A worthy king’s new welcome: Michelin Pilot Sport 5

Michelin Pilot Sport 5: Did you ever had the feeling it takes forever to wait for the bus to come but when the bus finally arrives 3 of them comes at once. This is the same feeling I felt when it comes to tire launches as we are treated to 2 outstanding Michelin successor products at the same day. We already introduced the Primacy 4+ in our previous post and outlining its superior wet performance over life time. It took 7 years for the new Pilot Sport 5 to be unveil which is slightly longer than the industrial average of 5 years.

Unlike the Primacy 4+ which shares the same pattern with its successor, the Pilot Sport 5 carries a new pattern which differs from Pilot Sport 4. If you put the pattern side by side as above, you can see that Michelin has made clear adaptations on its 3 center ribs. The outer rib on the right side has a clear groove while there is also minor sip adaption on the center and left ribs. A more detail analysis can be done once we get hold of the physical tire.

For the test data comparison, we will use the independent test results from TÜV SÜD and DEKRA which was provided during the press briefing of the Pilot Sport 5. The test were all done with a 225/40 R 18 size which is commonly used by Audi A3 and Mercedes-Benz C 220.

The graph above shows the comparison between Pilot Sport 5 vs the premium competitors. Pilot Sport 5 was set as a reference hence at the 0% mark. Any positive percentage would indicate the competitor tire being better while vice versa for the negative percentage.

One point regarding the competitors selection, there is no doubt Bridgestone, Continental, Goodyear & Pirelli are all premium manufacturers but the choice of product for Continental was wrong from my point of view. They should have taken the Sport Contact 6 as a product comparison instead of the Premium Contact 6 which is in the touring segment rather than the sport segment. This nonetheless makes the comparison for Premium Contact 6 irrelevant as it is in the wrong segment.

Wet Braking

Wet has always been the strong focus by Michelin as the driver will experience the longest braking distance during wet conditions. Michelin has once again showed why it is the technology leader by beating the other 4 premium competitor. The closest was Bridgestone’s Potenza Sport with a minor deficit of -0.5% while both Pirelli P Zero PZ4 (SC) and Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 has the largest margin of -3.5%.

Wet Braking :

• -0.5%  Potenza Sport
• -2.2%  Premium Contact 6
• -3.5%  Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
• -3.5%  Pirelli P Zero Pz4 (SC)

Dry Braking

For ultra high performance segment, the next key requirement after wet would be dry as usually the cars are fitted with an insane amount of horse power for example the Mercedes-Amg Cls 53 Edition 1 which currently has an OE fitment of Pilot Sport 4. Similar to wet braking, Pilot Sport 5 managed to outclass the premium competitors with the closest being Potenza Sport & P Zero Pz4 (SC) with a deficit of -0.3%.

Dry Braking :

• -0.3%  Potenza Sport
• -4.1%  Premium Contact 6
• -4.1%  Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
• -0.3%  Pirelli P Zero Pz4 (SC)

Wear

As every tire owner wants have more bang for your bucks, your tire wear would be the key factor determining when would you need to change the set of tire & ultimately costing you some money. With the wear results, we will be able to set which tire manufacturer is able to handle the notorious wear vs wet braking target conflict and also get a feeling which what kind of return you are getting.

To our surprise, all 4 competitors performs really bad in wear in reference to Pilot Sport 5. This ultimately reinforce Michelin’s principal of sustainability by letting your tire travel a much further distance hence reducing the carbon foot print per km. Potenza Sport which was neck in neck when it comes to both dry & wet braking results but were extremely bad in wear at a deficit of at least 40%.

Wear :

• -41.3%  Potenza Sport
• -36.3%  Premium Contact 6
• -21.8%  Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
• -43.8%  Pirelli P Zero Pz4 (SC)

Summary

Michelin once again have shown from these 3 key objective test (wear, wet & dry braking) that it is the leading sport tire out there. There are still some other aspects such as handling, noise & rolling resistance to be further tested. Nonetheless with these preliminary results, it is safe to say Pilot Sport 5 would not disappoint !