New Tire in OEM Size - Michelin Pilot Sport 5!

[Capri to ST]

This should be a great tire, I believe it's pretty new, and I see it for sale here on Discount Tire-
https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/michelin-pilot-sport-5/p/127331

Does anyone have any experience with these? I would love to know what your impressions are.

Having another summer performance choice is great news because as you all know tire choices are pretty limited in the OEM 205/40-17 size. Tire Rack only lists 13 tires in that size, not including the Michelin as of now, which is annoying because they are now partners with Discount Tire. Thirteen tire choices doesn't sound too bad, but when you filter for summer performance tires (their Extreme, Max, and Ultra High Performance categories), which is what I want, it narrows it down to only six-
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/Tire...&rearRatio=40&rearDiameter=17&performance=ALL

Of those six, the Yokohama Advan A052 and the Falken RT660 are extreme tires which I don't want because I run my summer tires all year round. Here in Central North Carolina it just doesn't make sense for me to get winter tires. The few times it snows I stay off the road but if it gets really cold I'm concerned that those Extreme tires would become undrivable. The Kumho PS31 and the Pirelli P Zero Nero I have read have mushy response and turn in, the opposite of what I'm looking for for my car.
That leaves the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s, which I had and was disappointed in because I thought the turn in and steering were too vague and the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701, which I currently have and like quite a bit. The steering response and turn in are quite good, almost as good as the OEM Potenzas, which turn out to be possibly the king of turn in. I do drive the Flevas in cold weather, but quite slow and cautiously and they are able to handle that. They are a good tire, and the best choice for me until this new Michelin came out. I only had one tire choice before which met all of my requirements, it looks like now I have two, and that is a good thing.

 

[XanRules]

The Pilot Sport has always pretty much been the best of the best, so if the 5 is better than the 4+ or the 4 then I'm sure it's great.

 

[lemonjs]

I have Pilot Sport 5s in 215/40/17 as my road/wet track tyre. They are fantastic, without question the best street tyres I’ve ever used.

Wait until @M-Sport fan finds out they're available in the US.

 

[Capri to ST]

I have Pilot Sport 5s in 215/40/17 as my road/wet track tyre. They are fantastic, without question the best street tyres I’ve ever used.

Wait until @M-Sport fan finds out they're available in the US.

That's great to know, thanks for sharing your impressions of these tires. I thought that they were probably going to be really good. Specifically, how are the turn-in and steering responsiveness?
l'm really glad to see that they're available, and also at a major retailer. Discount Tire is one of the biggies, I haven't used them but have read good things about them.
I remember my futile search for the OEM Potenzas a couple years ago. I would sometimes find places that listed them, and they would be strange small websites that I had never heard of and looked a little sketchy in some cases.

 

[SteveS]

Here's a review of the PS5 in a comparison test. None of the other tires in the test come in a Fiesta ST size so we don't have anything we know of to compare it with. https://www.tire-reviews.com/Article/2023-Tire-Reviews-Performance-Tire-Test.htm

Here's the video, but to get all the data, read the article

View: https://youtu.be/TQsWlZoh55U

 

[M-Sport fan]

I have Pilot Sport 5s in 215/40/17 as my road/wet track tyre. They are fantastic, without question the best street tyres I’ve ever used.

Wait until @M-Sport fan finds out they're available in the US.

I will believe this once somebody here in the states actually HAS them on their car, since according to Costco, they were available almost a year ago, but go TRY to order a set from them.

Besides, I wanted them in YOUR 215/40-17 size to go on 17x8 wheels, and that will never ever happen here on this side of the pond!

 

[M-Sport fan]

That's great to know, thanks for sharing your impressions of these tires. I thought that they were probably going to be really good. Specifically, how are the turn-in and steering responsiveness?
l'm really glad to see that they're available, and also at a major retailer. Discount Tire is one of the biggies, I haven't used them but have read good things about them.
I remember my futile search for the OEM Potenzas a couple years ago. I would sometimes find places that listed them, and they would be strange small websites that I had never heard of and looked a little sketchy in some cases.

Yeah, I would not get my hopes up way too high until they actually FILL and SHIP an order for these.

We ARE dealing with MICHELIN after all, the letdown LEADERS of the tire world!

 

[rallytaff]

Yeah, I would not get my hopes up way too high until they actually FILL and SHIP an order for these.

We ARE dealing with MICHELIN after all, the letdown LEADERS of the tire world!

They also owned Riken and I couldn't get any more of those!

 

[Intuit]

........ according to Costco, they were available almost a year ago, but go TRY to order a set from them.

Places that don't maintain their inventory are the worst to deal with. Walmart did similar to me with a laptop. One of a couple of places that claimed to have it. Said it was in stock. Went through the trouble of registering an account and order it. Confirmation emails and that was that. Week later I thought, "Where's my laptop?" Yeah, a day or so before they sent notice that the order was cancelled, money refunded. They didn't have it. But when I went back to the listing it was still in stock. Yep, closed the account and haven't gone back there; that was some 15 years ago or so LoL. Can't remember who but some other website... oh... it was HP and Dell... they did that to me as well, years after that incident. They wanted me to choose a different laptop. Uh, how about just keeping your stock up-to-date? Yep, ordered and received a laptop from MSI instead. Each of the three companies that f*up cost them over $1,200... and that's not considering the follow-up orders they would've had for client laptops.

