I loved my G-MAX A/S-05s, in fact I still have then at about half tread in the garage and might throw them back on as a test. I wanted a better dry sticking tire so I swapped the G-MAX's out for Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+. I have those on for 2 years as a spring, summer, and fall tire with my summer rims. I chose 500 wear All Season tires for their longevity, as I have a friend who drives about as hard as I do and goes through a set of Pilot Sport 4S in a year. I can't afford that and I like switching out to my summer rims very early spring and leaving them on till the second snow fall. NOT something a summer tire can do without ending up in a ditch flipped over.
Driving home with the PS 3+'s my first thoughts were "oh crap these tires feel so sluggish (38 psi), am I going to have to sell these right away" Then the next thought was give it time to get the mold lube layer off the tire (100 miles). While it helped the PS 3+s never turned out to be a responsive tire, even with a bit more then 1/2 tread gone. They grip a bit better and do brake better, but there is always a trust factor of not knowing where their grip will be in a semi known corner, let alone an unknown corner. The G-MAX's are very responsive darty tires. They make my tuner Kona feel like a full blown street racer where the PS 3+'s feel un-responsive. (now PS A/S 4 which are better, but just how much better?) said to be the best A/S street dry performance tire. But are they?
Well, that's were I want to put my G-MAX back on and test the 1/2 tread tire side by side. I already know the fun factor/enjoyment factor of the G-MAX will win out hands down by 4 fold. When I first switched to the PS 3+, the difference was so drastic for me for the bad. I kept with them because I knew I had to wear them 1/2 tread to get them in a happy performance zone. Well at the end of the year I kept thinking about the G-MAX and how I could out drive the tire , but I had so much feel of the car I think I was faster in the corners because the PS 3+ was a dead feeling tire and I would always come into the corners under speed, where the G-MAX I may be over confident but could scrub the speed down if I was a little hot. I love the PS3+ sidewall appearance, were the G-MAX look like crap after rounding out the out edge, the look like donuts. Even with 1.5 negative camber. After writing this, I will be putting the G-MAX back on, as I have such great memory's, I want to see if I should go with Michelin PS A/S 4's or keep the G-Max. It would be nice to see an updated G-MAX A/S-05 in the near future.
