Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 Sizes & review

If you’re using your car mainly for track they use figure 3 track days max ….after that you see a significant drop off in lap times

Best set of tires i ever owned. Car was the burn out king with the stock set of summer tires and now its not. Excellant cornering ability for a big heavy car. Sticks to the road. Wet traction is unbelievable. Everyone said that I’d be lucky to get 5000 miles out of these and i have 17000 miles on them and i have alittle more tread life to go. Running 38 psi for more stability . You’d have to be insane to out any tire other than these on…

Squeezed out 2 years and 20K miles on these things with a few track days and driving to / from Florida to end of Nova Scotia on road trips with these things. Plenty of tread left on the fronts and approaching the wear bars in the rear. The tire place was shocked I was changing them out already given how expensive they were but I didn’t trust the rears for another driving season if I get caught in any rain.Thought about going with the new Pilot Sport 4’s but decided to stick with the OEM for the GT4 and just got all 4 corners mounted this week.I’m sure if you do 10 track days a year or donuts in a parking lot these would wear out faster but frankly I’m shocked at how long they lasted for me. I was expecting under 8K miles.

I only track my GT-R, so I’m not looking for mileage. The car itself only gets between 2.8 and 3.5 MPG. I bought a full set for the Chin Track Days at Sebring in Jan 2018 and swapped them with Pirelli Corsas based on weather throughout the weekend. Total heat cycles at Sebring: 3 sessions. Next, on the Rolex 24 course in April at Daytona, the rears were showing signs of tread wear. I only ran it for one session, starting out with 26 PSI. It took two laps to warm them up, but the car ended up doing 194 MPH across the start finish line before braking for the infield at Turn 1. I wish I had used them earlier there.At Watkins Glen, the wear bars were showing on the rear while the fronts looked hardly used. I originally had started with my Corsas there since it was supposed to rain. I could never get the tire pressure and spring rates dialed in and was very uncomfortable with them. It didn’t rain on Day 1 so I switched to the Michelin Cup 2s. The car ran much better. The was less lateral slippage. Track temp was 137F, so we had great grip. On Day 2, I decided to take a chance and run the Cup 2s on a semi-dry surface. The track was beginning to dry after a night of rain and the temperature had dropped to 94. I couldn’t run my line perfectly in order to stay on the dry sections, but the tires behaved very well even with the wear bars showing straight across. I took it easy through the turns and was carefully applied more throttle after the apexes. I haven’t reached my personal bests with these Cup 2s, but it’s because this is my first set and it will take me some time to fully trust them. Once I know where the limits are, I’ll be able to drive harder into the turns and apply more throttle coming out.I’m about to buy another set of rears for Sebring in October. Also looking at the new 20″ Hoosier R7s. My brake rotors and calipers *just* fit inside the 20″ rim, so 19″ rims are out of the question & it’s nice to see Hoosier is now available.

I track my cars heavily and on the ZL1 the stock tires only lasted 5k and I hadn’t tracked it but felt like they were sticky even on cold tires. Didn’t like that they didn’t last long without tracking it so tried some super sports. Those were good tires and last long but I needed more. That 4K car understears heavy on the track once I started going to TDEs once a month I tried the cups 2s and fell in love. Car got totaled (sad) and then got to a completely different car, 981 Cayman GTS (most fun you can have in a car at all times). Bought it used and came with some P Zeros pz4 (something like that) which I actually really liked, even on the track, but still like to be real sticky on the front so I tried out some trofeos (front only). I am now needing to replace the rears, got a few screws in them, but wasn’t planning on changing them because I push them real hard and like to be on the edge of traction on a curve and was having fun but when I saw the cup 2s were available for the rear, I had to try them out. So now I’ll be able to compare them on a light lower HP car with better handling.I hardly write reviews but when I saw the cup 2s had only 3.5 stars I had to do them justice. I didn’t even read the other reviews because I’m guessing they are rating on lame parameters and are just bitter and entitled and/or old Porsche owners who drive their car once a year and —- at drving :).In regards to wet rating of 3 is because I never pushed it in these because they slip easy and I drive the car solely to have fun, everywhere.It is nice when I want to drift every left and right turn but don’t really need assistance with 600 HP.