If a site can't maintain their stock, just don't deal with'em. There are plenty of other fish in the sea.

 

[Zala]

T...
That leaves the Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s, which I had and was disappointed in because I thought the turn in and steering were too vague and the Yokohama Advan Fleva V701, which I currently have and like quite a bit. The steering response and turn in are quite good, almost as good as the OEM Potenzas, which turn out to be possibly the king of turn in. I do drive the Flevas in cold weather, but quite slow and cautiously and they are able to handle that.

If you haven't been doing this, I'd recommend paying close attention to the tire specs (tirerack.com is the best at presenting this accurately in my experience). Most of the tires you called out have tread width larger than the OEM wheel width of 7" when can make steering feel sloppy and the tire roll some on the wheel before responding to input. I find I can run any nearly any "sport" oriented tire with good steering feedback if I get the tire with treadwidth within <0.5" of the wheel width.

Better steering feedback beyond that will come from sidewall stiffness, which can only come from actual experience with the tire, but... I have found the the following generalities to be consistent in my experience.

• Summer tires will be stiffer than all-season offerings of similar brand
  • I've run OEM bridgestones on stock and and Yokohama V701 on 215/40 on 17x8s
• Sport all-season offerings are stiffer than touring all-season.
  • I run General AS-05 on OEM

Our weather in Texas is similar to what you describe in your area though our cold season is far more minimized and my experience with running summer tires all year is consistent. I now run summer tires only when we are at 50-60° minimum morning temps for the month and all seasons when below that.

• I don't feel it's acceptable to just drive ultra cautiously on sub-optimal tires that won't get up to temp. That's chancing that you don't need all the possible grip for conditions beyond your control. Yes, one should always let any tire warm-up before they drive more aggressively (not "recklessly") for the conditions.
  • FYI, I don't feel it's acceptable because I've done it myself in the past on both my Miatas and hot hatches, but now don't. Winter season gets too slippery and works against an increase in power due cooler IATs.
• I have had a great experience with the following all-seasons tires in 35-60° temps in our winter season (I can drive them pretty much as hard as I drive with my summer tires in the summer and as soon with no lengthy warm-up requirement):
  1. Michelin AS4
  2. General AS-05
  3. Continental DWS06
  4. Note: The above order is my experience so far in terms of sidewall stiffness that I can feel.

Unfortunately, I've had to toss my OEM wheels as they suffered some bending that resulted in unacceptable loss of wheel balance, so I can't contribute further in this regard. OEM tire diameters as designed for the vehicle are unacceptable for the roads around here (no, I've never hit a pot hole). I've since moved on to at 16x8 and 16x7 wheel set, but still sticking to the tread width and tire selection methodology I've mentioned above.

My main tradeoffs in the move has been slightly heavier steering (running a 215/45 200TW tire, larger footprint than stock), more road irregularity compliance, but far higher grip limits (new 200 TW tires will do that) for public roads. Everything is within my expectations and goals for the move from OEM sizing, plus I lost a good 18 lbs overall over to the stock setup.

I haven't tried my All-season 16x7 set yet, but I'm excited to when winter comes since that's a good 30 lbs lighter than OEM. I anticipate the car should feel noticeably quicker than in the summer.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^The Pilot Sport All Seasons (2's, I am guessing as they are long gone now) which came on this car from the factory had the widest tread width of almost ANY of the OEM 205/40-17 size donuts, including most of the track oriented, 200 tread wear gumballs of that time, at ~7.7" wide (according to Tire Rack).

Yes, unlike most others on here I actually liked that tire, and was impressed with it's turn-in response, and grip, which was great for a 500 tread wear all season.

IF (and yeah, given Michelin, that is an impossible IF!) Michelin ever offered the PS AS4s in a 215/45-16, they would be on my 3 season, daily driving, Dekagrams in less than a heartbeat!

 

[Capri to ST]

If you haven't been doing this, I'd recommend paying close attention to the tire specs (tirerack.com is the best at presenting this accurately in my experience). Most of the tires you called out have tread width larger than the OEM wheel width of 7" when can make steering feel sloppy and the tire roll some on the wheel before responding to input. I find I can run any nearly any "sport" oriented tire with good steering feedback if I get the tire with treadwidth within <0.5" of the wheel width.

Better steering feedback beyond that will come from sidewall stiffness, which can only come from actual experience with the tire, but... I have found the the following generalities to be consistent in my experience.

• Summer tires will be stiffer than all-season offerings of similar brand
  • I've run OEM bridgestones on stock and and Yokohama V701 on 215/40 on 17x8s
• Sport all-season offerings are stiffer than touring all-season.
  • I run General AS-05 on OEM

Our weather in Texas is similar to what you describe in your area though our cold season is far more minimized and my experience with running summer tires all year is consistent. I now run summer tires only when we are at 50-60° minimum morning temps for the month and all seasons when below that.

