Pics & Review of My Bilstein PSS10 Lowered Red Turbo by cannga

4 minute(s) of a 612 minute read

An update on what probably is the final mod to my Turbo's suspension system: Tire change from stock Michelin Pilot Sport (a street tire) to Pirelli Corso (street legal race tire, aka R compound). Talk about ending with a bang. 

Before the change, I was silently very skeptical of how much difference R compound tires would make in street driving. I just had a hard time imagining how a different rubber could bond so much better to a street surface that is so imperfect. Well for this amateur it has been a completely eye-opening experience; the R compound Pirelli's truly and really, stick like crazy glue.

Not that I am such a particularly fast driver (a recent chase of a semi professional driver in a GT3 made that abundantly clear - those guys are crazy good ), but my pastime is to drive the car in canyon roads around LA, and the main problem with Michelin Sport is that as my baby becomes stiffer and comes into corner faster and faster, it starts to do 4 wheel power slide  more. With the Pirelli cup tire, it's now back to the way it should be: my skill is the limiting factor, not the tires, ha-ha, more or less. The bothersome rear-end lateral movement/twitchiness as I accelerate out of corners (I would humbly admit I may not be the best at doing this.), remarkably just *disappears*. I mean, DISAPPEAR! The car sticks as if held down by the hands of Buddha.

Regarding the 3 points of concern before I switch the tires:

1. Stiffness: Not that big of a difference at all. Maybe a little stiffer, but not a night and day difference, and most definitely not a deal breaker.

2. Noise: Again, surprisingly, hardly any difference. Maybe the cup tire is a little more noisy, but again not much and not a night and day difference. 

Think of how the tires are different, then maybe my observation will make sense. The R compound tires do have stiffer wall (stiff and noisy), but the stickier rubber compound AFAIK is actually softer and more quiet. The net effect is when you go over a bump for example, the car jumps more, but the noise is a more subdued thump.

3. Wet performance, or lack thereof LOL: I've had a couple of moments of "holy sh*t" with these tires on wet spot - not with this car, but with a GT3 with Michelin PS Cup. I have driven this car through some light rain, and have found that if I drive intelligently (slow down when it rains, and don't brake abruptly in a wet curve, stuffs like that ), it's ok for an area like Southern Cal to use this tire year round. Nevertheless, the danger with wet roads, and/or cold tire, is real. Be cautious.

In short, for dry road and once properly warmed up,I love these tires and cannot think of switching back.The change to R compound tires has been one of the MOST SIGNIFICANT, yet easiest, "mods" to my Turbo baby. If you haven't tried these tires before, know that it will be nothing short of a revelation. (I also have some comments on matching stiff tires to suspension settings that I'll add later. Basically, not a good idea to put stiff tires on the soft suspension of the stock Turbo, as the stiff side wall of R compound tires and higher cornering speed will "over-load" the soft springs. While it's ok to use these tires with stock Turbo suspension, it's a good idea to switch to a proper coilover system like KW or Bilstein first.)