These are my track tires. Instructor for Porsche NA and BMW. 8 days, minimum 3 sessions per day. 5/32″ remaining. Documented 1.3g turns. These tires work in the rain and dry.

I track my cars heavily and on the ZL1 the stock tires only lasted 5k and I hadn’t tracked it but felt like they were sticky even on cold tires. Didn’t like that they didn’t last long without tracking it so tried some super sports. Those were good tires and last long but I needed more. That 4K car understears heavy on the track once I started going to TDEs once a month I tried the cups 2s and fell in love. Car got totaled (sad) and then got to a completely different car, 981 Cayman GTS (most fun you can have in a car at all times). Bought it used and came with some P Zeros pz4 (something like that) which I actually really liked, even on the track, but still like to be real sticky on the front so I tried out some trofeos (front only). I am now needing to replace the rears, got a few screws in them, but wasn’t planning on changing them because I push them real hard and like to be on the edge of traction on a curve and was having fun but when I saw the cup 2s were available for the rear, I had to try them out. So now I’ll be able to compare them on a light lower HP car with better handling.I hardly write reviews but when I saw the cup 2s had only 3.5 stars I had to do them justice. I didn’t even read the other reviews because I’m guessing they are rating on lame parameters and are just bitter and entitled and/or old Porsche owners who drive their car once a year and —- at drving :).In regards to wet rating of 3 is because I never pushed it in these because they slip easy and I drive the car solely to have fun, everywhere.It is nice when I want to drift every left and right turn but don’t really need assistance with 600 HP.

I only use these tires on the Track, BMW high performance driving events. A 750Li (5000 lbs)is probably the dumbest car you could take to the track, but it does better than you would think. I best i had used to date were the Michelin sport plus tires, They would be down to the cords and chunking rubber at the end of two days. These tires held on to the track better than anything i have used in the past. I still had problems with rolling over in turns and ended up with 39 psi as a starting pressure! (45 psi coming off the track). I got 2 & 1/2 track days out of these tires, one of them was somewhat wet, so i did get to see how they did in the wet, much better than i thought they would be, managed 110 mph down the straight without hydroplaning! Latest event was Palmer motorsports park in MA. This track in incredibly tough for my car – 14 turns, 600 ft elevation change, and 4 switch backs. Tires were melted by the end of two days. The tread was still good for another weekend, but the sidewalls were toast. Will definitely get another set of these for future track events!

As highly touted as these tires are, I expected a lot more. These tires were toasted on the first track day under slow car break-in conditions. The front tires melted in the centers then began to chunk off tread. I would not buy these again. If you go to the track, buy something else. They die quickly and not gracefully. I replaced them with the same tire for the street only but will not do it again.

I am reviewing PSC2 regarding performance on track during an HPDE. I was using the PSS2 tires that came on my 2014 Corvette. They are great tires and performed well on the track. The performance of the Sport Cup 2 tires is far superior to the Super Sports. I was able to carry more speed through the curves, and took more than 3 seconds off lap times compared to the Super Sports. While its too soon to say much about tire wear, after a 4 hour track day (four hours on track), the tires came out in excellent shape. I have a few more track days before the cold weather sets in. I will update my view of tire performance after those HPDE events.

This is a follow up to the review I provided in September, 2016. Since then had four more track days. After the second day the left front tire showed significant wear near the sidewall region of the tread. More significantly the rubber seemed to be peeled away for sections covering about 90 degrees of circumference ( that is the bad regions were not connected) and the cords were exposed in those regions. Obviously the tire was history. The other tires are hanging in and I think I will get one or two more track days on them. So overall five to six track days are what I’ll get. Not bad particularly considering the grip and overall track performance.

OUTSTANDING TIRES!!!! I can’t say enough good things about them. I drive a combination of daily and track. I currently have almost 4K miles and 3.5 track days on the tires since mounting and these are SO MUCH BETTER than Super Sports. Not only have a I improved my track time by 1.5 seconds, these have much more life than the Super Sports that I have put on the car in the past. The best I ever got from my P2S’s is 5K miles with 4 track days. Even with the mileage and track days I have so far with the improved times I am still at 5/32 of tread (came with 7/32s). The only caveat to this is they are much more sensitive to tire pressures. If you let the pressures get too high at the track (over 34 #) then you run the risk of tearing tread (this happened to a friend of mine when he ran the tires at 38#). If you manage the pressures these will last longer than you ever expected. The tire tread also wears more evenly as well. You will know what I am talking about if you run track days. I will definitely be buying these again.

