Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S review

http://www.automobilemag.com/news/michelins-new-pilot-sport-4s-better-pilot-super-sport/

Is Michelins New Pilot Sport 4S Better Than the Pilot Super Sport?


We had some pretty demanding requests from product marketing (for the PS4S); said Carl Driver, senior product development engineer at Michelin ;They wanted better dry/wet braking, lap times and rolling resistance. They also wanted to maintain wear ; the 30,000-mile warranty. Take everything we had with the PSS and expand it for the PS4S

Only two of the original 3000 compounds made it into the dual-compound PS4S. 60% of the compounds tested were for the inner portion of the tire; primarily for wet weather. New functional elastomers (rubber) are utilized, which are patented and manufactured in-house by Michelin. The outer portion of the tire features carbon black material, increasing dry grip by managing and dissipating heat. A variable contact patch reduces stresses and pressures on the tire, improving grip further.

Our validation took place at The Thermal Club; a private country club track facility just outside picturesque Palm Springs, California. We started on an autocross course; a surprisingly wet autocross course. You can almost guarantee dry conditions in the desert but, surprisingly, the skies opened shortly before our drive. Given that one of Michelins key goals was to expand wet performance beyond the PSS, we wonder if the company made a deal with Mother Nature. Either way, the PS4S did not disappoint.

The rear-wheel drive BMW 340i test vehicle impressively resisted understeer and easily transferred the robust torque of the turbocharged inline-6 into forward motion on the drenched pavement. A direct comparison to the Bridgestone Potenza S-04 Pole Position revealed that the PS4S carried more grip and outright pace throughout the course.

Further Michelin highlights include overall consistency and confidence, as well as braking performance. We casually measured wet braking from roughly 60 mph on the PS4S versus the Bridgestone and the Michelin came out on top by an average of 12 feet. Michelins more-scientific internal testing reveals the PS4S beats the Potenza by 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) when braking on wet pavement from 80 km/h (just under 50 mph).

A brief run in a BMW M4 on a wet section of the road course at The Thermal Club validated the PS4Ss rain skills. Again, grip was plentiful and, when the limits of adhesion were reached, the Michelin UHP tire gave us plenty of warning, with a progressive drop in its hold on the rain-soaked circuit. Like on the autocross track, the PS4S also allowed brisk acceleration out of slow corners without significantly triggering the traction control. Keep in mind that the BMW M4 is known to overwhelm the rear tires at low speeds, even on dry pavement.

Our final leg of our PS4S review was a road drive through Joshua Tree National Park in a Ferrari California T and Mercedes-AMG GT S. The pace was slow and the loop relatively short, but it allowed us to confirm that the PS4S is a smooth and responsive tire on public roads with no glaring flaws or issues. We found turn-in to be a particular highlight on that portion of the test. Our thoughts on road noise will have to wait until were on more familiar pavement and we'll have to take Michelins word on wear, at least for now.
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Good news folks. Michelin WILL be releasing more 18" variants at some point.

I think I'll be going back up to an 18" rim in that case if the tyre price is right for around 225/40/18
 
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Alex_6n2 said:
I thought the PS3 wasn't really a performance tyre at all?

To make things even simpler, of course

And the PS4 has a stiffer sidewall than the PSS, which was the main/only complaint of the older tyre.
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I have PS3's on my 306 Gti-6 which has had more suspension mods than you can shake a stick and it has hilarious grip and agility. I have tried a lot of tyres on that car in it's current state and they are easily the best
 
Will be having all 4 corners replaced Monday with these, then can really give them a go in my own car, straight from pzeros onto MPS4S.
 
kindai said:
Will be having all 4 corners replaced Monday with these, then can really give them a go in my own car, straight from pzeros onto MPS4S.
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May I ask what car you tested them on?

Surely that is the most important question. PS2's were horrible on my MK5 Golf GTi but BMW drivers love them!
 
I've only a Focus 182 - I need some new tyres and always like to go for best I can as I drive the car quite card - question presumably if little price difference not much point going for PS3s over PS4s ? only 5 quid a tyre difference in price

I like tyres with stiff sidewalls
 
Buckster said:
I've only a Focus 182 - I need some new tyres and always like to go for best I can as I drive the car quite card - question presumably if little price difference not much point going for PS3s over PS4s ? only 5 quid a tyre difference in price

I like tyres with stiff sidewalls
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I believe the ps4's are much better than the 3's.
 
Right time to give my verdict on these as im just about getting to the end of their life as they'll last me through winter, but will be changed soon as the weather starts improving again.


So theyve done:

Silverstone (very high speed circuit lots of long lateral corners)
Donnington x2 (very twisty and tight)
2 Airfield charity days (insane lateral cornering speeds)
2 or 3 trips to curby
Lots of drag racing
Daily driver with many, many traffic light grand prix :D


I cant say anything but good things, until recently. Early in their life they really shined, gave great confidence and hooked up everywhere, wet, damp or dry, they really got on well with the GTR. At the pressures I run daily (32 psi) a lot of people didn't like the bounce they had, but it didnt really bother me, the comfort and grip were well up there. The first airfield charity day is where they got the first proper hammering, and they did not disappoint, likewise at both donnington days, they got upto temperature quickly and once they did, what a fantastic tyre.

Now the downside.

