Yay or nay: run Pilot SS on the front and PS2's tires on the rear?

drlee50

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I need new tires. They don't make the new super sports in 335/30/18's yet...not sure if they ever will. They do make them for the front. Any reason not to mix these tires?
 
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drlee50

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The SS's have better shoulder wear characteristics and slightly better grip from what I have read. I didn't expect it to be that big of a deal but thought I would seek out opinions.
Thanks for the replies.
I could understand not mixing drag radials and regular radials obviously. Figured these wouldn't be such a no-no.
 

bluesrt

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problem is you have 2 differant grips- and a viper is a touchy kind of car on handleing, you need the same type grip front and rear on a viper or any performance car for that matter
 

DrumrBoy

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Generally a no-no to mix compounds.....though sometimes it can be just a little quirky and if you run the car a lot you can get used to it so it won't bite you.

I have experimented with different fronts and rears (I have many sets of 18s each with different tires on 'em) and can tell you that most combinations are dangerously quirky, you'll never know if you have a benign/compatible mix until you try it.....which is of course prohibitively expensive if you don't have the tires today.

If you're buying new, I'd vote for getting a matched set.
 

ViperJames

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Yea, mixing is a NO NO. I was even scolded for entertaining mixing PS1's with PS2's. I guess its like mixing hard alcohol and beer or wine. Bad result.
 

CEJ

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On the flip side (pun intended), try the mix and let us know if it works. Wearing a helmet and nomex suit while driving your Viper would be a good idea while you're trying out that tire combination.

Back to reality, I'm on board with everyone here--Don't mix the different model tires. Have you contacted anyone at Michelin to get their thoughts? I'm guessing they would say "no" and refer you to their legal department.
 

SoCal Rebell

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problem is you have 2 differant grips- and a viper is a touchy kind of car on handleing, you need the same type grip front and rear on a viper or any performance car for that matter

Talk about 2 different kinds of grip, in a Gen IV ACR I corded the fronts and replaced them but did not replace the worn Pilot Cup rears, coming out of turn #9 at WSIR at about 100 mph my fronts bit but my rears spun because of the wear and I did a 1080, 3 complete spins but never left the track surface.
 

JonB

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For some reason I am all warm and fuzzy with ALL you guys right now for unanimously, maybe saving this 'newb' from making a big and possibly dangerous mistake!

Grasshoppers, time for you to go...........
 

spikeone

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my car had PS2 in front and PZero's in the back when i bought it, never had trouble but since the rears are needing replacement, I am changing all 4 in spring
 

JonB

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my car had PS2 in front and PZero's in the back when i bought it, never had trouble but since the rears are needing replacement, I am changing all 4 in spring

"Famous Last Words".............. be careful Spike. The problem happens when / if you have to 'go evasive' to avoid an emergent situation.

100% accurate prediction: When you DO finally swap to 4 GREAT matching tires like PS-2 or Cups or Gen-5 Pirellis, you will be amazed that what you thought was 'no problem' is now 90% better. Buy a TOP-NOTCH set, dont save $400 on contact patches.
 

spikeone

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like I said, I am not waiting for a problem to occur, I am fixing it with 4 new tires in spring (car is already stored for winter:() and I bet it will feel a lot better indeed
 
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FrgMstr

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"Famous Last Words".............. be careful Spike. The problem happens when / if you have to 'go evasive' to avoid an emergent situation.

100% accurate prediction: When you DO finally swap to 4 GREAT matching tires like PS-2 or Cups or Gen-5 Pirellis, you will be amazed that what you thought was 'no problem' is now 90% better. Buy a TOP-NOTCH set, dont save $400 on contact patches.

I am not familiar with Gen-5 Pirellis. Can you give me a bit more information on model specifics? For Gen III Gen IV? My Gen III came with 5 year old P Zeros on it, and they were so unimpressive as to be scary to drive on. I know those were old, but those were terrible. I stopped considering Pirelli after that. Was looking at Nitto NT05 (335 in back) on a stock 6 spoke 18/19 setup for next rubber.

So please help me out here and edumacate me on new Pirelli tires please. Thanks Jon! You are always a great resource.
 

JonB

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No details yet, other than a MoPar press nugget on PIRELLI as the OE tire on the next Gen Viper.

Pirelli built a large new competition-tire facility 1.5 years ago, and say that racing technology will be utilized across OE.

["Italian Influences" with suppliers are to be expected in the Fiat era, just as German ones were in the Daimler era]
 

bluesrt

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so we are going from sausage and *****- to spegehteeeeee and meatballs
 

sdaddy

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Don't have a lot of choice with drag radials as I have never seen a car with matched drag radials front and rear. LOL Actually, my GTS drives pretty decently with MT ET Street II's on the rear and Michelin Pilot Sports on the front, but I don't push in in the curves in that configuration. Not bad even in the wet, really.
 
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