Brakes

Initial Review, 3,500 Miles on Tires
March 29, 2013

Purchased in 2010 as certified used. Dunlops and Firestone tires were scary, screamy on turns, took for ever to stop, always kept skidding and thus my family was scared to drive/ride. These 4 new Yokohama brought back the true joy of driving and ride comfort. Braking is much shorter and firm. absolute minimum road noise. far better gas mileage. we are enjoying quiet, comfort Toy Sienna drive/ride.

Initial Review, 27,000 Miles on Tires
March 22, 2013

tires performed well for the low price when new and up to 25000 mi. with 27k on them i'm seeing my traction control light come on when pushing the car a little bit on AWD car. wet traction has gone to poor when cornering or accelerating. snow traction has gone to below average. had a little snow/ice mixture and car failed to make a careful turn, had no braking and mowed down a stop sign on the opposite corner at 15-20 mph. had to replace tires.

Initial Review, 3,500 Miles on Tires
April 20, 2013

Have 215/45/17 Michelin Pilot Super Sports on front of my '05 Honda S2000 and 245/40/17 PSS on the rear with about 3,500 miles on tires since new. Ordinary highway driving yields low noise levels with firm, but not quite punishing, ride in what is a firm riding car.

Tires respond immediately to steering inputs and have very tight "on-center" feel. Wet performance (Florida thunderstorms) is very good and wet and dry braking are among best I've experienced in almost 60 years of driving. Kuhmhos that were on car when I bought it were more comfortable but absolutely not the tire for hard driving in comparison to Michelin PSSs.

Just drove the "Tail OF THE DRAGON" in North Carolina (318 curves in 11 miles!) for 3 days in company of over 100 Honda S2000s during annual meeting of S2000 group S2KI. Very spirited and competitive driving - 20++ MPH over posted speeds in corners posted at 10-20 MPH. PSSs exhibited phenomenal grip on damp surface 1st day and dry the remainder. Early braking for corners followed by strong acceleration produced sensations of rear tires grabbing pavement and powering car out of corner under heavy throttle, closing gap with car ahead. Eyeball-crossing "G" sensations with no howling or indications of being anywhere near limits of this tire at 40 in 20 MPH curves. 50 MPH in 20 MPH curves would produce plenty of warning through slight slip angles with excellent steering control feel and sensations of "hooking up again" part way through corner while applying strong acceleration.

Conclusions: 1)I'll never drive the S2000 as fast as this tire allows, 2) Pilot Super Sports deserve #1 ranking, and, 3) worth the premium price if you drive hard, want a tire with no nasty surprise traits during hard driving, and want better than average tire life (for max performance type tires) nonetheless.

Initial Review, 15,000 Miles on Tires
April 01, 2013

I am a BMW Tech and have driven every tire currently out. Hands down best summer tire and longest lasting. Michelin tires are the best for BMW's low road noise, good sidewalls, fantastic wet traction. I will only buy Michelin for my own cars. Yes they are expensive but think about it... it is the ONLY thing that holds your car to the road. I always say tires and brakes are not the place to save money.

When the outside air pressure is equal to inside tire air pressure you should have bought tires a long time ago!

Initial Review, 50 Miles on Tires
April 06, 2013

Initial review-
Amazing grip, don't have to brake on on/off-ramps, these beat the Nitto 555's and Sumitomo HTZ3 by a wide margin. Added 275-35-18 tires and GT500 SVT rims to a stock GT Mustang, simply amazing tire in the dry. Have not driven in rain yet so will update down the road.
Tire rack confirmed these were date stamped late last fall, shipping in 4 days and balanced very well. Money well spent!! Running at 37 psi currently. These do seem to pick up small rocks and sand and shed it just as fast, no biggie its a max summer tire!

Initial Review, 50 Miles on Tires
April 26, 2013

I bought these BFGoodrich Rival tires for use as Autocross only on an NB miata using 8" wheels. The 205/50R15 size has a slight stretch on this size wheel, making for a stiffer sidewall at lower pressures for better turn in response. I have a limited number of miles on the Rival since it is not driven at all on the street, but have competed in 6 full Autocross events on the tire(6-9 runs/event at an average of 60seconds/run).

The Rival is stiff, but compliant over bumps and does not give a harsh ride. Wear is exceptionally good. When paired with the proper amount of camber, and heat cycled correctly, there is no chunking of the tread blocks it it wears very smoothly and slowly. The Rival is plenty noisy, when cornering, but relatively quiet when traveling in a straight line. This noise is necessary for helping determine the grip available mid-corner.

Turn in is immediate, the low and wide treadblocks reduce tread squirm and the sidewalls are stiff. Traction is very good, and has a very smooth and predictable break-away. The Rival has helped improve my straight line braking ability and trail-braking as well.

As a final comparison, I had been competing in the STR class at my local Autocrosses and finishing regularly between 5th and 10th place overall on a summer tire. On the BFGoodrich GForce Rival, I have been consistently part of the top 3. The Rival is just that good. And it will be even better when paired with a properly stiff suspension.

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
April 04, 2013

After 5K miles a pretty good experience. Good off-the-line grip, stable cornering and tracking, good braking hold. Limited wet road exposure, but in light to moderate rain no cornering breakaway or hydroplaning at 80 mph+. The tire is noisier than I'd like; running at 38-40 psi and tread wear is almost non-existent. This tire had gotten mixed reviews (cupping, rapid wear) but with proper inflation and rotation I'm hoping for 30K plus.

