Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 “Road Use” Review
(Fitted after running winters for 2350 miles from new)
So as a bit of a laugh, I ordered the Cup 2 tires when I purchased my car. I finally had them fitted to my 19” wheels (someone damaged them before I took delivery) and swapped the wheels over myself.
Although I think most people are going to probably try Pilot Super Sports I thought as I had them I’d give my review of using the Cup2’s on the road as a daily driver.
I’ll break it down into a couple of areas and then some driving experiences
Ride Quality
I went from 18” winter tires to 19” Cup2’s so there was some comfort changes.
When the tires are cold, it’s a pretty harsh ride if I’m honest. Even comfort mode is hard work, Cupra mode and you’re off to the dentist for new fillings.
Once they are warmed up a bit though there isn’t much to complain about (and by warm up I mean 10 mins driving on duel carriage way, not like an F1 car weaving and braking hard etc it really doesnt take much).
Road Noise
They are seriously louder than my winter tires – there is a constant “howl” from the tires that does get a bit tiresum but put the stereo on and that gets shot of most of it. Over time I’ve gotten more used to it so its less of an issue now. Again it seems down to tyre temp, the warmer they are the more they quiet down.
Life span
So they arrived brand new with under 6mm of tread on them (I think the official number is 5.7mm). Right now I don’t know how they will last – I was hoping at least 1 summer with a rotation, preferably 2 but looking at the tread I think that might be a push. However as they are asymmetrical you can rotate them how you like, so you can swap the rear right with the front left for instance to balance out the wear.
Looks
Perhaps not important at all, but I think if you look at them on the car they do look pretty sporty. The tread isn’t the most “aggressive” looking but if you look at them you can see they mean business with the amount of rubber and lack of multi-grooves on the surface. The side profile is pretty cool – they do something different with the branding so the make and model stand out more – its like a kinda velvet effect look… I really like it!
Cold Driving
Around 6:45am I leave the house, car is in a garage so temp a little higher than outside.
Car reads 8.5 air temp when I start it and a quick zap of the tires with a digital thermometer reads the tires are the same.
I pull away at the end of my road and the wheels hop and loose traction a little with very little throttle, however 100m down the road, I go round a sharp corner at 30mph and it just grips, so from standstill cold they are bit unhappy.
After 9 miles of duel carriage way and a short 30mph town I enter a single carriageway national speed limit. I performed 2 x 40-60mph overtake on national speed limit – there was instant bite no torque steer, wheel spin or lights flashing, just POWER!
After 14 miles I approach a duel carriage way with traffic lights on the roundabout (ugh), thankfully they are green and I enter the roundabout at about 50. The route on and off the roundabout is a slight S-bend type affair so I put my foot down and try to stay in my lane completely going round the corner. They grip outstandingly at exactly 70mph (officer!) No slip, stayed in lane, really impressive. Can feel the tyres and diff working to keep it all in check.
After this is settle down with ACC and finish the rest of my journey in normal boring fashion.
After 20 miles I stop at my destination - air temp reads 7.5. The rears are at 25 degrees front at 30 degrees. Psi on front raised from 39 (when cold) to 40.5
Wet Driving
Now, I was crapping myself due to what I had read and seen online about wet grip...
Raining for at least 4 hours prior to leaving and still raining when I left, puddles on floor. Outside temp 8deg.
When I went out is was really really wet out, huge puddles in the road. While out driving it got progressively worse to a full on downpour so it really put them to the test.
(yes, thats a river running down my road!)
Initial ride quality was harsh due to the tires being cold, and as I went around my first corner at around 20-30mph the back started to slip a little and it felt very uneasy under foot. Not fill your pants scary, just unsettled. Once a bit of heat was in them they stared to grip up nicely, even with so much water on the road.
On a clear duel carriageway dropped to 4th and accelerated hard(ish) from 40mph to see what would happen and the wheels spin, tcs light flashing away and a bit of a squirm. Once up to speed settled down and no dramas. TBH the best way to describe how they felt in the wet was how my winter tires felt in the warm… a little lack of confidence but nothing I would fear.
When I stopped and felt the tires, they were barely warm to the touch so wet weather will really make them hard to get any heat into.
In the wet, you just need to keep your wits about you and drive a lot more careful. Driving like your mum/nan in the car is prob the best way to do it. You just need to not power round corners, and drive with a lighter right foot.
Warm afternoon driving
I finish work and it’s pretty warm out…12 air and tire temp 17.
Car had been sitting all day and the sun had been making the drivers side tires sticky from the outset.
