LanGanu007
12.03.10 02:14 AM

Greetings to all beloved readers I've jumped into the PS3 bandwagon on day 2 after it hit the market...it couldn't have come at a better timing as my previous rubbers were already down to the treadwear indicator

For fellow readers' reference, my tyre size is 245/40/18.

If I can sum up my experience with the PS3...it'll be...no regrets, not looking back, definitely will remain my choice for the next 2 - 3 tyre replacements until PS4 comes out

But as I've promised Bro vr2turbo, I have to itemise my experience with the PS3 without fear or favour for the benefit of our fellow readers. Here it goes...

After doing some decent, mild and extreme driving, I've so far clocked almost 500km on the spanking new PS3 on my ride fitted 2 days ago.

Scrub in was almost immediate (even the PS2 needed about 50km to scrub in). My car turns with razor sharp precision irrespective of road speed.

Wet Handling...So far, I have not driven through heavy downpour yet. But I've driven the PS3 over the immediate leftover of a heavy downpour...through puddles and streaming water on country/back roads. True to PS reputation...the car stayed true to my cornering line. The last time I experienced this was with my PS2. Even my previous rubbers (GY Eagle F1 Asy) veered off line when crossing puddles. The "problem" with PS3 is that I the limits of traction under such condition is so much better than the PS2!!! Why I say it is a problem...because I tend to attack the corners even faster because I can brake very very late and power out so very early...so addictive!!! Thankfully the vehicle in front remind me to do that sparingly Nevertheless, I'm not yet finished with the wet handling test until I get to drive it through East Coast's like infamous monsoon downpours. For now, a big tick for Wet Handling.

Dry Handling...What can I say...this tyre performs almost similar to semi-slicks without the setbacks of semi-slicks (need to warm up the tyre for maximum grip; wears off rapidly; ridiculously expensive; completely hopeless in the rain). For those of you whom have used PS2 before...the PS3 bites and sticks to tarmac completely identical to PS2...if at all, subjectively slightly better than the PS2. This is because, I'm able to attack mid corners and hairpins at about 10km/h to 15km/h faster than when I used the PS2 on the same mid corners and hairpins. Here's the big surprise...when I did that with my PS2, I can see my instrument panel showing my traction control working very hard most of the time. With the PS3...voila, my car's traction control display on the instrument panel hardly lit up. In fact, just to make sure I wasn't lucky on that outing, I repeated the same route under the same dry condition WITH MY TRACTION CONTROL SWITCHED OFF (no need to reveal the vehicle speed...enough to say the various isolated raw vegetables I kept in the boot became MIXED VEGETABLES at the end of the route. Another big tick for Dry Handling.

Comfort and Noise...As far as I can remember from my PS2 days, subjectively there is no significant difference in the noise level. The PS2 was among the most quietest tyres when it was launched. This reputation was significantly challenged by the GY Eagle F1 Asy towards the tail end of the PS2 era. I can subjectively say, the GY Eagle F1 Asy was slightly quieter than the PS2...only slightly. Minor tick for the Noise. Comfort...oh my gosh...as is typical of PS series...the PS3 is so so butter smooth. The sensation felt when running on typical Malaysian country/back roads is like driving using 70 profile/series tyres...very comfortable. A big tick for Comfort.

Appearance...Trust me on this...Unlike the PS2's very attractive and seductive side view, the PS3 is indeed very bland looking from the side whether tyre only view or tyre fitted to car view. But when viewed from the front or the rear or front three quarter or rear three quarter, the PS3 is oh so garang and sexy I used to admire the PS2's or the CSC2's front/rear view but the PS3 takes it to another level altogether. A big tick indeed for Appearance.

RM...this is where it matters most after all the big ticks above...this is also where I normally end up with a BIG CROSS OUT INSTEAD OF A TICK because the cost of 1 PS2 can buy 2.5 tyre of the same size from various competitor brands...what good is such positive qualities if it cost a bomb, right? Well, I guess Michelin struck the right formula this time round...by manufacturing the PS3 in TomYum Land, it is able to sell at a very un-Michelin price levels...especially for a PS series!!! Another big bonus is that, this time Michelin learnt their lesson well by making the PS series available to even 15 inchers Those days, I used to be so pissed off at Michelin for making their PS series available to those respective era's large wheels (Pilot Sport was launched when 13"/14"/15" wheels were common and their smallest size was 16"; Pilot Sport 2 was launched when 15"/16" was common and their smallest size was 17"...this time PS3 is launched when 16"/17"/18" is common and the PS3 has all sizes starting from 15") So this time round, Michelin is most likely to make a huge success with the PS3 because suddenly people whom can only afford at best a Michelin PP series can now go for the PS series for a negligible premium and suddenly transformed their vehicle to greater capabilities...Definitely a big tick for RM

Now here's the icing to the cake...I always save the best for last...in my previous write up about PS2, I've always overlooked 3 very important features about the PS series. Now is the best time to enlighten fellow readers about these features...for those whom have used the PS series, this is nothing new, of course.

1) As far as I know, only Michelin gives out unconditional 5 years warranty on their PS series for purchases throughout the year...no need to wait for special promo to give out such warranty...even if given, it is normally CONDITIONAL WARRANTY .