I bought these tires strictly for the track. Given my car weighs almost 5000 lbs, I chewed through pilot super sports in one weekend of track use. I was recommended to try these by the Michelin race team. I used them at Watkins glen last oct and they were tremendous. Coming out of the Esses I was coming onto the back straight at about 120 mph! After two days of Watkins Glen, it looks like I might actually get a second track event on these tires, that would be a first! Heading to Summit point Shenandoah Circuit, first day is predicted to be dry, great for these tires, Second day is 90% chance of rain, That! worries me with these tires. I will update my review after this coming weekend.

These tires are absolutely fantastic on the track and comfortable on the commute. Great car control, cornering, braking. But, after 8 track days and a few thousand normal road miles the fronts were shot. The track performance justifies the price and fast wear. I’m now running Dunlop Race and they ride harder and are noisy but perform nearly as well on the track.

Sport Cup 2s offer fantastic grip on track. They are in a completely different category from the Pilot Super Sports and as good if not better, in my experience, than the Dunlop Direzza Star Spec 2. I was about 2-3 seconds fast a lap per lap minute over the PSS. I have just about 6,500 miles on my M2 now with 10 days on the track, driving in the instructor group. Still on my first set in the rear, which has about 1/3-1/4 life left, and my second set of fronts. Camber challenged cars running aggressively, be aware that the soft outer edges will tear if pushed. Running stock camber, I tore through the outer edges down to the cords in three track days – expensive mistake. After adding some negative front camber, about 2.7 degrees, my wear has been much more acceptable but is still prone to tearing. I think the tires are very sensitive to the pressure you run (I believe Michelin recommends 32-33 hot up front) and heat that builds throughout a track session. With better management of pressure/heat, I think I could get a full season, 10 or so aggressive days on track, with a set. Turn in is crisp, the tires offer good audible feedback, and break away smoothly. They get up to temperature within a lap and a half and have consistent grip for 15 or so minutes before starting to slide too much. I have not noticed any heat cycling issues. On street, the tires are a bit noisy and harsh but liveable, although probably overkill for street only purposes. In this scenario, PSS is a better choice. They offer very good grip in the wet but are prone to hydroplaning in standing water. Once this set is done, I may consider buying another set .

These tires are almost impossible to get up to temperature and I drive fast. They are spooky and not a lot of fun 99% of the time because they’re cold. It feels like driving on ice. They can produce amazing lap times in ideal conditions if you use tire warmers, but aren’t suited at all to driving on the road. Will be replacing them with PS4S tires this winter.

With all the hype re.. this tire I felt confident in my purchase. I was wrong ! As expected the tires need two laps to get up to temp. What I did not expect was the fact that the tires were only good for the next five laps after which they began to slip badly. I was able to run only three of the four 20 min sessions that day. Worse yet, I was Not able to finish Any of the three sessions unless I was willing to slow quite a bit. (5 seconds a lap) Getting passed by all the miatas/bmw’s I worked to get past was humbling so I was forced to exit the track early the next two sessions or destroy the tires. Two weeks later at a track day the tires behaved exactly as they had at the previous NASA event. 7 laps followed by slippage and early retirement. Very frustrating ! Upon inspection, the rear tires showed holes in them with cord visible where rubber had been. Translation.. tires are shot after 230 miles ! (Initial cold TP for all tires was 26psi. Camber was set at -2.5 on all four corners) With such a rapid fail rate, I am looking for another tire which costs less and may do the same thing .. My expectations were for about 400 miles of driving and I lost..

