After about 17,000 or so miles and less than 3/32″ of thread left on them, I finally said goodbye to the Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyres that came with my #LoveMyS5. All four tyres started to whinge and cry out for mercy about a month ago when trying to carve up the hills of the Willamette Valley. While driving on highways and in and around suburbia, the tyres got pretty noisy and liked to squirm.
Over the past two months, I had been researching various summer high-performance tyres and quizzed several other Audi owners what they have run and what they like and don’t like. The overwhelming consensus was that the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 and Pilot Super Sport were the ones to get. The former probably would have the same wear, grip and handling as the Pirellis; while, the latter seems to be quite a bit better all around. Tire Rack reviews also point to the Pilot Super Sport being über alles for the type of driving that I would do (i.e.: no track days).
So, last week, I placed an order for a set of Michelin Pilot Super Sport in the stock 255/35 19″ size and finally got them installed this afternoon. Once I got the car back with the new tyres, I could immediately hear a difference as I drove back home. The biggest change was that the tyre noise from the Pirellis were gone and I can now hear the drivetrain whine and a bit more of the exhaust note again.
Of course, the tyres are still brand new and have not been broken in yet. I will hopefully have had a good two thousand miles on them before possibly having to swap them out with the winter wheels and tyres. By then, I should have a better feel of how the new tyres compare to the Pirelli tyres I had on for the past two years.
Speaking of winter tyres, word of note: DO NOT GO WITH RUN FLAT TYRES, EVER! Running run flat tyres on the S5 is basically like driving with tyres made from rocks. Just plain flipping sucks.