But for the PS3, Michelin is giving out not 5 but 6 years unconditional warranty...I think the warranty will outlive the treadwear.

2) The trick about getting the best out of the PS series is to use exactly the vehicle manufacturer's tyre pressure recommendation. It is not like other tyres...when wanting hard ride, overinflate; when wanting soft ride, underinflate. Do either one (underinflate or overinflate) in a Michelin PS series the ride would normally be hard. When the tyres are inflated to the exact tyre pressure as indicated in the vehicle owner's manual, the ride would be butter smooth, quiet and maximum traction achievable;

3) I don't know what the guys at Michelin do with their PS series but their PS series are very light compared to other brands of the same size.

Having said all the above, for those that intend to change to the PS3 from GY Eagle F1 Asy, a mild degree of improvement in wet, dry and comfort can be experienced. For those that intend to change from other brands/models, a drastic degree of improvement in wet, dry, comfort and noise can be experienced. For those that intend to change from PS2...a slight degree of improvement in wet, dry and comfort can be experienced.

Hopefully my feedback above is of help to fellow readers in their decision making process. I shall provide more feedback on this topic when I get newer inputs to post.

Good luck in your decision making process. My instinctive guess is that most of you guys and gals out there that do decide to go for the PS3 is not going to regret getting them. The thought of "...why didn't I go for the PS series all these while despite its price..." may come to mind. Good hunting

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--007--

Coloured dots and stripes - whats that all about?
When you're looking for new tyres, you'll often see some coloured dots on the tyre sidewall, and bands of colour in the tread. These are all here for a reason, but it's more for the tyre fitter than for your benefit.
The dots on the sidewall typically denote unformity and weight. It's impossible to manufacture a tyre which is perfectly balanced and perfectly manufactured in the belts. As a result, all tyres have a point on the tread which is lighter than the rest of the tyre - a thin spot if you like. It's fractional - you'd never notice it unless you used tyre manufacturing equipment to find it, but its there. When the tyre is manufactured, this point is found and a coloured dot is put on the sidewall of the tyre corresponding to the light spot.
Typically this is a yellow dot (although some manufacturers use different colours just to confuse us) and is known as the weight mark. Typically the yellow dot should end up aligned to the valve stem on your wheel and tyre combo. This is because you can help minimize the amount of weight needed to balance the tyre and wheel combo by mounting the tire so that its light point is matched up with the wheel's heavy balance point. Every wheel has a valve stem which cannot be moved so that is considered to be the
heavy balance point for the wheel.
As well as not being able to manufacture perfectly weighted tyres, it's also nearly impossible to make a tyre which is perfectly circular. By perfectly circular, I mean down to some nauseating number of decimal places. Again, you'd be hard pushed to actually be able to tell that a tyre wasn't round without specialist equipment. Every tyre has a high and a low spot, the difference of which is called radial runout. Using sophisticated computer analysis, tyre manufacturers spin each tyre and look for the 'wobble' in the tyre at certain RPMs. It's all about harmonic frequency (you know - the frequency at which something vibrates, like the Tacoma Narrows
bridge collapse). Where the first harmonic curve from the tyre wobble hits its high point, that's where the tyre's high spot is.
Manufacturers typically mark this point with a red dot on the tyre sidewall, although again, some tyres have no marks, and others use different colours. This is called the uniformity mark. Correspondingly, most wheel rims are also not 100% circular, and will have a notch or a dimple stamped into the wheel rim somewhere indicating their low point. It makes sense then, that the high point of the tyre should be matched with the low point of the wheel rim to balance out the radial runout.


What about the coloured stripes in the tread?
Often when you buy tyres, there will be a coloured band or stripe running around the tyre inside the tread. These can be any colour and can be placed laterally almost anyhwere across the tread. Some are on the tread blocks whilst others are on the tyre carcass.
For ages I thought this was a uniformity check - a painted mark used to check the "roundness" of the tyre. But I had a tyre dealer contact me with a far more feasible answer. The same tyre is often made with slightly tweaked specifications for different vehicles.
To easily identify these same labelled tyres when they are warehoused or in storage, different markings and stripes are used.
Sometimes stripes are added for huge bulk orders to various manufactures. Eg All the red outside stripes are for Toyota next week.This gives anyone in the warehouse a very quick visual check of the different types of tyres without needing to pull them all down and read the sidewall on each one.
As well as the colour, the actual position of the lines is something to take note of too. They're a measure of something called runout. Depending on how the belts are laid on the tyre during manufacturing, they can cause the tire to "run out" - to not track perfectly straight, but pull to the left or right. The closer to the centre of the tyre that these lines are, the less runout the tyre has and the straighter it will track when mounted on your car. So for example, if you were looking at your car from the front and you saw the coloured striped running around the right side of both your front tyres, the car would likely have a tendency to pull to that side. The best thing is to have the coloured stripes on opposite sides of the tyres for opposite sides of the car, so that the runout on each side will counteract the other and help maintain a good straight running. This is something that not many tyre fitting places know about or take any notice of. The obvious solution to having the stripes both on one side is to flip one of the tyres around, but that will only work if they're not unidirectional tyres. If they are unidirectional (and thus must be mounted to rotate a specific way) then you should try to find another tyre from the same batch with the stripe on the opposite side.