Michelin Primacy HP Sizes & review

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The Primacy HP is Michelin’s Grand Touring Summer tire developed to provide longer tread life and lasting performance throughout the tire’s life, as well as better braking, steering control and handling on wet roads. The Primacy HP tires meet Michelin’s Green X standard* for eco-focused manufacturing and low rolling resistance, and confirms the tire’s contribution to reducing vehicle fuel consumption, emission of CO2 gases and improving sustainability through conservation of natural resources. While Primacy HP tires are designed to offer reliable traction in dry and wet conditions, they are not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice.

Primacy HP tires benefit from Michelin design innovations known as A.S.M. (Architecture, Sculpture and Materials) reflecting Michelin’s ability to focus simultaneously on three fundamental factors that determine a tire’s capabilities. Using their A.S.M. design method, Michelin can develop tires that combine an architecture that deforms more easily to optimize contact with the road, a tread design sculpture that remains rigid so more of the footprint contributes to performance, and unique tread compound materials precisely blended by Michelin’s mixing technology.

Primacy HP tires use a new generation Michelin tread compound molded into an asymmetric tread design that features large, linked shoulder blocks, notched intermediate ribs and a solid center rib to combine responsive handling and high-speed stability with traction and even treadwear. The Primacy HP tire’s structure includes twin steel belts reinforced by size-optimized BAZ Technology (spiral-wrapped Polyamide Banded At Zero degrees to tire rotation) to enhance ride quality while providing high-speed durability.

SIZEUTQGMAX.
LOAD
Max. Inflation PressureTread DepthTire WeightRim Width RangeMeas. Rim WidthSect. WidthTread WidthOverall Diam.Revs. Per Mile
205/55R16
91V
240 A A1,356 lbs51 psi10/32"20 lbs5.5-7.5"6.5"8.4"NA24.9"836
215/45R17
87W
240 A A1,201 lbs51 psi9.5/32"20 lbs7-8"7"8.4"7.5"24.7"844
225/45R17
91W
240 A A1,356 lbs51 psi10/32"21 lbs7-8.5"7.5"8.9"NA25"833
245/40R17
91W
240 A A1,356 lbs51 psi10/32"23 lbs8-9.5"8.5"9.8"NA24.7"841

7 COMMENTS

  1. Just about to send these to the recycling center as they’re the OEM’s that came with the car and are on almost 60,000K miles, so I got a full life out of them. A good chunk of my driving has been highway miles to work so that probably explains the longevity but you can’t fault them on that front, regardless.In my opinion, this tire gets maligned because they were the OEM’s for a car that has/had a lot of misconception around it from the “bro” culture…namely the Toyota/Subaru collaboration that is the FR-S/BRZ. Anyone with a moderate knowledge base about cars and that had done a modicum of their own research should’ve known what to expect from the factory. And what that is, is a lightweight sports coupe based around a fundamentally solid platform built for handling, high-speed momentum driving and low-speed “goosing”…not sub 4-second 0-60 times and torque induced over-steer.Anyhow…the tire is matched very well for the car for what it came out of the factory to do, just not in wet conditions, and I got everything I expected out of them. Pricey? Yes. Would I buy again? No, not for the price. They are better than the average rating they get on here, though…in primarily dry conditions.

  2. This isn’t a bad tire…but, like many OEM tires, it is expensive, has subpar performance, and has subpar tread wear. It’s certainly not terrible or dangerous (in its correct operating temp range). It’s unreasonably priced, and while it has all of the limitations of a summer tire, it has few of the traditional benefits. Despite being specialty-designed for such purpose, I personally feel that it is not a very good match for the BRZ/FRS/86, and would go as far to say that it is the single biggest weakness of the platform.These came on my 2017 BRZ in the 215/45/17 flavor. I never felt confident when accelerating out of a corner. I did feel that it was far too easy to activate the ABS under moderate braking. Oversteer seemed more pronounced with these tires. Wet performance was neither exceptional nor terrible. I live in Maryland where it sometimes gets colder. I never felt confident in even moderate cold, and performance and comfort both suffered when exposed to such conditions. Obviously, using this tire in extreme cold or snow is a hazard, and yet there is no wet/dry traction performance gain that you would normally expect with a summer tire.My biggest criticism of the Primacy HP is its mediocre performance relative to its flagship price. Some of the better Ultra High Performance All Seasons (e.g., A/S 3+, DWS 06) have comically better dry performance, wet performance, cornering stability, braking, tread life, also have reasonably better feedback, ride quality, and noise levels, they can handle cold/snow, and yet they are priced less. Currently, this Primacy HP is also priced higher than several Max Performance Summer Tires, including Michelin’s own flagship Pilot Sport 4S (arguably the golden benchmark of true high performance summer street tires)…that’s like charging more for a Corolla than a Ferrari.I ultimately chose to replace them with the Pilot Sport A/S 3+…it’s practically a different car now. I can’t recommend the Primacy HP due to its price.

