Tyres… probably again!
Discussion
I did a bit of a search but couldn’t find an answer…
I’ve got a A110 GT and a set of 4 new Evo Corse wheels (slightly wider than standard at 8 & 9 inches). David at Life 110 recommends A110S sizes, so I’m going with those but the next question is, what specific tyre?
Historically whenever I’ve had to buy new tyres for performance cars I’ve gone for Michelin PSS and more recently PS4S. But what for my A110, normal PS4 or PS4S,? The price difference is negligible and I’m not concerned about wear etc. Any reason I shouldn’t go for the PS4S for slightly more grip and sharper turn in?
I’ve got a A110 GT and a set of 4 new Evo Corse wheels (slightly wider than standard at 8 & 9 inches). David at Life 110 recommends A110S sizes, so I’m going with those but the next question is, what specific tyre?
Historically whenever I’ve had to buy new tyres for performance cars I’ve gone for Michelin PSS and more recently PS4S. But what for my A110, normal PS4 or PS4S,? The price difference is negligible and I’m not concerned about wear etc. Any reason I shouldn’t go for the PS4S for slightly more grip and sharper turn in?
I decided on PS5 tyres when I saw pictures of brand new A110S cars being delivered with them in Japan.
Mine are 225/40 front & 245/40 rear on the MP-R forged wheels. The OEM tyres on those wheels were really stretched, especially the fronts. The slightly bigger sidewall rides nicer & my speedometer is more accurate now too.
I think the PS5's are quieter than the PS4S's I have on another car. I intend to do more touring than track oriented driving, so absolute grip isn't the highest priority. Not that the 5's are lacking much in that department.
Mine are 225/40 front & 245/40 rear on the MP-R forged wheels. The OEM tyres on those wheels were really stretched, especially the fronts. The slightly bigger sidewall rides nicer & my speedometer is more accurate now too.
I think the PS5's are quieter than the PS4S's I have on another car. I intend to do more touring than track oriented driving, so absolute grip isn't the highest priority. Not that the 5's are lacking much in that department.
Tire sizes are keeping me from ordering the Evo Corse wheels for now; I'm still debating with myself whether I'm happy fitting 215s to an 8J rim. I know it is/should be fine but I'd be happier if the rims were 7.5J. Unfortunately it's not realistic to see a fitted set in The Netherlands to help me over the hump. Tire-wise, I'm currently completely happy with my run-of-the-mill PS5s. More grip than I could reasonably need on a public road, and that's where I'm driving the A110 - so even if I do pull the trigger on the Evo Corses, I'd go for PS5s again.
PHusername said:
I decided on PS5 tyres when I saw pictures of brand new A110S cars being delivered with them in Japan.
I am going to not let what Alpine fit to the cars from factory influence me when i need to change, French manufacturers tend to stick with Michelin no matter what and I am not so sure that the PS5 is necessarily the optimum tyre for the A110, I'm currently leaning towards SC7's.I am also realistic to know that I am no driving god and on UK roads most premium tyres will provide me with far more grip than I have ability
All of the tyre reviews for the past year have been topped by the Continental Sport Contact 7 (as previous post), closely followed by the Bridgestone Potenza Sport.
These are "all rounder" reviews I should add, excluding more track orientated tyres like PS2 or Goodyear Eagle Supersport.
The next tyres down were always PS4s and Goodyear Eagle Asymmetric 6.
The OP referred to the PS4 'S' , not to be confused with the PS4, which never seemed to feature in reviews I've read.
These are "all rounder" reviews I should add, excluding more track orientated tyres like PS2 or Goodyear Eagle Supersport.
The next tyres down were always PS4s and Goodyear Eagle Asymmetric 6.
The OP referred to the PS4 'S' , not to be confused with the PS4, which never seemed to feature in reviews I've read.
PHusername said:
I decided on PS5 tyres when I saw pictures of brand new A110S cars being delivered with them in Japan.
Mine are 225/40 front & 245/40 rear on the MP-R forged wheels. The OEM tyres on those wheels were really stretched, especially the fronts. The slightly bigger sidewall rides nicer & my speedometer is more accurate now too.
I think the PS5's are quieter than the PS4S's I have on another car. I intend to do more touring than track oriented driving, so absolute grip isn't the highest priority. Not that the 5's are lacking much in that department.
