OK, I just changed my 2 rear tires last week from 19" Potenza to 19" Michelin Pilot Sport A/S at 16K mile. I didn't have enought money to change the front Potenza yet. It doesn't look that bad, but I could be wrong.

(Don't flame me this) Anyway, I was driving home tonight on the highway and a Supercharged Mini Cooped wanted to race. So we start off at 55 mile per hour roll in 3rd gear. When we were at 110 Mph, we came upon a slight curve on the highway. Not a really bad curve, but my car could not handle the curve at all. The Mini went right through it without a problem. I can feel my car starting to get out of control a little bit. Thought I was going to lose control of the car and crash into the guardrail. I think this is due to the front not having enought grip while the rear have plenty of grip. Is it that dangerous to drive with mis-match tire manufacturer? I'm planning to get Michelin Pilot Sport for the front.

Oh by the way, I was ahead by 1.5 car length before we got to the curve.

 

Geez . . . I am not sure about mixing tires. However, if your front tires were worn down, that's not good. Needless to say, glad to read that you didn't get in an accident and perhaps . . . You will reconsider running that fast the next time. Be good n be safe!

 

you are lucky to be alive.

 

how many miles do you have on your new tires?? you know that the tires need to be broken in - they are slippery when they are new! perhaps that's what happened?

 

break in first......

 

Maybe OEM Potenza's grip better than michelins sport A/S? I know on '04 18s there is no better summer tire than OEM michelin pilot sports, so for those 19s maybe you should reconsider sticking with the OEM tire. And Michelins A/S are not as good as the Michelins Pilot Sports (I think). Just my .02.

 

this is really bad! beaten by a mini cooper! what more can i say? the owner of the mini cooper will now think every G35 sucks. you brought us all down with you!!!

 

I'm with Andy on this. I don't think mixing performance tires is a good idea. They all have very specific characteristics. Some better in dry or wet ..etc. You should be much better balance with the Michelin's on the front too. Be safe!

oh, did you have to change your shorts? hehe
110mph curve+car gets squirrelly = stinky shorts

 

I think it's time for some suspension mods

 

LOL sounds like a similar experience I had in my '99 Prelude while driving from Chicago to West Lafeyette, IN in 2001. Myself and some guy on a bike were FLYING down 65 South...it was like 2AM and we had very little traffic in our way the whole drive...radar at the ready.

We were probably running consistently about 110-115mph, not a State Trooper the entire drive. We had been alternating who was in front. At this point he was in front of me as we aproached a gradual curve to the left. LOL gradual at 110mph isn't quite as gradual at 75mph. That is the most frightened I've ever been in a car. Of course, he took the turn just fine but my tires were at the limits of adhesion...and he realized it as well after that curve. There wasn't a guardrail in sight. I certainly would've flown off into the field and tumbled endlessley until the car was obliterated.

He slowed down and got along side me and gave me a 'so-so' hand gesture as I gave him a thumbs down and a 'no' shake of the head. We were having a blast though...the rest of the drive we stuck together until I hit Lafayette...we saluted each other with a flash of our lights and he kept heading south to Indy.

Fun drive...but I didn't enjoy learning the limit of those Falken ZE-502's

 

I have mixed tires; OEM in front and pilots in back. I haven't ever noticed a problem.

The problem is trying to take a turn a 110mph; thats simply not safe. Your lucky you didn't total the car! The Cooper is a much lighter car and can take turns faster than our big @ss car.

You want to take turns that fast put on racing slicks and goto a race track...

 

erm.. actually, since we have a longer and wider wheelbase, we should be more stable around long sweepers. if anything, the cooper should've been more squirrely around that curve. I'm thinking it was a mix of:

better traction at rear (for a bit anyway)
not so stable traction cause of your non-broken in rears
and maybe your turn in was crappy?


Also, i'm not understanding why you didn't leave him inhaling your exhaust fumes... I used to have a cooper S before the G35, and I'm almost confident my car could almost destroy the cooper on a 55-to-whatever run. I'm hoping he had a 19% and some other minor mods done to have kept up with you, but that was a fairly poor performance on your part.


when you say you felt the car losing it, do you mean understeer? I've taken sweepers similar to the one you're describing (well, based on the speed you took it at), and i don't remember getting such problems at speed, even on dunlop winter m-sports. I'm thinking that must be mostly due to your rear tires.

 

Mixed tires isnt a good idea if you plan on pushing the car like that.

 

Just wondering if vdc was on??

 

mix and match front / rears... not so good. I agree w/ Binar

break in the tires anywhere from 100-200 to 300-500 miles depending on make or type. They have much less grip when they are brand new(as mentioned by Giarc).

I don't think a "slight curve" in the highway at 110 will make you loose that much control. It has to be something else... in dry conditions, even the varying grip limits of different tires are not too different. Either tires not worn in yet (the new ones), you said the fronts look okay, or your steering was off. Did you snap into the turn rather than a smooth transition? Hit any bumps the mini didn't? Varying road compisition or transition from ashphalt to concrete, etc... At those speeds, i don't know if your VDC would have saved you from fishtailing back and forth into a guard rail. Without too much detail like how you lost control (front end came loose, rear kicked out, sudden loss of traction, etc...) we'll never really know.

Know your limits and the limits of those around you. Have fun, but be safe.