• I don't feel it's acceptable to just drive ultra cautiously on sub-optimal tires that won't get up to temp. That's chancing that you don't need all the possible grip for conditions beyond your control. Yes, one should always let any tire warm-up before they drive more aggressively (not "recklessly") for the conditions.
  • FYI, I don't feel it's acceptable because I've done it myself in the past on both my Miatas and hot hatches, but now don't. Winter season gets too slippery and works against an increase in power due cooler IATs.
• I have had a great experience with the following all-seasons tires in 35-60° temps in our winter season (I can drive them pretty much as hard as I drive with my summer tires in the summer and as soon with no lengthy warm-up requirement):
  1. Michelin AS4
  2. General AS-05
  3. Continental DWS06
  4. Note: The above order is my experience so far in terms of sidewall stiffness that I can feel.

Unfortunately, I've had to toss my OEM wheels as they suffered some bending that resulted in unacceptable loss of wheel balance, so I can't contribute further in this regard. OEM tire diameters as designed for the vehicle are unacceptable for the roads around here (no, I've never hit a pot hole). I've since moved on to at 16x8 and 16x7 wheel set, but still sticking to the tread width and tire selection methodology I've mentioned above.

My main tradeoffs in the move has been slightly heavier steering (running a 215/45 200TW tire, larger footprint than stock), more road irregularity compliance, but far higher grip limits (new 200 TW tires will do that) for public roads. Everything is within my expectations and goals for the move from OEM sizing, plus I lost a good 18 lbs overall over to the stock setup.

I haven't tried my All-season 16x7 set yet, but I'm excited to when winter comes since that's a good 30 lbs lighter than OEM. I anticipate the car should feel noticeably quicker than in the summer.

Thanks, that's a helpful perspective. I am familiar with the effect of the ratio of tread width to wheel width on handling, but hadn't really been focusing on that lately. This reminds me that an excessively wide tire can contribute to mushy handling and turn-in in addition to the inherent characteristics of the tire itself.

 

[Intuit]

Dropping wheel size from 17 to 16 while keeping overall diameter similar, automatically means you're going to have fat sidewalls and all the characteristics that accompany larger sidewalls in terms of feedback and handling. Only advantage to large sidewalls besides their ability to better absorb road craters, pot-holes and skillets, is maintaining traction with straight line acceleration. The stock suspension will be tuned around the stock tire (sidewall) size meaning, soft. Keep in mind the potential disadvantages of combining a "soft" suspension with a "soft" (large) sidewall.

 

[Dpro]

Dropping wheel size from 17 to 16 while keeping overall diameter similar, automatically means you're going to have fat sidewalls and all the characteristics that accompany larger sidewalls in terms of feedback and handling. Only advantage to large sidewalls besides their ability to better absorb road craters, pot-holes and skillets, is maintaining traction with straight line acceleration. The stock suspension will be tuned around the stock tire (sidewall) size meaning, soft. Keep in mind the potential disadvantages of combining a "soft" suspension with a "soft" (large) sidewall.

This all depends on what tires you select. I can attest that a Falken RT660 215/45 16 on a 8 inch wheel did not perform worse than stock size on turn in. It’s all in how you pick your tires and wheels sizes and camber adjustments. Also he is right at looking at actual tread width and section width as whatever is printed on the side of tire does not always coincide with reality. Thats why you do want to look at actual measurements. I always do that when selecting a tire.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

I have them on my car now as we speak in stock size* No 215! But all i can say is WOW. Fantasmagorical! Their also a 300 treadwear Vs in the Falken 615k+ and RT660 @ 200 treadwear.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Yeah, I would not get my hopes up way too high until they actually FILL and SHIP an order for these.

We ARE dealing with MICHELIN after all, the letdown LEADERS of the tire world!

Got them installed in Stock p205/40r17 and Man they are very very nice Vs. the falken 615k+ in a p215/40r17. NOT A let down by any means. Plus i got $70 instant from Sams Club and Also was able to submit a $60 back in a prepaid mastercard from Michelin too.

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Yup, IF they ever offered that donut in the 215/40-17size, which is easily and readily available everywhere overseas, they'd be on my 17x8 KE Motorsport Pro T12s already, instead of the 200 tread wear Yok AD09s I was forced onto by Michelin.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

^^^Yup, IF they ever offered that donut in the 215/40-17size, which is easily and readily available everywhere overseas, they'd be on my 17x8 KE Motorsport Pro T12s already, instead of the 200 tread wear Yok AD09s I was forced onto by Michelin.

The Ride and Crisp turn in & Handling though is So choice..... even though its a little smaller than my old 615k+

 

[Ford ST]

I have them on my car now as we speak in stock size* No 215! But all i can say is WOW. Fantasmagorical! Their also a 300 treadwear Vs in the Falken 615k+ and RT660.

Nice very nice. Will be my new tires in the future for sure.

 

[Capri to ST]

The Ride and Crisp turn in & Handling though is So choice..... even though its a little smaller than my old 615k+

Great to know, that's exactly what I was hoping for.