I have put 14 hard track days on these tires. (5 Summit Point; 3 Watkins Glenn; 3 VIR; 3 Dominion). They have held up exceptionally well and I could probably get another two days out of them. They are very sensitive to tire pressure! Over 35 psi in the rear and you have limited grip. Target pressures hot at end of a session is 32 front and 33 -34 rear for best performance. Takes two laps to warm them up on a two mile track. Get the tire pressure right and they are incredible. Set up is -2.5

Can’t say enough about these tires ( PSC2 N0 Porsche compound). Very versatile and lasted twice as long as I expected them to. Buying an R-compound tire as double-duty for track, and spirited street driving typically means that every 7-8k miles you’re buying rubber. Granted approx 8k miles were cross country interstate blasts, but I got 18k miles on this set! They truly give you the ability to drive across the country, set tire pressures, go racing, then pack the car up and drive home. Track day traction is a bit of a compromise over a set of Hoosiers (about a sec per lap on a typical 2 mile roadcourse ), but the on-road civility and high speed stability more than made up for the compromise (and did I mention how many miles they lasted?). Turn-in is precise, and the tires are extremely predictable. Water dispersement is abysmal (comes with the territory), but wet traction is suitable so long as the water isn’t pooling. Strangely enough, the rear tires still had life at 18k miles. I never encountered notable degradation due to heat cycling over the tires’ lives. The only real difference seemed to be that later in life, they took longer to come up to temperature than they did early on (that being said, thanks to the pandemic, they haven’t seen a road course this season so the jury is out there). Replacement ultimately was only necessary because the inside edges on the front set corded due to the obscene amount of negative front camber the S197 Mustangs need in order to turn. I’ll be ordering a set of N1’s forthwith!

I have run eight track days at Sebring, 2 1/2 hours per day. About 1000 track miles ans 4500 street miles. Had a bit of help in tuning in the stock suspension, mostly toe since camber is not adjustable up front on stock suspension. Getting excellent wearand grip on the track, but has much better lateral grip than directional grip, e.g. under hard braking in turn 10 at Sebring when a bit wet. Since I also have 4500 street miles I will stay with these as a great compromise between track street, as long as they are available. Getting great wear on the outside of the tread under my set up, and one track day in the rain I was able to get in some laps when most cars stayed in the pits. Agree very much with the tire pressur comments above. On. 70 degree day, start with 31-32 all around. 5he M2 has amaz8ng mechanical grip and balance, and these tires make it fun to pish the car around the track and street with confidence.

Just completed trip from southern California to Sandpoint Idaho. Wow, these are not road tires. Hydroplane with the smallest amount of standing water, very dangerous, sideways at 80MPH. Cold weather traction, none! Started trip with tires above the wear indicators, after 1200 miles both rear tires on cords. Got stranded on way back in Monterrey California with flat tires, car towed to local Porsche dealer waiting for new tires. I have learned my lesson, these are great track and dry weather tires, don’t attempt a road trip!,

Run these on my Lamborghini for the street and highway driving. I don’t necessarily track my car but drive spiritedly. Got a 0-60 time of 2.2 sec with these tires on the STREET, not a track – verified with a Racelogic Vbox (can be seen on IG at bulwhip). Grip is great, and these are a better “wet” option than a R888 in my opinion. I will most like buy another set. Fun car and great tire to accommodate it.

I have been running Bridgestone RE71Rs on my GT350R Mustang on the street commuting to work, on the back roads, and at multiple tracks (Laguna Seca, Thunderhill, Sonoma Raceway). I have loved the tire, and tried to get it again, but it was on back order. I instead got the OE Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s, size 305/30/19 at all 4 corners mounted on the carbon fiber wheels. Day one was at Laguna Seca. I had heard these tires are a bit faster on day 1 than the RE71Rs Bridgestones. What I did not realize, and quickly discovered within 1 mile of having the tires mounted, was how different the tire feels compared to the RE71R. They follow every camber change in the road and make going straight difficult (although it is kind of fun trying). They also feel “light and lively” which I would equate to a sprinters shoe compared to a thickly padded running shoe. This also translated to the track where you could feel the road a bit better than the Bridgestones. It took a solid 2 full laps to break them in and warm them up, but once I did they felt super nice on day 1. I turned a 1:40.5 even when needing to lift for sound between turns 5 and 6. Without lifting a 1:39 flat was likely. This compared to Randy Pobst’s 1:36.1, so not too shabby. The car was incredibly neutral with these tires on. Turn in was excellent, and overall grip was very good. I was curious why they felt so different and it turns out that they weigh just 26 lbs vs. 31 lbs for the same size RE-71R Bridgestones. A five lb difference is HUGE and makes for a very very light wheel/tire combination (44 lbs a corner with 305 tires is likely the lightest on the market). ! I am doubtful they will last anywhere near as long as the Bridgestones since they only have 5.5 mm tread depth and are clearly a more track-focused tire. My lap times got 1 second slower by the 4th session, but that may have had to do with track temps. I will report back after another few track days. Overall a fantastic day 1 tire!

