Hi,

I have a 1997 850 T-5. I bought a new set of Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S H-Rated tires. Tire Size, 205-55-16. These are classified as a All Weather High Performance tire.

Driving under normal conditions, on side streets, etc... they are fine, but driving 50mph or faster on a freeway, and you try to make a quick jerk in the steering wheel to avoid something on the road, you feel LAG. The car doesn't respond that quickly to the turn. I talked to the place I bought the tires from, and from what they said it's probably the tires, that the car weighs a lot and at those speeds, you are going to get LAG, unless you have a higher performace type tire. They also mentioned that this car originally came with V-Rated tires. They said that the V-Rated tire has a stiffer side-wall. But my brother said, that's not going to make much of a difference and that I should go with a different size tire, like a 215-50-16. He said this would provide better handling.

What are your opinions? What tire sizes do you run on your 850's turbo's? Is it safe to use a tire size that is not the factory standard?

Thank you,

Michael

I have had the exact same Exalto A/S tires on my 1995 850 turbo sedan for about two and a half years and 27k miles and they have been the best tires I have ever had in snow, rain or shine. It is really fun to drive in heavy rain or snow on highways and see/feel like all other cars are ... parked! They have also been great at speeds almost exceeding the end indication of the speedometer. Therefore, I am really puzzled with your experiences.

1995 850 turbo sedan (174k miles and still being the best car ever driven on both sides of the Atlantic)

I'm not surprised. The Exalto A/S (meaning all-season) is not a high-performance tire -- only the name is like Michelin's really good Exalto PE2 and PS2 (the latter has been renamed), but this A/S is just an all-season compromise, and as any compromise, it excels in nothing.

Just after the A/S came out (the year after the PE2 and PS2), Michelin still had a much more informative website in which you could compare the different tires for performance criteria (braking, cornering, etc.) -- one of the best features was a multi-axis graph comparing such criteria, and each tire in a class had a point on that graph with with you could compare tires for whatever traits were your priority. It was terrific as a tire selection tool.
And I remember that the "new" Exalto A/S scored far less than the Exalto PE2 (which in turn was far less than the PS2) -- so, as I wrote above, it's no wonder you're disappointed.

Needless to say, Michelin pulled these informative features from their website. And lacking the Michelin website features, I strongly recommend www.TireRack.com for a future source of good performance test comparisons (as opposed to something like Consumer Reports, which doesn't what performance means) for the next time you pick tires. BTW, you'll see glowing reports for the PE2 and PS2 in their head-to-head comparisons with other tires.

I have to admit that I use the Exalto PE2 on my wife's, my own, and even on my daughter's (at the time) new car (I paid her to have them installed on her car with less than a hundred miles on the OEM MX4's that her S60 2.5T came with, because I love her and I think these PE2's are terrific -- I would have put PS2's on all our cars, but none of us have 17" wheels, the PS2's smallest size). Of course, these PE'2 (and PS2's) are strictly summer tires -- not to be used in the winter -- but it's not a problem for us in N.J., as my wife and I have Nokian Hakka-2's and -5's for winter; and my daughter (in contrast) lives in southern CA, where a snowflake is unheard of. I don't know if having a set of good snow tires is an option for you, though.

You might want to talk to your tire dealer to see if he'll let you trade in those A/S tires for something else. Check with TireRack for your choice.

Good luck.

Hi,

Thank you for the info. I do use tirerack to look at reviews, etc.... Good source of info.

Michael

New tires take a few thousand miles to wear down enough to "feel" really good. The extra tread tends to wiggle a little, which also causes a 2 mpg drop.

I would be reluctant to go to 215/50 because of possible tire rubbing on the inner fender at full lock.
--
My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic.

on my 94 850 wagon N/A I had a set of Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S H-Rated tyres (loved 'em) but they were 195/60r15.

Best tyres I've ever had, problem was they only lasted 44k miles (I think I kept them under-inflated though) and cost mucho dinero.

As I recall, these were more of a cushy cruising tyre, not so much sporty.

The Goodyear GT's I have on now are probably a bit more responsive. These are a V-rated tyre and cost a bit less than the Michelins.
My only issue with these tires is that they 'buzz' at about 40 mph and up. I have ~9k miles on these and 7 months.

Maybe yours feel less responsive because you're a turbo driver. Us normally aspirated people are much more sedated and reasonable, I'm sure. (Just kidding)

(I wish I had Turrrrbo)
--
-Hector

I'm not familiar with those specific tires, but a 55 series sidewall is pretty short to be doing a lot of flexing. What are you running for tire pressure ? Are all the front end parts in good condition ?

Greg

Hi Greg,

I had stopped by the tire store where I purchased the tires, and they checked the tire pressure, and I think they set it to 38, but he mentioned something to the fact that the car was just driving and the tires were warm, so I'm not sure if he compensated for that or what. I'd have to check them cold I guess.

The front end suspension parts have been questionable to me. Last winter we had a bit of a snow/ice event and I was driving down the road and hit a large ice mound head on with the front right wheel. I thought I had knocked the alignment way off, but it didn't seem to do much. I ended up having an alignment not too long ago anyway, and had them check the front components, but they did't seem to find anything wrong. Not sure they really spent much time looking. The car has 105,000 miles, and probably has the original shocks. The car doesn't nose dive when you hit the brakes, but I'm sure some nice Bilstein HD's would help. ") I'm taking the car back in to have the alignment re-checked as the steering wheel is still slightly off centered to the left most of the time when driving, and when I straighten it out, the car veers to the right. Some people mention the crown in the road might cause this, but the steering wheel is almost always off centered to the left a little no matter what road or lane I'm in. I'm suspecting the alignment is still slightly off or have some other issue. They want to test drive it on the freeway next. I will have them check all the suspension components at that time more thoroughly. Someone mentioned to check the rack and pinion bushings....

Thank you.