Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 vs Michelin Cross Climate 2

Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 vs Michelin Cross Climate 2: All season tires have always been the go to tires for the American market and this segment has been well established across the years. It is such a popular segment that Michelin has 3 types of all season products to serve the market. We have previously covered the head to head comparison of Michelin Cross Climate 2 vs Michelin Defender T+H & it was a total domination by the Cross Climate 2. We would now pick up where we left out with another comparison of Cross Climate 2 but this time with the Pilot Sport All Season 4. Cross Climate 2 was launched in 2020 and covers the whole passenger car size range while the Pilot Sport All Season 4 was also launched in the same year with the main focus on the ultra high performance segment..

Results

Results below were taken from the tire rack’s “Testing Michelin Tires Across Categories 2021” test. A total of 4 tires were tested this time around. The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 vs Michelin Cross Climate 2 based on the relevant performance category. The Pilot Sport All Season 4 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.

As both tires are categorized as all season tires, tire rack has included snow & ice in its testing portfolio. A detailed testing on snow including acceleration, braking & handling were evaluated. The tire size of interest is a 225/50 R17 which is a common tire size for Audi A4 & Honda Accord. 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 has a big edge when it comes to wet braking, as it outperforms the Cross Climate 2 by braking 6.3m earlier. This is an enormous distance as you can fit almost any car in between this length.

While in wet handling, the performance edge in wet braking was transferred into a 2.49 seconds advantage in lap time for the Pilot Sport All Season 4. While in subjective rating, the Pilot Sport All Season 4 was also rated 0.15 points better compared to Cross Climate 2. Overall in the wet category, Pilot Sport All Season 4 has a big upper hand.

Cross Climate 2:

• -15.6% in wet braking
• -0.7% in wet handling (subj)
• -6.6% in wet handling (lap time)

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 consistence level. Pilot Sport All Season 4 was better by out braking Cross Climate 2 at a distance of 1.7m .While in subjective dry handling there was not much difference as the Pilot Sport All Season 4 scored a 7.5/10 rating while the Cross Climate 2 managed a 7.63/10 rating. Even though there is clear deficit in dry braking for Cross Climate 2, it still somehow managed to out performed the Pilot Sport All Season 4 in dry handling 🙂

Cross Climate 2:

• -6.5% in dry braking
• +0.6% in dry handling (subj)

Noise/Comfort/Ride Quality

Ride comfort, noise & comfort was tested and the Pilot Sport All Season 4 was definitely second best with an overall rating of 7/10 compared to the 7.83/10 of Cross Climate 2.

Cross Climate 2:

• +4.2% in average of Noise, Comfort & Ride Quality.

Snow

As both tires have been rated as an all season tire, we were thrilled when tire rack included snow on its testing list. From initial checks, only the Cross Climate 2 has a 3 peak mountain label to legally certified the tire as a winter tire. Hence Cross Climate 2 will need to pass a certain threshold of snow traction level as determined by the legislation. From an expectation point of view, we would definitely expect the 3 peak mountain labeled Cross Climate 2 to be better in snow compared to the M+S labeled Pilot Sport All Season 4.

As previously expected, the Cross Climate 2 dominated across all snow test. It stopped 1.84 meters earlier than Pilot Sport All Season 4 from a speed of 40 km/h to 0. While it was also quicker in lap time (5.29 seconds !) and also subjectively better in snow handling. Cross Climate 2 is clearly the better snow tire.

Cross Climate 2:

• +11.4% in snow braking
• +19.4% in snow acceleration
• +5% in snow handling (subj)
• +6.4% in snow handling (lap time)

Ice

While snow was dominated by Cross Climate 2, the ice advantage also stayed with Cross Climate 2. At a braking speed of 40-0 km/h , the Pilot Sport All Season 4 was stopping 4.4 meters further than the Cross Climate 2.

Cross Climate 2:

• +33.9% in ice braking

Price

Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market. Both tires are priced at the higher end of the market with the Cross Climate 2 costing roughly the same as the Pilot Sport All Season 4.

Tire size: 225/50R17

Cross Climate 2: $199

Pilot Sport All Season 4:  $198

Difference: +0.5% more expensive for Cross Climate 2.

Summary

Overall, both tires demonstrated clear strengths on different conditions. Pilot Sport All Season 4 was strong in wet & dry conditions while the Cross Climate 2 was strong in comfort, snow & ice performance criteria. From our point of view, there is no clear winner in this duel and it depends what performances you value more (Winter vs Summer).

---

---