Initial Review, 35,000 Miles on Tires
February 13, 2013

This is a very impressive tire. It has great looks, performs well on and off road, and is even quiet.

I previously had different brand mud-terrain tire, which performed well off road, was very difficult to balance, and as the tread wore was horrible load. I have been pleasantly surprised at how quiet these tires are. It still has the traditional mud terrain hum, but the volume is turned way down. It's actually quieter than many AT tires out there.

I have driven this over ever terrain possible, and it performs admirably. The thing it does the worst on is wet pavement, and it still does that rather well. I have found that when it's rainy, I can expect a little loss of traction if I push it too much. But I have never felt unsafe. It certainly won't hydroplane with the tread depth on these tires.

Tread wear has been good, I think I will probably replace them at about 50,000 miles of use, which is far beyond most sticky mud terrain tires. One thing to note about these or most mud terrain tires, is that they are heavy. I upgraded my brake discs and pads to compensate for the extra weight these carry.

Overall I couldn't be happier!

Initial Review, 31,000 Miles on Tires
April 13, 2013

For traction, braking, and cornering, it is hard to do any better. They make my Honda Accord handle like NASCAR. The downside to these tires is that they tend to cup or chop, whatever you want to call it. The result is very uneven wear and shorter tire life. I am replacing these with a different tire at 31,000 miles due to this issue. I thought it was my car, but after a lot of alignment and strut work, it did the same thing to this second set of tires. When the uneven wear sets in, the road noise becomes deafening.

Initial Review, 20,000 Miles on Tires
March 17, 2013

Good tire used on road and off road, on the road good wet braking and cornering no hydroplaning even in heavy down pours. Good in the snow and light and deep both. Off road in the deep snow up to the sides of the 4Runner they worked well in 2WD. Did need to engage 4WD to get out of over a foot of deep snow while off road. It was while helping someone off the side of the road. Considering the design isn't an off road design they did pretty well. Tire noise is minimal and fuel economy was much better than the Dunlop Grandtrek AT20s they replaced. The 4Runner used to get 17 mpg in town driving after mounting the Conti's the mileage came up to 18 to 19 on avg in the summer. Used them for some off road in the desert and they did fine on National Park and State Part dirt roads. Some wash outs and sand gravel and rocks nothing serious. Not a real off road tire but a good one for what it's designed for street and highway and mild off road. This is only a 20000 mile report will see how they age and resist hydroplaning as the tread wears out. So far I'd strongly recommend this tire.

Initial Review, 7,000 Miles on Tires
February 13, 2013

I am from Montreal and ordered them and have them installed in the US. The whole process was smooth.

The tires are quite good for winter conditions. I get amazing traction in almost all situations. We have had a few serious snow storms and a few days of freezing rain. I have never had any problems accelerating, braking and cornering. I rarely engage the ABS. I don't have traction control but my tires don't spin even on ice. I use to drive a Nissan Rogue AWD for the winter with Michelin's x-ice and i can tell you that my Corolla with Altimax feels similar, my FWD combined with these tires are just as secure.
The noise level of these tires are however louder than my previous winter tires. That is expected with its aggressive tread design. Same reason why the dry traction and steering response is rated lower. Under hard acceleration, the steering input is often irresponsive. You should expect a .5-.7ms second delay between your steering input and the vehicle's action.

Depending on how long they'll last, probably will buy again.

Initial Review, 6,000 Miles on Tires
March 29, 2013

These tires are great in the snow. The ABS rarely activated under normal braking, and there was sufficient traction to keep up with 4x4 trucks from a stop. I took the Jetta for a 2 hour drive in 9" of snow and honestly had no problems starting or stopping. My wife even noticed a difference and said she never wanted all-season tires for winter again. I had the choice between my 4x4 Tahoe and the Jetta with these tires, and I picked the Jetta for snow every time.

The tires are slightly squirmy compared to the O.E. tires but that is to be expected from a winter tire. Noise was similar to the O.E. tire.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
February 16, 2013

Quiet responsive and long lasting. I have upgraded brakes and these tires have no problem wet or dry with amazing stopping grip.

Initial Review, 9,000 Miles on Tires
February 17, 2013

This was a replacement tire for the original OEM Goodyears that I replaced at just over 38,000 miles. To be honest I did not know what to expect as these replacement Bridgestones were around half the price of the OEM Goodyears. I was very suprised overall and continue to be with the wet braking performance in particular. They balanced up easily and the ride comfort is excellent. Although maybe not so off road capable as the original Goodyear Wranglers? they do have the same load rating. There is very little wear so far and it is uniform, I would not be suprised if these tires went welll over 40,000 too early to say of course! A very well balanced tire performance wise - in fact a delightful tire and made in USA! If you are mostly on-road do not hesitate to install these on your Land Rover or Range Rover!

Initial Review, 5,000 Miles on Tires
March 26, 2013

I've been a long time skeptic of all season tires. Having spent a decade switching between dedicated summer and snow/winter wheel sets, I decided to give the DWS a try. My previous set of A/S tires, RE960 AS's were a huge disappointment. The dry weather in early January gave ample opportunities to test traction and stability and although the DWS' are a little less responsive than say the SportContacts it's certainly enough for a small AWD sedan. The snow storms in February/March however have made me a believer. Braking on snow is as expected. Ice performance is as well (since nothing is "great" on ice, "OK" performance is acceptable. The light/heavy snow traction though is what impressed me. This does have something to do with the fact that I drive an AWD with a manual transmission, but the tires rocked the snowy roads. I actually found myself detouring down unplowed streets just to keep the smile on my face!