Yokohama tires vs Michelin: Yokohama is a Japanese tire manufacturer that has been in business since 1917. The company is known for producing high-quality tires for passenger cars, SUVs, and trucks, as well as competition and performance tires. Yokohama is part of Japan’s big 4 in tire manufacturing industry as they are placed 8th in the world wide rankings with a 2021 revenue of €3.4 billion.
Michelin on the other hand is the highest revenue tire manufacturer with over €23.7 billion in tire sales. Michelin is currently the de-facto technology leader as they have showcased over the years with multiple award winning products while Yokohama has been consistently been a solid quality brand with main focus in the mid range pricing. Instead of having a general outlook of comparison, we will stack Yokohama tires vs Michelin same segment products and compare them head to head.
Table of Contents
Evaluation Methodology
The right way to compare tires is of course to test them 1 v 1. However it is not always possible to do so due to a high volume of different tires out there in the market and the restriction of the number of tire sets you can do in one go. Instead of having a traditional head to head test results comparison, we will utilize Tire Rack’s tire rating charts to rank Yokohama tires vs Michelin.
Segmentation: Yokohama tires vs Michelin
Max Performance Summer
- Yokohama ADVAN Apex V601 vs Michelin Pilot Sport 4S
Yokohama’s ADVAN Apex V601 was launched in 2019 with a North America region specific product. Pilot Sport 4S on the other hand was launched in 2017 and has been a top performer in the max performance segment over the last 5 years. It is available worldwide without a specific region lock like Yokohama’s ADVAN Apex V601.
We were fortunate to have direct test data in regards to both tires head to head performance. The graph below shows the comparison between Yokohama ADVAN Apex V601 vs Michelin Pilot Sport 4S based on the relevant performance category. The ADVAN Apex V601 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
Overall, Pilot Sport 4S showed clear dominance in wet, dry & noise/comfort while only having a deficit in terms of price. From our point of view, Pilot Sport 4S is the clear winner in this duel !
Ultra High Performance All-Season
- Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S+ vs Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4
Pilot Sport All Season 4 was launched in 2020 with sizes primarily above 16″ while Yokohama’s ADVAN Sport A/S+ has been around since 2019.This segment is unique to North America as they are the only specific region which has an ultra high performance segment in the all season category. Michelin once again showed its edge by beating ADVAN Sport A/S+ in all 5 performance categories with the biggest difference coming in wet performances.
The total “would you recommend” score was a 1.2 point difference with Pilot Sport All Season 4 having a 9/10 rating compared to the 7.8/10 rating of ADVAN Sport A/S+. Once again Michelin’s Pilot Sport All Season 4 is clearly the stronger tire.
| Would You Recommend | Wet | Dry | Winter/Snow | Comfort | Treadwear | |
| Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S+ | 7.8 | 8.3 | 8.9 | 6.8 | 8.5 | 8.8 |
| Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 | 9 | 9.1 | 9.3 | 7.4 | 8.8 | 8.6 |
Grand Touring All-Season
Michelin once again shows its innovation by revolutionizing the all season segment with its highly successful 3 peak mountain certified CrossClimate in 2015. At that time, all season markets were predominantly sold in America with poor winter performances. Cross Climate showed that it is possible to be marginally worse in summer performances while being extremely dominant in winter performances. After the initial success of Cross Climate, every tire manufacturer scramble to launch their own similar segment products but none are still as well balanced as the latest Cross Climate 2 !
In comparison with Yokohama’s AVID Ascend GT, CrossClimate 2 tops the charts with an “average “would you recommend” score of 9/10 while beating AVID Ascend GT in all performance categories. As seen in other markets, the ability to show superior winter/snow performances while maintaining a top level summer performance is what makes CrossClimate 2 so unique. It is obvious that AVID Ascend GT is playing second fiddle to the mighty all season innovator.
| Would You Recommend | Wet | Dry | Winter /Snow | Comfort | Treadwear | |
| Yokohama AVID Ascend GT | 8.0 | 9.0 | 9.1 | 7.5 | 8.4 | 8.7 |
| Michelin CrossClimate2 | 9 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 9.1 |
Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season
- Yokohama Geolandar CV G058 vs Michelin CrossClimate SUV
Any tire manufacturer would know that the largest portion of vehicle types in America belongs to the SUV segment. Hence with a hot battleground of SUV tires, Michelin’s CrossClimate SUV stands strong among the competition with outstanding wet & dry performances.
However Geolandar CV G058 was able to hold its own by beating CrossClimate SUV with a 8.7/10 “would you recommend” score while CrossClimate SUV finished just 0.1 point behind. Key strengths on Geolandar CV G058 is in treadwear, while CrossClimate SUV was better in wet. Based on the results, it is too close to tell who is the better tire & it really depends on your top requirements.
| Would You Recommend | Wet | Dry | Winter /Snow | Comfort | Treadwear | |
| Yokohama Geolandar CV G058 | 8.7 | 9.0 | 9.2 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 9.3 |
| Michelin CrossClimate SUV | 8.6 | 9.4 | 9.5 | 8.7 | 8.8 | 8.6 |
On-/Off-Road All-Terrain
- Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 vs Michelin LTX A/T 2
If there is one segment which demonstrates Michelin’s weakness it would be the off-road segment. As Michelin uses the BFGoodrich brand to lead its product portfolio in the off-road segment, it usually leaves its products untouched for many years. Michelin’s LTX A/T 2 was released in 2007 and it is still being sold in the market! While Yokohama’s Geolandar A/T G015 was launched in 2015 which makes it look relatively new.
Geolandar A/T G015 scored a higher “would you recommend” points at 8.1/10 compared to LTX A/T 2 ‘s 7.5/10. Its main competency field is in off-road & winter/snow while the only silver lining for LTX A/T 2 was a small advantage in treadwear. If off-road is your main requirement, Geolandar A/T G015 definitely is a value buy in this case.
| Would You Recommend | Off-Road | Wet | Dry | Winter /Snow | Comfort | Treadwear | |
| Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 8.3 |
| Michelin LTX A/T 2 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 8.6 | 8.8 | 7.7 | 8.6 | 8.4 |
Studless Ice & Snow
- Yokohama iceGUARD iG52c vs Michelin X-Ice Snow
The studless segment is something we have touched upon many times as we have covered the excellent X-Ice Snow quite extensively in our website. Studless tires are mainly used in extreme cold conditions where ice is mainly the main requirement. Putting them head to head in the winter/snow category, X-Ice Snow fared 0.4 points much higher than iceGUARD iG52c making it a much stronger studless tire. X-Ice Snow also dominated in all other categories making our obvious choice in this battle !
| Would You Recommend | Wet | Dry | Winter /Snow | Comfort | Treadwear | |
| Yokohama iceGUARD iG52c | 7.6 | 7.9 | 7.8 | 8.7 | 8.1 | 8.4 |
| Michelin X-Ice Snow | 8.5 | 8.9 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 8.8 | 8.9 |
Summary
Overall in an uphill battle, Michelin is clearly the far superior tire manufacturer compared to Yokohama tires with outstanding products such as Pilot Sport 4S and CrossClimate 2 leading the way. Yokohama tires had a silver lining in the form of its off-road segment with Road Venture AT51 & also a close fight in the Crossover/SUV Touring All-Season segment with Geolandar CV G058 . However it is needless to say that Michelin is the clear winner in this duel !