Hankook Ventus R-S4 vs Michelin Pilot Sport 4 — Compared

“Super happy w Hankook Ventus R-S4s. Follow-up question. I'm 10 track days into owning my first set of Hankook Ventus R-S4s. Thanks for the recommendation. I rotate them after every 2 days on my ND miata. I'm noticing the forewarned heat cycling now. TBH - I like them more now. Car moves around more and i have to modulate brakes myself. When they were new I couldn't get the abs engaged - there was just too much grip for the stock equipment. Anyway, my question is - my research says that with this Tire the grip can drop off quickly. Is that accurate? now that I'm getting into this gray area where they are definitely starting to heat cycle out am I going to leave an event Sunday with 80% new level grip and show up to my next track day two Weeks later at 30%? Edit. I’m working with some assumptions here that might not be valid. I’m assuming I’m getting heat cycling performance drop because I was warned I would heat cycle them out before I wore them down to chords. I am definitely experiencing a noticeable drop in mechanical grip during breaking. I am much more capable of getting into the ABS now than I was on the first days on these tires. My last track weekend was also on a set of pads that are near life end so I think that variable is accounted for. That same weekend was cooler than normal and I noticed the performance drop the entire day not, for example, on cold tires or late in a heavy session.”

“I had the DW's on my Porsche 911 last year and really liked them. I liked them so much, I just installed a set on my C6 base. I waiting for the 3' of snow to melt before I try them out.”

“Wow! You burn rubber. I totally appreciate what you’ve said and on my old e60 I ran both contis D06 and Michelins ps4 for 3 sets each. Both different feel and wear. Contis lasted longer but didn’t feel as nice as PS4. Now I’m in another BMW and cannot rotate the same way with a staggered wheel size. I’m in NC, when I drove PS4, in cold weather, they wore out quickly. They are a summer tire for sure, but I will use a slightly higher pressure to lengthen service life. That camber is rough on the inner tire shoulder / tread and the all season contains held up better there.”

“Reminder: Tires are the key to this car Just replaced my Michelin Pilot Sport 4 AS tires with a new set ahead of the rainy season. Lasted 36K miles. It was the best mod to the car and a fresh set reminded just how good a brand new set is. The car is glued to the road, riding wonderfully smooth and quiet. Spend the money, get the best tires for you. The tune can wait. And it will need it.”

“Quote: Originally Posted by weston.__ I will be going down the non-rft route, Pilot Sport 4. You're not the only one to say the ride quality with non-rft is a massive improvement and this is the reason why I will change once the time comes. I went from Bridgestone S001 RFT to 'go-flats' and have found the suppleness an obvious difference. Since I put the pressure to the mid point between the low and high load plated pressures I have yet to have any of the heartstopping thumps come through the suspension that the Bridgestone seemed prone to.”