Mine will arrive in 2 days from Tirerack. Will update.

 

Not just motoring press, there are several drivers from several forums that got to go along as well. One or two from rennlist, a couple from corvette forum. The consensus is R-compound type grip (one went as far as to say they are faster than RA1's) in a 300 treadwear tire.

I would be willing to bet this is similar to what's on the ZR-1. I think an MPSC hybrid far stickier than N-Spec MPSC.

Many cars will be running them in the One Lap of America this year, there will be some blazing fast times set all over the place.

 

The Road & Track review states "As the tire howls and starts to exhibit understeer, dial in more steering--which is counterintuitive--and the car will actually turn in more". I am in my seventh year instructing students on the skidpad to remove steering to get rid of understeer. I am very interested in trying these tires out. If this is true, I would feel less than comfortable instructing a student in-car who has learned to add steering on Super Sports and has just replaced them with tires that act normally.

 

I attended a meeting with Michelin yesterday, and they gave some of the performance facts the tire has, as compared to the PS2:
Dry breaking from 100kmh-0: 1,5meters shorter distance than PS2.
Wet braking from 80kmh-0: 3meters shorter distance than PS2.
The tire lasts 50% longer on track than the PS2.
2.5s faster on 4.1km wet track.
1.5s faster on 2.7km dry track.

The Twaron side wall and 2 types of rubber on the tire gives it the better performance than the PS2.

The tire has nothing to do with the Cup tire, and is not comparable at all when it comes to tracking in the dry - there is no contest. It is situated between the Cup-tire and PS2 regarding grip: Better in the wet than the Cup tire, better in the dry than PS2. Not even close to grip and lifetime on a dry track compared to Sport Cup (not to be mistaken for the Cup+ tire, that is a road tire just to add to the confusion).

No time given for when it will be Porsche-approved (N-rated), but given how the N-rating system works it seems highly unlikeliy that it will ever be approved by Michelin for any of the older cars - 996 and older in particular but I don't think it will be N-rated for the 997 either. It will come with newer cars.

It is important to understand that a specific N-rated tire is not approved to use on any and all Porsches. For Example: The 996 GT3 is ONLY approved with the 295/30/18 PS2 N4 in the rear, and the 996 Turbo with the 295/30/18 PS2 N3. No other dimensions are approved by Michelin, and the N3 is NOT to be used on the GT3 and the N4 is NOT to be used on the Turbo.

That is how Michelin sees it. They belive strong enough in the N-ratings to conclude that the new Super Sport tire may have poorer performance than the PS2 despite its advanced construction when it's fitted to a model it is not N-rated for and the PS2 is rated.

This individuality when it comes to the different N-ratings, even within the same dimension of a tire, has to do with the balance of the car and not the fact that one tire is "better" than the other. The GT3 as an example again: The N4 tire gives the perfect balance for this car, while the N3 doesn't, and thats what it is all about.

I hope this clarifies Michelins point of view as they presented it for us yesterday.

Of course, this does not mean that a tire that doesn't have an N-rating will not be a great tire on a 911, it's just a tire that Michelin has not approved. Toyo R888 are one supreme example of this.

 

It better work on a 997, as those were the cars they tested the PSS in Dubai...

Thanks for your report!

 

[QUOTE=rbt;3170650]I attended a meeting with Michelin yesterday, and they gave some of the performance facts the tire has, as compared to the PS2:
Dry breaking from 100kmh-0: 1,5meters shorter distance than PS2.
Wet braking from 80kmh-0: 3meters shorter distance than PS2.
The tire lasts 50% longer on track than the PS2.
2.5s faster on 4.1km wet track.
1.5s faster on 2.7km dry track.


Interesting, but it may be more Michelin playing catch up with the current generation AD08, RE11, NT03, Star Spec tires. In back to back testing 6GT3 @ Sebring in 2008 the Yokohama AD07 was 2+ secs faster per lap than the PS2.