Initial pull away there was a bit of a stagger I think as one side of the car still needed to get warm, but once the engine was warm enough to put my foot down so was the tire. There was a nice 15 plate Audi RS3 in front of me that booted it down a slip road onto the duel carriageway we were joining, when I realised what he was doing it I gave it some welly too and the tires just bit into the tarmac and threw me forwards… He didn’t even edge away from me before we both settled down to our individual boring commute home.
I went on the country roads home to see how it handled round the corners, while the roads were a little busy I had absolute confidence in the car, it’s amazing how you don’t even have to push hard and it just propels you up the road, flying round the corners with no effort. You can come off the power completely and just glide the car around the corners using just the grip from the cup2’s and it always keeps the car exactly where you point it.
You can really feel the diff and the tires working together to get you round the corners and keep the car in check, you just have to push on and trust its gonna do what you tell it and every time it did!
After 24 miles, the air temp is now 16 and the front tyres are 45 with 41psi. (forgot to do the rears, sorry)
Driving in anything round 15-20+ degrees outside they are simply staggering on how well they grip and work with the car. At road speeds, you can attack any corner at pretty much any speed and its like the car is on rails.
I’ve tried launch control and so far I’ve not had much more luck, perhaps when we get some really warm weather I’ll try again. But I’ve been out and pulled away hard at junctions not had any slip or skip at all… not quite foot to the floor pull away (why would you need to in a cupra with that much power!) but not far off! So they clearly help the initial bite once they have some decent temp in them.
Once they have heat in them they hang onto it pretty well - 30 mins or so going back to my car, they are still hot to the touch which is good.
Summary
So in summary – Are they too extreme for the uk summer roads? IMHO… No.
Are they probably a bit too extreme for daily driving for everyone? Perhaps.
Would I use them if I didn’t have a spare set of winter wheels/tyres? Absolutely not!
They totally transform the car, it’s like driving a completely different beast compared to the winters and from the demo car I had for a day that was running the stock bridgestones. That was good, but these tyres make the car just that extra bit insane.
Would I get them again?
In all honesty probably not – if only for the expense factor if they don’t last long, its gonna be too crazy to replace after a few thousand miles. They are really impressive and the more I drive the more I wonder if I would just take the hit and keep using them, but I'll see how these go first.
If they appear to last longer then maybe, otherwise I’ll go to PSS as if they are even 50% of what these can do in the dry and better in the wet, they should be a pretty outstanding tire.
(Fitted after running winters for 2350 miles from new)
So as a bit of a laugh, I ordered the Cup 2 tires when I purchased my car. I finally had them fitted to my 19” wheels (someone damaged them before I took delivery) and swapped the wheels over myself.
Although I think most people are going to probably try Pilot Super Sports I thought as I had them I’d give my review of using the Cup2’s on the road as a daily driver.
I’ll break it down into a couple of areas and then some driving experiences
Ride Quality
I went from 18” winter tires to 19” Cup2’s so there was some comfort changes.
When the tires are cold, it’s a pretty harsh ride if I’m honest. Even comfort mode is hard work, Cupra mode and you’re off to the dentist for new fillings.
Once they are warmed up a bit though there isn’t much to complain about (and by warm up I mean 10 mins driving on duel carriage way, not like an F1 car weaving and braking hard etc it really doesnt take much).
Road Noise
They are seriously louder than my winter tires – there is a constant “howl” from the tires that does get a bit tiresum but put the stereo on and that gets shot of most of it. Over time I’ve gotten more used to it so its less of an issue now. Again it seems down to tyre temp, the warmer they are the more they quiet down.
Life span
So they arrived brand new with under 6mm of tread on them (I think the official number is 5.7mm). Right now I don’t know how they will last – I was hoping at least 1 summer with a rotation, preferably 2 but looking at the tread I think that might be a push. However as they are asymmetrical you can rotate them how you like, so you can swap the rear right with the front left for instance to balance out the wear.
Looks
Perhaps not important at all, but I think if you look at them on the car they do look pretty sporty. The tread isn’t the most “aggressive” looking but if you look at them you can see they mean business with the amount of rubber and lack of multi-grooves on the surface. The side profile is pretty cool – they do something different with the branding so the make and model stand out more – its like a kinda velvet effect look… I really like it!
Cold Driving
Around 6:45am I leave the house, car is in a garage so temp a little higher than outside.
Car reads 8.5 air temp when I start it and a quick zap of the tires with a digital thermometer reads the tires are the same.
I pull away at the end of my road and the wheels hop and loose traction a little with very little throttle, however 100m down the road, I go round a sharp corner at 30mph and it just grips, so from standstill cold they are bit unhappy.
