The C36 spent a few days at the garage for a timing chain and chain tensioner replacement. Most of the time it was waiting. However last Saturday I got a good chance to try the Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires on my C36, thanks to Joe Lau, another owner of a beautiful black 1994 C36. Test drive back and forth confirmed the tire change was inevitable. I hated to see the still brand new Yokohama AD07 goes. However there was no way I could tolerate the stiff wooden ride despite the huge grip and confidence the AD07 had given to the C36. Because of the wet weather I did not drive the car too much. The car ran smoother on rough road and had a lot of steering feel in the wet.Update June 1, 2006
After close to 1'000kms the handling and ride of Michelin tires did not deviate too much from my first impression. PS2 is not as harsh as the AD07 in the ride department. There is always an smooth, well-damped insulation between the road surface and the chassis. However this feature does not mask the fact that the C36 does have a suspension that is too stiff to cope with the broken pavements of Hong Kong, and yet too soft to cope with its own weight in tight corners. What Michelin excels over Yokohama is the ability to provide snappy turn-in and a more stable contact patch on rough and broken surface. In the grip department of course AD07 is a winner (Michelin really not far behind) but really in the daily city driving I do care about ride and handling more than utimate tire grip. (to be continued.....)
