npx
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Justin
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2022
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 283
- Reaction score
- 270
- Location
- Cupertino, CA
- Vehicles
- 2020 Taycan Turbo
- Thread starter
- #1
Hello folks- I finally wore my N spec Michelin PS4's out on my 2020 turbo and decided to do a little experiment, mostly for myself but also for the community. As you may know, TireRack (just to use one site) doesn't have a lot of options for my OEM size: Front 245/45/20 and rear 285/40R20. Not fun.
...however if you were to drop by 10mm to 275 on the rear and leave everything else the same, you suddenly have about 50 options. I ran the math on the effects of this and it's quite minimal, a 3.7 percent reduction in sidewall (due to the stretch) and not even 100 more revolutions per mile. As many know, you can go up or down one width from spec on almost any car with almost no real safety impact, because it's such a tiny adjustment to the tire vs stock.
Previously, I owned an S4 with terrible OEM Hankook Ventus V12 OEM tires, and upgraded to the above mentioned Yokohamas and enjoyed them a lot. Besides a better ride, I got incredibly good tire life out of them, with over 25k miles on the set before I sold the S4 with about 40 percent tread left on, including 2 or 3 track days and a lot of spirited driving. So, when it came time to get tires for the Taycan, and TireRack had an older production set on sale for $650 out the door for the whole set, i said okay, let's see how they do on the Taycan. If not for these it would have been a set of AS4's.
Before I give my impressions let me first say that I haven't always been a believer that you always have to buy the exact OEM part. Brake pads, brake rotors, not to mention going to aftermarket upgrades versus what comes stock, and it's usually worked out well. In this case, my primary gripe with these tires is that my steering feel is gone. When I say that, I mean the sharp turn in and good on-center feel. As you get a little further into a turn, it holds the road well and you do feel confident. But that really sharp turn-in bite is decidedly not there. I told a few people who know more about tires than me, and they were all kind of surprised as the Advans have a reputation for having a stiff sidewall compared to many other tires. What I think happened was instead of these tires truly being awesome, is that my Hankook OEM tires were just mid and these are good. Frankly I should know better than to think anyone outdoes Michelin lol
On the plus side, the grip is VERY good and the ride quality is actually improved, however what that tells me is that likely the Michelin PS4 NF0 has an incredibly stiff sidewall, in order to emphasize turn in, while sacrificing some of the ride quality. So, it's not entirely a loss. For $650 (normally $1060 for non-discounted stock at America's Tire here in CA) I really cannot complain and I'm looking forward to driving on them a bit more and seeing if they break in a bit (I'm told this is a thing but frankly i've never believed it).
Now, I'm sure someone will pop in here and chastise me for trying this out and putting something not recommended by Porsche on my car. believe me, i know i signed up for an experiment. the point of this is to emphasize that at least when it comes to comparisons to stock tires, the NF0 PS4 does give something that at least one other well regarded tire can't match. when i go to replace these, i'm buying PS4 N's - I really never thought there would be enough of a difference to make me justify the extra hundreds of dollars for spec tires. Would I have this opinion if I'd gone with standard spec AS4 or P4S instead of N? Who knows.
cheers and i hope this is helpful to others who may be looking for tires!
...however if you were to drop by 10mm to 275 on the rear and leave everything else the same, you suddenly have about 50 options. I ran the math on the effects of this and it's quite minimal, a 3.7 percent reduction in sidewall (due to the stretch) and not even 100 more revolutions per mile. As many know, you can go up or down one width from spec on almost any car with almost no real safety impact, because it's such a tiny adjustment to the tire vs stock.
Previously, I owned an S4 with terrible OEM Hankook Ventus V12 OEM tires, and upgraded to the above mentioned Yokohamas and enjoyed them a lot. Besides a better ride, I got incredibly good tire life out of them, with over 25k miles on the set before I sold the S4 with about 40 percent tread left on, including 2 or 3 track days and a lot of spirited driving. So, when it came time to get tires for the Taycan, and TireRack had an older production set on sale for $650 out the door for the whole set, i said okay, let's see how they do on the Taycan. If not for these it would have been a set of AS4's.
Before I give my impressions let me first say that I haven't always been a believer that you always have to buy the exact OEM part. Brake pads, brake rotors, not to mention going to aftermarket upgrades versus what comes stock, and it's usually worked out well. In this case, my primary gripe with these tires is that my steering feel is gone. When I say that, I mean the sharp turn in and good on-center feel. As you get a little further into a turn, it holds the road well and you do feel confident. But that really sharp turn-in bite is decidedly not there. I told a few people who know more about tires than me, and they were all kind of surprised as the Advans have a reputation for having a stiff sidewall compared to many other tires. What I think happened was instead of these tires truly being awesome, is that my Hankook OEM tires were just mid and these are good. Frankly I should know better than to think anyone outdoes Michelin lol
On the plus side, the grip is VERY good and the ride quality is actually improved, however what that tells me is that likely the Michelin PS4 NF0 has an incredibly stiff sidewall, in order to emphasize turn in, while sacrificing some of the ride quality. So, it's not entirely a loss. For $650 (normally $1060 for non-discounted stock at America's Tire here in CA) I really cannot complain and I'm looking forward to driving on them a bit more and seeing if they break in a bit (I'm told this is a thing but frankly i've never believed it).
Now, I'm sure someone will pop in here and chastise me for trying this out and putting something not recommended by Porsche on my car. believe me, i know i signed up for an experiment. the point of this is to emphasize that at least when it comes to comparisons to stock tires, the NF0 PS4 does give something that at least one other well regarded tire can't match. when i go to replace these, i'm buying PS4 N's - I really never thought there would be enough of a difference to make me justify the extra hundreds of dollars for spec tires. Would I have this opinion if I'd gone with standard spec AS4 or P4S instead of N? Who knows.
cheers and i hope this is helpful to others who may be looking for tires!
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