Michelin Pilot Super Sport vs Pilot Sport 4S: The evergreen Pilot Super Sport launched in 2010 was initially intended as an Original Equipment for Ferrari 599 GTO which is Ferrari’s fastest road car ever. Using Michelin’s racing development experience in Le Mans, Pilot Super Sport was optimized for supercars in the replacement market to achieve their full potential in dry and wet conditions. After 7 years of being the best max performance summer tire in the market, Pilot Super Sport was replaced by Pilot Sport 4S.
While Pilot Sport 4S has also made a name for itself by winning countless amounts of press tests, both products are still available in the American market. Hence if you are one of the lucky users which have tire sizes in both products, you will need to make a wise decision 🙂 . In this article we intend to solve this conflict by pairing both products together on a head to head showdown!
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from Tire Rack’s “Tire Ratings Chart” for the max performance summer segment. Pilot Super Sport & Pilot Sport 4S are ranked top 2 in the chart with Pilot Sport 4S taking the champion spot. As we do not have a head to head test comparison of 2 tires, we will need to rely on the ratings rather than the traditional testing numbers. The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin Pilot Super Sport vs Pilot Sport 4S based on the relevant performance category.
Dry
One of the most important performances when it comes to the max performance segment is to have a very strong dry showing. In dry braking, both products were the top of the class with the closest competitor coming only at 8.5 points. Pilot Sport 4S was just a tiny fraction ahead of Pilot Super Sport with an overall grade of 9.6 compared to the 9.5 of Pilot Super Sport.
- Pilot Super Sport: 9.5 /10
- Pilot Sport 4S: 9.6 /10
Wet
Safety has always been the main theme when it comes to the need for wet performances. In wet, Pilot Super Sport was rated at 9 which is just a fraction better than Pilot Sport 4S’s 8.9. Only Bridgestone Potenza Sport fared much better than the 2 Michelin’s with a 9.1 rating. Nonetheless both tires showed a really high wet & dry level.
- Pilot Super Sport: 9 /10
- Pilot Sport 4S: 8.9 /10
Comfort
Usually when it comes to max performance summer tires, comfort usually ranks quite low in the requirement list. Based on the comfort ratings, Pilot Sport 4S with a rating of 8.8 has a slight edge compared to Pilot Super Sport of 8.7.
- Pilot Super Sport: 8.7 /10
- Pilot Sport 4S: 8.8 /10
UTQG rating
We have previously shown that UTQG treadwear rating can be a good indication of your expected mileage. Below are the UTQG values of both of the tirelines.
| Brand | Tireline | Size | Tread Wear | Traction | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michelin | Pilot Super Sport | All | 300 | AA | A |
| Michelin | Pilot Sport 4S | All | 300 | AA | A |
Both Pilot Super Sport & Pilot Sport 4S provide a mileage warranty of 30,000 miles & both of them have the same UTQG treadwear rating. However based on the tire rating numbers, Pilot Sport 4S slightly edges Pilot Super Sport by 0.2 points but being an older product it has a higher (10 million miles) recorded compared to 6 million of Pilot Sport 4S.
- Pilot Super Sport: 8.1 /10
- Pilot Sport 4S: 8.3 /10
For more in depth information about UTQG, please check out this article here. We even have a free download on the latest UTQG values from the leading tire manufacturers.
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, we would expect Michelin to command the highest priced tire in the market for these 2 segments. As both tires are in the max performance segment the price differences are not huge. Pilot Super Sport was found to be 7 dollars cheaper than Pilot Sport 4S.
Tire size: 225/40 R18
Pilot Super Sport: $230
Pilot Sport 4S: $237
Difference: +3% more expensive for Pilot Sport 4S.
Summary
Overall, Pilot Sport 4S showed a very tiny advantage in dry, comfort & tread wear while Pilot Super Sport holds its ground in wet performances. Both tires are still excellent max performance summer tire but from our point of view, Pilot Sport 4S is the winner of this battle !