Quote:
Originally Posted by z3papa
Big thanks for the link. I'd have to wonder how the ZII Starspec compares since their comparison was the Super Sports which IMO are a full 1-1.5 sec off top UHP's on a 50-60 sec. course. Regardless, they sound very impressive.
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It's not real useful to compare the Pilot Super Sport and the Pilot Sport Cup 2 -- two totally different tires/design/compounding/target end users/etc. The PSC has always been Michelin's track R-comp DOT tire line, and the PSC2 is the latest version with updated carcass and new compounding. My understanding is that advancements in compounding they used in creating the PSS and other recent tires allowed them to formulate a DOT R-comp tire, the PSC2, with a *much* longer wear life than the prior PSC while at the same time significantly improving grip. That is an amazingly tall order to achieve in tire design...hence the reason my hat's off to them.
If they weren't currently TW180, I'd buy a 19" set to try them out. I actually don't believe they are going to make these into TW200 tires for 2015 and have a large range of sizes available regardless of that presentation. Something just doesn't seem right with that plan. I would instead expect them to come out with a Rival 2. That part would make sense as the Rival was designed and is built here in the USA whereas the PSC2 is a France product (not sure where it's built, but if Michelin has any hope of selling a wide range of sizes here, I would think they would have to start a line building them in the USA instead of France). All just gut feel stuff, but if I was running Michelin USA, I'd sure as heck put all my resources into the Rival perhaps even coming out with two different compound Rival IIs -- one for asphalt and one for concrete.
(therein describes what's coming in the street tire wars
).
Regards,
Chuck