When I purchased my 914 it came with the Fuchs and Michelin Pilot Exalto 195/55/R15/85V mounted on them. Are they known to be a good tire on a 914?
Anyone have experience with them? Click to view attachment

No experience with them, but what type of driving are looking to do - rain, sun, summer, winter, AX, etc?

Also, check the production dates. Even good tires harden and lose grip after a few years, typically I've seen info saying don't keep tires more than 6 years or so.

But drive the car and see what you think.

The Tires are were manned on July 2015, still have the "whiskers" on them

Summer driving primarily, so rain, sun....Probably no winters.

My 2 cents.......... Run them tell they wear out. Spend your money on something else your 914 may need.

They are fresh tires with a decent rep for the type of driving you plan on doing. It won't take long to find some other way to spend that cash.

I've never heard of these, but Michelins are overall great tires. Run them, see how they feel. Save your $$

I have used Michelin Pilot on my 997 Turbo, they are brilliant on the track and the road, they will not let go. They may wear faster than other tyres but they will keep you on the road under hard cornering.
I would keep them on, you will probably replace them with the same tyre when these wear out.
Steve

From Tire Rack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...ilot+Exalto+PE2

I think a stiff sidewall tire is very important, especially if running a taller or closer to stock tire height. i'm running some Dunlop 195x65x15 sport 5000, and side wall seems very soft to me. when I push car by hand, side to side, there is a lot of movement. clearly a taller rim and a lower profile tire is one solution.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aptbCK1rj6o

These Michelin Exalto's seem to have soft compound for the tread areas and much harder compound for the side walls. The sidewalls also say "outside" on them is this because they are directional? Or more to do with the sidewall?

Click to view attachment

Those will work great. They have a checkered flag pattern on the sidewall, so they should be fast!

Most folks looking for more performance oriented tires go to 205/50/15
I've had 205/50s, 195/50s, 205/65s, and am now on 195/65s for commuting as they are a very close tire size to OEM so gearing, alignment, ride height etc are all "normal"

The outside marking is due to the tread not being symmetric, thus it is designed to have a different tread towards the outside versus the inside.

I'm not sure is this is the same model of Pilot Exalto you have, but you can see the tread is not symmetric from side to side.

Click to view attachment

SOMD914 my tires are very simular to the photo you posted.

They definitely are not good in the snow or ice. last week when I tried to pull the car into the garage, which is at a very slight up hill incline. all it would do is sit and spin.

Glad I didn't purchase it for winter use.

Exaltos should be summer performance tires which means once temps hit typically into the 30's they lose a good bit of grip, and certainly not designed to be used in the snow as you saw...