Driving and owning the M5

[FC]

This weekend was interesting. Yesterday I washed the car. Nothing interesting about that other than the liberating feeling of knowing the car was fully wrapped so I did not have to be super careful with any panels.

Today I took off the winter wheels. The front brakes had a VERY annoying high-pitch squeal coming to a stop. I figured I'd add more paste. I pulled the calipers only to find that the (nearly new and clearly replacement OE) front pads had zero paste on them. Perhaps they technically don't need any, but after I applied some the issue went away. We'll see if it holds.

I'll add that pulling those calipers was a PITA, even though it's supposed to be easy. I won't bore you with details.

On the road, things got more interesting...

1. The weird vibration/wobble I felt seems to have gone away. (yay!) I was hoping it was winter wheel/tire-related and that seems to be the case. Will confirm tomorrow on a much longer round trip to work. If so, I'll get that set rebalanced.

2. Further confirmation that P-Zero's suck in the cold. Today was sunny and 57F. I took the car out at 3PM. You have to imagine that the pavement is at least 10F warmer than that. Well, two miles in, I took an on-ramp pretty fast. Ok, maybe very fast. Nevertheless, it was a speed that an AWD performance car should handle and I probably would have felt ok taking that turn on winter tires. Anyhow, the car went on a 4-wheel drift. I had visions of it spinning out on me. Luckily I managed a pretty epic drift pulled it off. WAY too exciting. Must have missed the curb by 2 inches. I had to check the wheel when I got home to confirm I did not make contact.

Kudos to the M5 for the great balance and ability to let me control the car through that. But as far as the P-Zeros, WTF?! The tires had no business giving up grip in that situation. As a result, I will be even more cautious driving the 718 in "cold" weather and will hold off on putting the summer tires on the mini for a couple more weeks. I know I pushed the tires, but still. Man, that was stressful.

[Nick M3]

Summer tires need heat in them, and today's high end summer tires are a lot closer to R-tires than people expect.

[FC]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Summer tires need heat in them, and today's high end summer tires are a lot closer to R-tires than people expect.

I guess so. Lesson learned.

To your point, though, the GTI and the Mini will get Pilot Sport A/S tires when it's time. No need for summer tires on those cars. The kids don't need them on the GTI, and my wife won't even come close to needing them on the Mini.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Summer tires need heat in them, and today's high end summer tires are a lot closer to R-tires than people expect.

The P Zeros are shit on a whole other level. I run Conti Extreme Contact Sport 02 ( the new DW) n the 1er and have significantly more traction with that tire at 40f than I do with the 911 on p zeros at 70f. It has been that way since I got the Porsche. They really suck in wet too. I can't wait to get them off the Porsche next month.

[FC]

FWIW, I drove past the on-rap this morning and it is possible I may have caught a bit off the accumulated sand/crap on the edge. That may have exacerbated the issue. But my comment stands in general. P-zeros are crap in cool temperatures.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

The P Zeros are shit on a whole other level. I run Conti Extreme Contact Sport 02 ( the new DW) n the 1er and have significantly more traction with that tire at 40f than I do with the 911 on p zeros at 70f. It has been that way since I got the Porsche. They really suck in wet too. I can't wait to get them off the Porsche next month.

Conti has been trading dry grip for wet and cold. Also compound durability. They are largely my preferred choice these days.

[Josh (PA)]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Conti has been trading dry grip for wet and cold. Also compound durability. They are largely my preferred choice these days.

I think the Contis are great for a car that is a spirited daily driver. Michelins might be better in some aspects, but they're ?significantly? more expensive. The Pirellis, just don't do anything well.

[Jeff_DML]

Unless I am doing trackevents/auto-x, I want less grip on the street since at the edge of grip is usually the most fun. Basically I prefer AS nowadays.

[robg]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

Conti has been trading dry grip for wet and cold. Also compound durability. They are largely my preferred choice these days.

Jason Cammissa said something similar on his podcast. He specifically called out Pirelli for making tires that tend to break apart/delaminate with track use.

[3LOU5]

Originally Posted by Josh (PA)

I think the Contis are great for a car that is a spirited daily driver. Michelins might be better in some aspects, but they're ?significantly? more expensive. The Pirellis, just don't do anything well.

Agreed.

I absolutely LOVE my Contis. It's my first Continental tire, as I've bought Michelins and Pirellis for my BMW in the past.

For me, the ExtremeContact DWS06 performs good enough for me, and the value when compared to the more latest, more expensive Michelins A/S can't be ignored.

Guess I just got tired of giving my hard-earned money to the French company and wanted to "spread the wealth", lol. Gotta keep my car German, including the tires !!