Should I fit high performance tyres to my Kia Stinger?
QUESTION
Hey John,
My Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres fell apart on the weekend (which was strange and I'd like your opinion but if you don't have time can you please just help me with my question below)
My primary question is: With your tyre experience, out of ten, how irresponsible is it to fit Toyo R888R tyres to what is my daily driver (Kia Stinger GT 2019)?
Essentially it's the wet grip that concerns me, it's so hard to make comparisons. I can imagine blasting through a decent puddle of water is going to give the expected results but how do they compare to my old tyres on typical wet roads? Cost, tyre wear, noise etc doesn't bother me, just safety. Is there an argument that the added dry grip makes for an overall safety gain? The reviews I've read seem to indicate that full grip is available from cold, but perhaps I'm reading what I want to read.
The Pilot sport 4s were fine up to this point but I don't feel like going down the same path after this failure.
Attached are some pictures of my current tyres, they had started this delamination of the tread blocks of the inner edge on a small scale prior to this weekend which was alarming already (Fronts as well as rears). This massive failure was after doing a driver training / skid pan style style event so it's not like they were just cruising and the tread fell off. But it was a lubricated surface, and certainly no other cars suffered the same extreme wear. Got 44,000kms out of them, so I'm not super upset that I need new tyres, would have liked a bit more life from the front ones though but they have pieces missing now...
Thanks for your time,
Rowan
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ANSWER
Hey Rowan,
For starters I’d say Pilot Sport 4s are exceptionally good tyres, and Michelin is a good manufacturer. Grippy tyres wear out faster than mundane tyres, so 44,000km is exceptional life for them. Especially on a heavy, powerful car like the Stinger.
The driver training day probably killed them, but if you’ve driven them hard previously that’s probably what caused them to delaminate. Delamination is usually a consequence of numerous heating/cooling cycles.
All high performance tyres from quality manufacturers (including Toyo) perform about the same. There are minor variations, obviously, but they tend to be exactly that - minor. One might be better at wet cornering, and another might excel at wet braking. Some are better in the dry, and some are better when it’s really wet (as in: water streaming across the road) while others are better when it’s just damp. But on balance, all the quality brands are pretty good.
I’d say the most likely cause of this is the age of the tyres. Frankly it’s not a failure - 44,000km is exceptional life for a performance tyre. You must generally drive like nanna. (That’s not a criticism.)
Obviously, the pictures show the tyres are not just illegal, but also dangerous (in the wet especially) so I’d be getting them replaced ASAP.
If you’re going to fit the Toyos - that’s fine. Just get the most performance-oriented Toyos available in that size and load index. Don’t get directional tyres (impractical for road use). The asymmetric tread pattern is ideal.
Hope this helps.
JC
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