Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ vs Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4: We have been covering a lot lately about the all season segment especially with Michelin’s Pilot Sport All Season 4 which was launched in 2020. It fared pretty well against Continental’s ExtremeContact DWS 06 Plus especially on dry & snow surfaces but did extremely poorly when it came against Michelin’s 3 peak mountain certified Cross Climate 2. We would like to bring you back to memory lane to see how well the Pilot Sport All Season 4 performs against its predecessor which is the Pilot Sport A/S 3+ by pitting them against one another. The Pilot Sport A/S 3+ was launched 4 years before Pilot Sport All Season 4 in 2016. Usually for Michelin, the + sign indicates a compound or construction change with an identical pattern as the predecessor.
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from a press release of Pilot Sport All Season 4. Word of caution as the results were provided by Michelin and it should be taken with a pinch of salt. The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ vs Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 based on the relevant performance category. The Pilot Sport A/S 3+ was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark. The testing vehicle of choice was the rear wheel driven 2015 BMW 328i.
As both tires are categorized as all season tires, snow was included in the testing portfolio. The tire size of interest is a 245/40 ZR18 which is a common size for Audi A4 & Mercedes-Benz C 200 Amg Line. You can check out our latest tire size table for more information.
Wet
The friction of coefficient of the tire/road dramatically decreases in wet roads compared to dry roads. Hence it is more likely to get into a road accident during wet conditions rather than on a sunny day. It was so important that the EU label has wet braking as one of its three criteria. With regards to our comparison, Pilot Sport All Season 4 took a big leap against its predecessor by having a 5% edge in wet braking distance.
Pilot Sport All Season 4:
- +5% in wet braking
Dry
As for dry, safety is usually not an issue as the braking distance is much longer than wet. However this is the default daily usage and the tires have to perform at a very consistent level. Pilot Sport All Season 4 managed to out-brake Pilot Sport A/S 3+ with a 4% advantage.
Pilot Sport All Season 4:
- +4% in dry braking
Snow
Based on our initial checks, both Pilot Sport A/S 3+ & Pilot Sport All Season 4 only has a M+S rating and not a 3 peak mountain logo. This means that unlike its counterpart Cross Climate 2, Pilot Sport All Season 4 does not need to pass a certain threshold of snow traction level as determined by the legislation.
Michelin managed to up their game in the snow traction area as the Pilot Sport All Season 4 managed a 10% gain in snow traction compare to Pilot Sport A/S 3+
Pilot Sport All Season 4:
- +10% in snow traction
Wear
As wear results are hard to come by, we were happy that Michelin provided some data about the wear performances of Pilot Sport All Season 4. Compared to all its competitors, Pilot Sport All Season 4 managed to excel in wear with its closest rival “Continental Extreme Contact DWS06” being 12% behind.
Pilot Sport All Season 4 vs
- -29% Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS Pole Position
- -12% Continental Extreme Contact DWS06
- -25% Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus
- -23% Goodyear Eagle Exhilarate
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market.
Tire size: 225/50R17
Pilot Sport All Season 4: $198
Summary
Overall, Pilot Sport All Season 4 clearly was a step forward in the right direction with improvements in wet/dry braking, snow traction & wear. This tire is definitely worth looking into !