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We wanted to test the 555 G2 on one of our cars that had a factory staggered fitment. Our Project E39 M5 had one so it got the tap on the sholder. We used a 275/40-18 rear tire to test the larger tread blocks.
For the front we used a 245/45-18. This would test a front optomized size right in the front where we could see if the turn in response and overall response was evident. 
The fitment looks awesome in our car filling the wheel wells aggressively with some tuck. Good thing the M5 comes stock with cut and rolled fender lips! The new 555G2 was designed to work well in the rain, particularly with wet braking so we waited until Southern California was hit with a rare rainstorm. 
This tire size looks great on our lowered M5. One thing about the M5 is that it is a heavy and powerful car for the recommended tire size. The factory recommends a really high tire pressure for the M5 on the order of 40 lbs! We figured the M5 would really put the 555 G2 to the test.We evaluated the 555 G2 over several hundred miles of various driving conditions. The first thing we noticed about the tire is that it is very silent. It could possibly be the quietest tire we have ever tested. We could not detect any tire noise! We drove the tire over many different road surfaces and many different speeds attempting to get the tires to make noise only to be greeted with eerie silence. The tires were so quiet that we started to hear a lot more squeaks and rattles from our M5!
?The other thing we noticed is that the 555 G2 had a very smooth ride, even with the M5 factory recommended high inflation pressures. The ride felt downright plush compared to our older tires. The ride smoothness felt more like a luxury car feel rather than a thumpy stiff sidewall typical ultra high performance tire.
In aggressive cornering, we felt that the 555 G2 had impressive turn in and response which eliminated most of the M5's understeer. We noted this response in both the wet and dry. Evaluators that didn't know that the 555 G2 was front optimized all noticed the same thing with the greatly improved front turn in, responsiveness and grip.
The front optimized tire also quickened the car's transition to oversteer which an inexperienced driver might find unsettling but a fast driver will like. Overall the grip of the 555 G2 was very good although many really high performance tires like the NT05 have more ultimate grip in the dry. We felt that the overall dry grip was impressive considering the tires long wearing UTQG rating of 320.
Where the 555 G2 excelled was in braking, especially in the rain. The tire had a lot of bite in the deceleration department for any tire. Wet grip was very good, although we noted that the Invo has even better wet cornering traction. The 555 G2 was somewhere between the dry ultimate grip NT05 and the wet traction champ, the Invo on overall wet grip. We did not feel that the 555 G2 had any tendency to hydroplane.
We really liked the 555 G2. We feel that the tire's position in the market is as a high performance street tire for a daily driver car. It's not a race tire in disguise, or a street class winning time attack tire but a great practical, quiet, smooth riding all weather tire for the modern high performance car.