Im down to a couple of mm tread and its noticeable in the grip, finding it very easy to brake traction now if I dont get some decent heat into the tyres, and at silverstone ended up having to drop them all the way down to around 26psi, at 29-30 I was sliding all over the place. It certainly seems that they lose their best quite a bit before I would expect.

Now at the price bracket they are in, I would have preferred some more stickyness right until theyre at the limit, it seems a bit of a letdown for them to go so early which got me thinking, @Gibbo you ran the K1 version right? Which afaik comes with less tread, and you couldn't get on with them, I wonder if theres something at play there.

Anyway, do I rate the tyre? Yes, absolutely, if youre not an absolute maniac driver they are probably for the money the best you can buy currently. The wet performance is astounding and in the dry you know they are going to hold on, for any high performance daily with occasional track use, these are top of their league.

If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask.

Next up, either the R888R's or Sport Cup 2's. :)
 
I’ll be getting the Michelin PS4S when it comes to change.

Currently on P Zeros , which are okay on dry roads , but as soon as the roads are moist , they seem to loose quite a bit of grip and don’t inspire me to push on even with AWD

Good point is that they have a big rim protector that has saved me from scuffing my alloys and also they seem to wear well. I’m on 6mm alround on about 9K miles done.
 
kindai said:
Right time to give my verdict on these as im just about getting to the end of their life as they'll last me through winter, but will be changed soon as the weather starts improving again.


So theyve done:

Silverstone (very high speed circuit lots of long lateral corners)
Donnington x2 (very twisty and tight)
2 Airfield charity days (insane lateral cornering speeds)
2 or 3 trips to curby
Lots of drag racing
Daily driver with many, many traffic light grand prix :D


I cant say anything but good things, until recently. Early in their life they really shined, gave great confidence and hooked up everywhere, wet, damp or dry, they really got on well with the GTR. At the pressures I run daily (32 psi) a lot of people didn't like the bounce they had, but it didnt really bother me, the comfort and grip were well up there. The first airfield charity day is where they got the first proper hammering, and they did not disappoint, likewise at both donnington days, they got upto temperature quickly and once they did, what a fantastic tyre.

Now the downside.

Im down to a couple of mm tread and its noticeable in the grip, finding it very easy to brake traction now if I dont get some decent heat into the tyres, and at silverstone ended up having to drop them all the way down to around 26psi, at 29-30 I was sliding all over the place. It certainly seems that they lose their best quite a bit before I would expect.

Now at the price bracket they are in, I would have preferred some more stickyness right until theyre at the limit, it seems a bit of a letdown for them to go so early which got me thinking, @Gibbo you ran the K1 version right? Which afaik comes with less tread, and you couldn't get on with them, I wonder if theres something at play there.

Anyway, do I rate the tyre? Yes, absolutely, if youre not an absolute maniac driver they are probably for the money the best you can buy currently. The wet performance is astounding and in the dry you know they are going to hold on, for any high performance daily with occasional track use, these are top of their league.

If anyone has any specific questions, feel free to ask.

Next up, either the R888R's or Sport Cup 2's. :)
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Hey there,

Quick few questions :)

Any rough guesses as to the total mileage you've covered on them?
How long were your sessions at Silverstone and Donington? Total time on track-ish?

I'm really torn about getting a set of 18" wheels for R888R's etc or just putting the best mixed road/track tyres on my 20".

Thanks in advance!


Lustral said:
I’ll be getting the Michelin PS4S when it comes to change.

Currently on P Zeros , which are okay on dry roads , but as soon as the roads are moist , they seem to loose quite a bit of grip and don’t inspire me to push on even with AWD

Good point is that they have a big rim protector that has saved me from scuffing my alloys and also they seem to wear well. I’m on 6mm alround on about 9K miles done.
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I wrote off a WRX STI on a cold rainy night coming off a roundabout with P Zeros, I blame them :p Truly awful in anything but dry.
 
Plenty O'Toole said:
Any rough guesses as to the total mileage you've covered on them?
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Maybe 6000 miles in terms of distance? But obviously its the track days which will have killed them.

Plenty O'Toole said:
How long were your sessions at Silverstone and Donington? Total time on track-ish?
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Charity days, was from about 9am until 4pm, with an hour break at lunch, so 6 hours almost none stop on both. If I said take out 10 minutes per hour for loading/unloading that would have been 5 hours of 50% ~1G 110-120mph cornering and the other 50% accelerating upto 160mph with harsh 160 < 40 braking at the end of the straights. (On board readouts, take that how you will). To give you an idea, this is the first time (and I havent felt it since) that I could feel the car shuffling power around the wheels to try and find grip.

Silverstone, was on track for a good 3-4 hours, usually did 5-6-7 or so laps, cooldown lap, in for 20~ minutes and back out.

Donningstons the same.
 
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I recently replaced all 4 x Pirelli on my Audi A6 with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S (255/35/20) and can confirm that the grip is absolutely brilliant in comparison to the Pirelli Zeros. The road noise is lower as well :)
 
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Been using the MPS4S on the rears for around 6 months now, very happy with them. Still have MPSS on the fronts tho, plenty of life left.

Just a quick query:

kindai said:
At the pressures I run daily (32 psi)
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Is it normal/recommended to run the tyre pressures that low? I pump mine up to 37 psi cold - 275/30/20.
 
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