After 9 miles of duel carriage way and a short 30mph town I enter a single carriageway national speed limit. I performed 2 x 40-60mph overtake on national speed limit – there was instant bite no torque steer, wheel spin or lights flashing, just POWER!
After 14 miles I approach a duel carriage way with traffic lights on the roundabout (ugh), thankfully they are green and I enter the roundabout at about 50. The route on and off the roundabout is a slight S-bend type affair so I put my foot down and try to stay in my lane completely going round the corner. They grip outstandingly at exactly 70mph (officer!) No slip, stayed in lane, really impressive. Can feel the tyres and diff working to keep it all in check.
After this is settle down with ACC and finish the rest of my journey in normal boring fashion.
After 20 miles I stop at my destination - air temp reads 7.5. The rears are at 25 degrees front at 30 degrees. Psi on front raised from 39 (when cold) to 40.5
Wet Driving
Now, I was crapping myself due to what I had read and seen online about wet grip...
Raining for at least 4 hours prior to leaving and still raining when I left, puddles on floor. Outside temp 8deg.
When I went out is was really really wet out, huge puddles in the road. While out driving it got progressively worse to a full on downpour so it really put them to the test.
(yes, thats a river running down my road!)
Initial ride quality was harsh due to the tires being cold, and as I went around my first corner at around 20-30mph the back started to slip a little and it felt very uneasy under foot. Not fill your pants scary, just unsettled. Once a bit of heat was in them they stared to grip up nicely, even with so much water on the road.
On a clear duel carriageway dropped to 4th and accelerated hard(ish) from 40mph to see what would happen and the wheels spin, tcs light flashing away and a bit of a squirm. Once up to speed settled down and no dramas. TBH the best way to describe how they felt in the wet was how my winter tires felt in the warm… a little lack of confidence but nothing I would fear.
When I stopped and felt the tires, they were barely warm to the touch so wet weather will really make them hard to get any heat into.
In the wet, you just need to keep your wits about you and drive a lot more careful. Driving like your mum/nan in the car is prob the best way to do it. You just need to not power round corners, and drive with a lighter right foot.
Warm afternoon driving
I finish work and it’s pretty warm out…12 air and tire temp 17.
Car had been sitting all day and the sun had been making the drivers side tires sticky from the outset.
Initial pull away there was a bit of a stagger I think as one side of the car still needed to get warm, but once the engine was warm enough to put my foot down so was the tire. There was a nice 15 plate Audi RS3 in front of me that booted it down a slip road onto the duel carriageway we were joining, when I realised what he was doing it I gave it some welly too and the tires just bit into the tarmac and threw me forwards… He didn’t even edge away from me before we both settled down to our individual boring commute home.
I went on the country roads home to see how it handled round the corners, while the roads were a little busy I had absolute confidence in the car, it’s amazing how you don’t even have to push hard and it just propels you up the road, flying round the corners with no effort. You can come off the power completely and just glide the car around the corners using just the grip from the cup2’s and it always keeps the car exactly where you point it.
You can really feel the diff and the tires working together to get you round the corners and keep the car in check, you just have to push on and trust its gonna do what you tell it and every time it did!
After 24 miles, the air temp is now 16 and the front tyres are 45 with 41psi. (forgot to do the rears, sorry)
Driving in anything round 15-20+ degrees outside they are simply staggering on how well they grip and work with the car. At road speeds, you can attack any corner at pretty much any speed and its like the car is on rails.
I’ve tried launch control and so far I’ve not had much more luck, perhaps when we get some really warm weather I’ll try again. But I’ve been out and pulled away hard at junctions not had any slip or skip at all… not quite foot to the floor pull away (why would you need to in a cupra with that much power!) but not far off! So they clearly help the initial bite once they have some decent temp in them.
Once they have heat in them they hang onto it pretty well - 30 mins or so going back to my car, they are still hot to the touch which is good.
Summary
So in summary – Are they too extreme for the uk summer roads? IMHO… No.
Are they probably a bit too extreme for daily driving for everyone? Perhaps.
Would I use them if I didn’t have a spare set of winter wheels/tyres? Absolutely not!
They totally transform the car, it’s like driving a completely different beast compared to the winters and from the demo car I had for a day that was running the stock bridgestones. That was good, but these tyres make the car just that extra bit insane.
Would I get them again?
In all honesty probably not – if only for the expense factor if they don’t last long, its gonna be too crazy to replace after a few thousand miles. They are really impressive and the more I drive the more I wonder if I would just take the hit and keep using them, but I'll see how these go first.
If they appear to last longer then maybe, otherwise I’ll go to PSS as if they are even 50% of what these can do in the dry and better in the wet, they should be a pretty outstanding tire.