Have you noticed any handling issues given the circumference difference between 225 and 215 section tyres? Mine are 225/40 front & 245/40 rear on the MP-R forged wheels. The OEM tyres on those wheels were really stretched, especially the fronts. The slightly bigger sidewall rides nicer & my speedometer is more accurate now too.
I think the PS5's are quieter than the PS4S's I have on another car. I intend to do more touring than track oriented driving, so absolute grip isn't the highest priority. Not that the 5's are lacking much in that department.
Greedydog said:
Have you noticed any handling issues given the circumference difference between 225 and 215 section tyres?
Mine is a PE (2020 in Aust), not a S, so I've jumped 2 sizes to go from a 205 to a 225, & only one size at the rear (235 up to 245).I've never driven an A110 on stock wheels & tyres, only ever stock tyres stretched over the wider wheels, so I'm not going to be a reliable source for a comparison. However, the car felt more twitchy than I thought it should & made a casual drive down a straight highway feel like work. Now with the 225's it drives much nicer; still with plenty of sharpness. The size is as recommended by the manufacturer for the 8inch front wheels & looks "right".
If I ever notice any "handling issues" I fear I will be driving too fast on public roads
I guess, from a physics perspective, I must have lost a small amount of acceleration by going larger circumference, but it's not noticeable. I really do appreciate the more accurate speedo though.
Edited by PHusername on Sunday 19th April 11:00
Even at the risk of being stoned because some people see Kumho as a cheap tire manufacturer...
the new Ecsta Sport PS72 performed in a recent German tire test on par with the Continental SC7.
Having a tread wear of 320 it plays in the same range as the Michelin PS4 and is available in both 205/235 and 215/245 combo. I've just installed them on my daily, a BMW 2series coupe, and i am positively surprised. Considering it costs half the price of the PS4, so a real bargain, it might be worth a try on the A110.
the new Ecsta Sport PS72 performed in a recent German tire test on par with the Continental SC7.
Having a tread wear of 320 it plays in the same range as the Michelin PS4 and is available in both 205/235 and 215/245 combo. I've just installed them on my daily, a BMW 2series coupe, and i am positively surprised. Considering it costs half the price of the PS4, so a real bargain, it might be worth a try on the A110.
Edited by k_m on Sunday 20th April 17:38
PHusername said:
I decided on PS5 tyres when I saw pictures of brand new A110S cars being delivered with them in Japan.
Deals with manufacturers, supply issues and all manner of other factors can be at play when car makers fit tyres to cars in production. Viewing it as a seal of approval is a leap, especially if the decision was made by the accounts department trying to decrease the BOM cost and cutting a deal with a tyre maker.Mr_Toad said:
Deals with manufacturers, supply issues and all manner of other factors can be at play when car makers fit tyres to cars in production. Viewing it as a seal of approval is a leap, especially if the decision was made by the accounts department trying to decrease the BOM cost and cutting a deal with a tyre maker.
Not a leap at all - i have worked with manufacturers and its a pretty exhaustive process to get your tyres as standard fitment k_m said:
Even at the risk of being stoned because some people see Kumho as a cheap tire manufacturer...
the new Ecsta Sport PS72 performed in a recent German tire test on par with the Continental SC7.
Having a tread wear of 320 it plays in the same range as the Michelin PS4 and is available in both 205/235 and 215/245 combo. I've just installed them on my daily, a BMW 2series coupe, and i am positively surprised. Considering it costs half the price of the PS4, so a real bargain, it might be worth a try on the A110.
Thanks for sharing these results, quite interesting.the new Ecsta Sport PS72 performed in a recent German tire test on par with the Continental SC7.
Having a tread wear of 320 it plays in the same range as the Michelin PS4 and is available in both 205/235 and 215/245 combo. I've just installed them on my daily, a BMW 2series coupe, and i am positively surprised. Considering it costs half the price of the PS4, so a real bargain, it might be worth a try on the A110.
Edited by k_m on Sunday 20th April 17:38
I run sc7 and potenza sport on four cars and really like them both. What tests usually don't mention, both of these tires are (similarly) very light. Would be interesting to see the data/comparison with kumho too.
As I thought I would, I fitted a set of PS5 in 'S' sizes (215 and 245) when switching to Evo Corse wheels. Maybe not the last word in ultimate grip, but even so, the Telemetrics screen shows that it is perfectly possible to achieve a lateral acceleration in excess of 1G in the dry. Sure, the Telemetrics plot is filtered, shaped and what not, but still - I don't think I need more grip on the public road.
