Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 vs Michelin Pilot Super Sport — Compared

“The Michelin PSS are great tires. I am currently running Michelin (PS3s) on my sport bike. But a more budget-minded summer tire I like for a DD car is the Yokohama s.drive. I got over 26k miles out of my last set on an S5 (some twisties, but no track use). The s.drive is cheaper, quieter, and I believe a little lighter than the PSS. The s.drives do give up grip to the PSS, for sure, but that depends on how hard you push your car on the street, if you're going to be doing track driving with these tires, how much you like being able to break it loose, and the type of car these would be going on. For a car I want to regularly exercise on weekends, I'd go PSS. For a DD that just needs to feel better than it would on an A/S tire, the s.drive is a good balance.”

“Another option would be Bridgestone RE-11 or Yokohama AD-08. Both have slightly more dry traction than the PSS. The big advantage of both of these in my experience is that they have a much stiffer sidewall than the PSS. The assists with response and much less roll over which on heavier cars (like the C63 or my current M3) makes a noticeable improvement. The downside is a slightly stiffer ride, especially on the AD-08. The RE-11 are only a slight trade off in comfort for the advantages noted above. Oh yeah, PSS have better tread wear too For street driving, the PSS are the best. If the car sees track time, I would personally lean towards RE-11. I ran both on my M3 and enjoyed the steering response and grip improvement of the RE-11 over the PSS but mainly because I get out several times a year to the track. When my C63 arrives, I will swap out the wheels (and use them for winter wheels), sell the OEM tires and put after market wheels and RE-11 tires on the car.”

“Re: Best summer tires & Best winter tires! I run PSS on my M Roadster during the summer and do a couple of weeks each summer of some very fast paced driving with our car club on mountain roads. I have tried a number of tires over the years and PSS for me have the best balance of wet and dry traction with a great feel for how close you are to the edge of performance. I have been getting 2 years on the rear tires and 3 years on the front tires. Another brand of very good winter tire is Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2's.”