  3. My only complaint is they do not stick very well when I step on the gas from zero. Not very important, but if I hit the gas hard on a turn it kicks a bit but it’s consistent. Excellent braking and excellent cornering precision. They have helped save me from close to half a dozen accidents from people pulling out in front of me. Great tires for children or your wife. Not an amazing tire for hyper aggressive drivers. Excellent overall.

  4. These tires are solid for what they are designed for. I haven’t been in enough rain to determine hydroplaning resistance. I bought the car used but these are the tires that the FR-S comes with stock. City/Hwy and Auto-X reviews included.City/Hwy: The tires are fine with plenty of grip for daily driving. They allow for good gas mileage, I’ve gotten 35+ to and from an airport run. They work well in a wide range of temperatures, I change to my snow tires once we get a steady temperature of about 40f. You can get it to rotate under power if you really want, but they hang on well.City/Hwy Pros:Good tractionDecent traction in wetAuto-XThe tires are decent, that’s about all I can say. They will teach you how to drive smooth but there is only so much you can squeeze out of them. Braking zones are a problem area, because the tires reach their limit fairly quickly. You have to be careful and slightly early with the brakes. The Primacy HPs have decent turn in but lose traction and understeer almost immediately after that initial response. It’s predictable and teaches you to be smooth and scrub speed before the corner but they will still push even when you do it right. Exiting is pretty good and it’s stable under power. If you’re at a high RPM you will break the rears loose however. I found that with driving aids left on, the ecu recognizes the tires losing grip so fast that it’s impossible to drive with the aids- TCS cuts power at the slightest sense of oversteer and ABS takes over so much that it’s not even you doing the braking (I don’t drive with them, it was simply so I could see how it performed). Auto-X Pros:Teaches you to drive smoothGood turn-in responseAuto-X Cons:Braking zonesMid-corner traction

  5. These came stock on my 2016 scion frs. The largest shortcoming of the FRS as a car is that is it under wheeled and severely under tired. The Primacy HPs are summer tires, but don’t seem to provide any of the benefits of a summer tire, especially at its price point. The tire is relatively hard for a summer tire, and even hard compared to a HP, UHP all season of good quality. While driving on these tires for the first 15,000 miles I noticed that they lost traction more easily than they should have in wet conditions of varying severity. Wet performance was below par to say the least. Their dry performance was fair, but they were noisy in corners and it didn’t take much power to break them from the asphalt. They are fairly responsive to steering input, turn in is sharp, mid corner stability seems alright but nowhere near what a summer tire should provide. Corner exiting traction under power was alright, when pushed to the limit they did pass the limit crisply but didn’t recover well. The limit for these tires is also far too soon for a summer tire of this price point. They do give decent feedback from the road, but the ride is pretty harsh. Take that with a grain of salt b/c the ride isn’t supposed to be soft in the car these tires were mounted on. All in all, they aren’t horrible tires. They’re ok. The reason this review may sound harsh is b/c they are classified as a performance summer tire, and they just aren’t that. They don’t offer the performance benefits of a summer tire over a quality HP, UHP all season tire like they should, ESPECIALLY at this price point. The tires by themselves are alright tires, but they are terribly miss-classed and grossly overpriced.

  6. All you really need to know about the Primacy HP on the BRZ is contained in the video Tire Rack wisely provided a link to. The engineers who designed the car did all the high speed and road testing with this tire and it’s a blast on this chassis. To gripe about wet grip, being surprised at breakaway from the rear, lack of ultimate grip is nonsense. It’s what you should be enjoying with this car, not a problem to be fixed with a $700 set of tires. For the street they’re perfect, what makes them hard to buy again is the $550 price tag. I have another tire and wheel set for track use, but for the street I’d buy these over and over again if they were $400. In fact, since so many guys immediately change out of these tires when they buy their BRZ/86, I bought a set of new take-offs as back up.

  7. This is probably going to be one of the oddest tire reviews you will ever read. First of all these tires came on my BRZ when I bought it. I almost immediately took them off the car because I hated them on that car. Fast forward to Feb 2018. I recently bought the 2007 wagon as a daily driver/ beater/utility vehicle and wanted an upgrade to the stock wheel and tire setup. It had 7×17″ factory wheels and Yokomama no-grip all season high priced tires on it…just awful on anything less than a straight road. So as part of a overall upgrade to the cars suspension and handling, I took the BRZ wheels and tires and bolted em up, and heres the funny thing. Its the factory size tire for legacy gt but these tires have a few things going for them that most tires dont. First of they are light. 20 lbs a corner and they have low rolling resistance, so on the highway, they dont gobble up the meager horsepower of the NA subaru engine. Those two things enhance acceleration in a way you can feel and measure with the stopwatch. Hills that would require shifting out of OD the car climbs easily now in OD. Handling is much better, sharper response, braking is good. Not racetrack good, but not what I am looking for either. It has improved the car overall for free. And the wheels look good. When these tires are gone, I may try to find some more take offs. Cheap I hope. I wont pay new price for em, but free or cheap, oh yeah, worth it for sure. Thanks Michelin, for making a tire other people despise that I can use. 🙂

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