the car as hard as we wanted. First of all, I learned the IS-F does not have adequate head room for my oaf-like stature, but I made do. And when the exhaust opened up, they sound really sweet, even though I chose not to play with the flappy paddle shifters.

Anyway, I first went out in a PSS equipped car. It felt very composed, with a lot of grip at the limit despite me trying to take the wrong line thanks to my memory of the track from previous track days sending me the wrong way. Again, the tire reacted to quick inputs with little drama, and I think I engaged traction control once in my 3 laps. Very confidence inspiring. Next up was the Pirelli equipped car, and my instructor warned me that the car would feel completely different. Boy, was she right! First corner in, I took it too hot and the car wanted to plow to the outside. I immediately had to slow down and change my driving style. I was constantly having to correct and "fight" the car when driving it in the same manner as I did with the PSS tires. Even in relatively tame parts of the track (the chicane on the back straight comes to mind), the car got upset and lost composure which required me to "drive" the car much more, and the back end got loose forcing the traction control to kick in much more. It seriously felt like a different car. The instructor noted that she thought the suspension was on different settings between the two cars when she went out on track herself, but she verified they were the same. The PSS tires are just that good, and made a good car shine. Very eye opening.

Our time behind the wheel was over, and it was now time to have the pros (including LeMans and Daytona driver Didier Theys, Kelly Collins, Tania Bourbonna, and Roland Linder) give us hot laps around the track in the "hero cars:" A Ferrari 458 Italia, Nissan GT-R, Audi R8 V10, and Aston Martin V8 Vantage, all shod with PSS tires. We were initially told we'd all get a chance to ride in each of the cars, but due to unknown reasons, this was not the case, and we were all a bit disappointed. Still, I got a few tail out tire smoking laps in the IS-F, and an awesome couple of laps in the GT-R, where I quite enjoyed watching the Gran Turismo inspired G-meter on the dash. And despite my many hours on track, I was completely humbled by my driver and reminded that I am not a real race car driver, heh.

Admittedly (by myself and Michelin), these tires are on the high end of the price range, and as of now they don't have sizes that I can use. They are geared more towards high end Euro and sports cars. My friend just picked up a set for his BMW 330i and loves them. But if I was in the market for a high performance tire in this spectrum, they'd be a top contender, especially since they wear so much better then their competitors - It's hard to believe they have a 300 tread wear rating! This is partially due to the tire being wound in "Twaron" which is like Kevlar. But the fantastic grip is due to the dual rubber compound - the outer tread block of the tire using the exact same compound as LeMans race cars. Pretty cool that their racing experience is put directly to use in their street tires.

Overall, it was a fantastic day and I really appreciate Michelin giving me the chance to do this. It was extremely eye opening to see the difference a good set of tires makes on the same car in the same conditions. Nowhere else would I get to experience this, and I never imagined I'd be so impressed. It was even more amazing considering that the competitors they chose are top of the line tires too. It was very smart of them to give enthusiasts like me a chance to really feel and see what the 12% better handling and 2X better tread wear really meant.

Just wanted to share my experience and maybe convince one or two of you to buy these sweet tires