[pmsteinm]

Today I swapped over to my Pilot Sport A/S4's after a spirited drive in 78 degree weather since tomorrow will be 40 and raining. Of course things did not go smoothly.

First I found a utility knife blade embedded in my left rear PZero. It cut deep enough that chord is showing so I think that tire is done:



I'm not too sad since I hate those tires in the wet anyway. Rears are at 5/32 and fronts at 7/32 I'm going to toss the whole set since I don't want another 2 summers on them.

My trouble didn't end there because next I couldn't get the QuickJack fitting to connect. While waiting for a call back from tech support I used the old school jack to do 1 wheel. Then I got everything working I used the QuickJack to finish the job:


The final insult is a tiny dent I noticed on the the left rear quarter panel right where it meets the bumper. Oh well, it's and old car now I guess.

This evening I'll take my first drive on the A/S4s. Going to hard to hold back to break them in then holding back in general on the all-seasons. I'm most bummed about the summer tires being toast. If I had known I would have removed the blade and gone out in 2WD mode and used the rest of the tread up. But it was too much hassle after getting the jack in position.

[pbonsalb]

I have a lift but sometimes just change tires with a floor jack. Might take 20 minutes. Probably a good thing to toss the Pirellis — they get near universally poor reviews from members here.

[pmsteinm]

The floor jack might be faster since it takes time to setup and position the quickjack..but it's the principle. I paid for the QJ so I'm going to use it

Yesterday was a great break-in day for the A/S4's. 45 and raining all day. They inspire a lot more confidence in the wet than the PZeros ever did (never mind the temperature). Road feel is...different. They sound different too. I need more miles to break in but a WOT launch in 1st is not happening...but I expected that based on my experience with the V.

[pbonsalb]

Might still be release agent from the mould. That often makes brand new tires squirmy for the first day or so.

[pmsteinm]

So far I'm as happy as you can be with the A/S4s. Launching (at least the way I like to) doesn't seem too different (although I thought the same the 1st winter in my V with the A/S and was shocked to be more than halfway to the wear bars on the rears in 5k miles). Braking is another matter. If you overdo it the tires squeal instead of scrub, and of course much sooner than the summer ones would. The car squirms a lot more too. This was less of a problem on the V because of slower brake pedal engagement. I'll just have to adapt a bit.

Looking forward to April and mounting the PS4S. I've decided to toss the Pzeros.

[pmsteinm]

Still running the A/S4's. I'm now at 2600 miles and a bit concerned about wear. At first I didn't think there was much traction loss accelerating but the rears are already at 8/32 (10/32 new), fronts at 9/32. So AWD was hiding any slippage.

Today my summer wheels are at the stealership getting Pilot Sport 4S's to replace the PZeros. While it would have been cheaper to keep the Pzero fronts and just replace a rear set, the hydroplaning is so bad I'm done with Pirelli. The Pilot A/S4 is great even in torrential rain and made me realize how bad the Pirellis are. The 4S's were great on my 09V in the rain too so I assume they will be on the M5 as well. Can't wait for April so I can put them on.