I can’t believe I managed to coax 15,000 miles including 16 autocross laps out of the original tires. The grip is great, the hotter they get the better. They do drive pretty sketchy when you approach the 40°F minimum recommended temperature. Wet driving is as to be expected for a tire of this performance level, it’s like driving a normal car on a snowy road in the winter. The C7’s Performance Traction Management in wet mode works wonders in the rain, well enough that I’ll drive it in almost any conditions in the warmer weather.

This is far and away one of the best Performance Tires that you can purchase and use legally on the streets.Only wish they would perform better in the wet and last longer. I guess you can’t have it all considering the grip you get out of them in the dry.

I have a 2015 Corvette C7 Z51 M7 and I have done 3 HPDE Track Days in 2019 with NASA, MVP Track Time and Laps Inc. Road America (5 – 30 Minute Sessions), Autobahn Country Club Full Course (5 – 30 Sessions) and National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park ( 3 – 20 Minute Session) this year.I purchased a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires this spring which I have mounted on an extra set of OEM black painted rims that I use for Track Days. I run 26 psi cold tire pressure front and rear and get 30-36 hot tire pressures. Michelin recommends 33-36 hot tire pressures. They are faster than the Michelin Super Sport ZP’s that I ran before by 2-3 seconds a lap. The car is very neutral with no excessive understeer or oversteer. With the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires after just 3 events I am getting unusual outside wear with the OE alignment settings which was expected I guess. If you run the Sport Cup 2 tires make sure to follow the Track Days Prep sheet from Chevrolet (very helpful) called 2014 Corvette Stingray Track Preparation that gives alignment specs as follows:Front Caster: + 7.0 degreesCamber: – 2.0 degreesToe: 0.05 degrees toe-InThrust Angle: 0 degreesRearCaster: 0 degreesCamber: – 1.7 degreesToe: 0.05 degrees toe-InThrust Angle: 0 degreesI will probably purchase another set of these tires and change my alignment specs as suggested above. I’m not sure how darty (e.g. bump steer) they will be with these alignment specs on the street driving to and from the track.

I did this review to set people straight. The guy with the 2015 Lambo who claims he shaved 4 tenths of any time is not being truth full, its not possible at the level of tire that comes stock not to mention all wheel drive. 10.9 1/4 mile does not equate the 0 to 60 time he stated. The math doesn’t work. I cant stand people who post ignorance. I would bet this person doesn’t own this type of car. CUP 2 are great tires when reading READ BETWEEN THE LINES.

This is a great tyre for this car and its purpose as both a track and street car. The tyre handles temps very well, and can be run into the high 80 C without letting go. It does wear fast, I have gotten 2600 miles on a set which included three 2½ hour track sessions. The tyre is fairly comfortable for what it is, not as much as a Pilot Sport 4S, but then again, when hot, it offers a lot more traction. When below 50C, it starts to lose its traction somewhat. Not to the point where it gets dangerous by any means, it just does not work as well as it could. In the temp range between 20C and 50C, a Michelin Pilot Sport 4S offers more traction, so this is important to keep in mind. You might think this will offer more bite and work better than a regular 4S or Supersport, but only if you can keep the temps up. If you don’t rack, a 4S is more than likely going to offer better performance unless you live in a very warm climate where tyres automatically gets above 50C just by regular driving. Fact is that most people will never push a car hard enough on the street to where this tyre starts to really work, so be honest with yourself rather than thinking that more is always better.The tyre handles well and is very stable, but it does tend to spike in pressure and heat on occasion. Had an issue where it started to spike into the 2.8 bar range from 2.3. I’ve found the best hot pressure on the Pista to be 2.2-2.3 bars on all corners, so 2.7 means that the tyre gets too hot and wears too fast. As long as you keep the pressure in check, this will deliver as it says on the tin. It is a fairly comfortable tyre all things considered, nothing like a 4S, but still very comfortable. I also have it on a regular Ferrari 488 Spider, and it is both quiet and comfortable.It does not offer the best wet traction, but at the same time it has plenty of grip for regular wet road driving without hairy situations.