Peter

 

Exactly how much faster on a 2.5 mile (4.1 KM) course do you think a MPSC is than a PS2? 5-6-7 seconds by your estimate? I'm sorry but 2.5 seconds faster than a PS2 puts the PSS in some elite territory (I.E. R-compounds) if you are going by what Michelin says. IMO MPSC are THE fastest treaded R-comp out there so yeah, they may not equal them, but the slightly slower R-comps it could probably equal.

Did they tell you it's no where near a sport cup when you asked?

 

Yes, they where very clear on the fact that the PSS is a road tire and is to be measured as such, while the MPSC is a track tire and NOT a road tire. The two tires are not being viewed as usable for the same application. PSS is for the road, Cup is for the track. The Cup will be able to retain the griplevel for much longer than either PS2 or PSS when run for as long and as hard as possible on a dry track.

As for your comment on "my estimate" regarding the track times, I don't estimate anything: I've tried to quote Michelin as good as possible, this is not my opinion or my numbers.

Another fact they gave after a question from attending public was regarding heat cycles for the Cup tire when new: No heat cycling is necessary, the tire works best brand new. Get it heated up, adjust air pressure and maximum grip is available.

 

My big question is about actual traction, the PS2's are great for everything but on anything but a high powered Porsche the traction leaves something to be desired.

 

Installed, my update after 1 mile:

look pretty........

 

appreciate the information provided by rbt.

but I think there is a bit of BS on the N-rating by Michelin. I'm sure they will stop producing PS2 one day. So you're telling owners of older Porsches to stay away from Michelin afterwards, or switch to other tires company?

 

The PS2 was an OEM tire on so many vehicles that Michelin will surely keep producing it for the service world. There are still plenty of people who don't care or are oblivious and will continue to just replace their OEM PS2 tires with the same thing even though the PSS may be cheaper and better. Michelin are not stupid, they want to make money like every other company. They will make sure any former PS2 users would have a replacement in the future if the PS2 is phased. That may not be an N-rated tire, but a replacement nonetheless.

 

That may be true, but it has taken an act of Congress to get Michelin to get me N-matched rear PS2's in 295/30-18's to match my 225/40-18's up front on my 993TT since I wear the rears faster than the fronts and I have sets of fronts stacked up in my garage....

 

[quote=rbt;3170650]
The tire lasts 50% longer on track than the PS2.


Lasts 50% longer on track than a very short time equals a little more than a very short time.

 

[quote=landjet;3171114]
Exactly! That is one big difference between the Cup tire (made for track) and PSS (made for the road). The grip may be very close initially on track and/or at the road, but the Cup will retain its grip for much longer on a dry track.

The specs for the PSS makes it look like a fantastic road tire, and altough better than PS2 on the track it is still not made to be used there for more than short stints compared to a Cup. PSS should be very long lasting on the road though.

As for the N-rating of tires for "older" cars, Michelin is highly unlikely to stop having tires for all Porsche models. They will either keep PS2 in production for a very long time for the cars rated with this tire, or it will be replaced by some other tire like PSS with appropriate rating.

The point is that a specific Porsche model is rated with a specific Michelin tire, and if/when PSS is rated for the new 991 or even 997 it is not automatically rated for 996 or older cars/other models. The tire has to be rated specifically for a given model for Michelin to approve it for that model.

This is not the same as saying that the tire will not work well on a 996, but it will not be the one approved by Michelin in this scenario thats all.

(Michelin made no statement regarding if the PSS will get a N-rating for 996, but I doubt it will - but this is my own opinion).

Michelin has also changed approved PS2 tires for some models over the years, a specific 996 model that used to be rated with a N2 tire is now rated with the N4 tire in the same dimension. The N2 tire is still in production an rated for other cars, and other models still use the N3 tires without being affected by the "newer" N4 tire. That is how the N-ratings works: N4 is not a better tire than N3, N2 or N1, it is just slightly different and recommended for different models.

Again, I will stress the fact that all the points made in my first post in this tread came from Michelin and not from me - they are not my personal opinions!