Reading the PS4 wet performance thread reminded me of this topic, and I wanted to ask a question.
As you probably know better than I do, there are different names and abbreviations used to describe run-flat tyres (RFT, ROF, etc.). On the sidewall of the PS4, it says “2 steel sidewall ply.” With all my ignorance I was thinking that, due to the relatively thin sidewall, they could only reinforce it and can't manufacture a proper run-flat. I recently learned that Michelin offers a special PS4 variant ending with “ZP,” which stands for “Zero Pressure,” and those are indeed run-flat tyres.
For the 18" size, the Zero Pressure version is available for the front tyres, but the ZP variant isn’t offered in 235 width for the rears. Anyway, I’m curious — have you had any experience with run-flats on a sports car, whether from Michelin or another brand?
At one point I'll replace my tyres and trying to understand what it is like to run a lightweight car on run-flats. Is it remarkably different or similar? How it impacts the comfort, any difference on handling, etc.
As you probably know better than I do, there are different names and abbreviations used to describe run-flat tyres (RFT, ROF, etc.). On the sidewall of the PS4, it says “2 steel sidewall ply.” With all my ignorance I was thinking that, due to the relatively thin sidewall, they could only reinforce it and can't manufacture a proper run-flat. I recently learned that Michelin offers a special PS4 variant ending with “ZP,” which stands for “Zero Pressure,” and those are indeed run-flat tyres.
For the 18" size, the Zero Pressure version is available for the front tyres, but the ZP variant isn’t offered in 235 width for the rears. Anyway, I’m curious — have you had any experience with run-flats on a sports car, whether from Michelin or another brand?
At one point I'll replace my tyres and trying to understand what it is like to run a lightweight car on run-flats. Is it remarkably different or similar? How it impacts the comfort, any difference on handling, etc.
I'm not sure I've ever heard anybody say anything positive about runflats (beyond the puncture convenience). They can be made to ride <ok> if the chassis is tuned around them, but equally I've never heard anything but an improvement from swapping back to conventional tyres on such cars.
There isn't any particular magic in RFs - they're just a very very very stiff sidewall to keep the rim off the ground when pressure is lost - with the expectable downsides that brings. Such a change in tyre stiffness will be less obvious if switching from, say, a Cup/track tyre, but I might expect that on the A110, with its relatively soft wheel rates, fitting them will feel like riding over bricks.
Then again, twin ply steel sidewalls are quite a chunk stiffer than non-sports single ply rayon etc, so who knows?
There isn't any particular magic in RFs - they're just a very very very stiff sidewall to keep the rim off the ground when pressure is lost - with the expectable downsides that brings. Such a change in tyre stiffness will be less obvious if switching from, say, a Cup/track tyre, but I might expect that on the A110, with its relatively soft wheel rates, fitting them will feel like riding over bricks.
Then again, twin ply steel sidewalls are quite a chunk stiffer than non-sports single ply rayon etc, so who knows?
I have new wheels coming in the next couple of weeks, and I am looking at 225/255 wide tyres as I think they look better with a slightly squarer fitment, and the feedback seems to be that they work really well on 8/9 wide wheels.
There is a new version of the Potenza Sport (the EVO version) which seems to fix the rolling resistance and noise problems of the last version. There is also a new Vredestein tyre (Ultrac Pro) which seems to be competitive with the big brands for significantly less money. The tyrereviews comparison is here: https://www.tyrereviews.com/Compare/Potenza-Sport-...
Unfortunately the Sportcontact7 is not available in these sizes.
The Vredesteins work out at £385 for all four from Camskill, the Bridgestones are around £525, so I am thinking that the Vredesteins could be an excellent option. Am I missing anything I should consider? My current OE Michelins are suffering from cracking after only two years, so I am not considering them.
There is a new version of the Potenza Sport (the EVO version) which seems to fix the rolling resistance and noise problems of the last version. There is also a new Vredestein tyre (Ultrac Pro) which seems to be competitive with the big brands for significantly less money. The tyrereviews comparison is here: https://www.tyrereviews.com/Compare/Potenza-Sport-...
Unfortunately the Sportcontact7 is not available in these sizes.
The Vredesteins work out at £385 for all four from Camskill, the Bridgestones are around £525, so I am thinking that the Vredesteins could be an excellent option. Am I missing anything I should consider? My current OE Michelins are suffering from cracking after only two years, so I am not considering them.
Gassing Station | Alpine | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff