Tests 75 · 2 tests Owners 74 · 152 reviews
Best test result: #1 of 14 in 2018 New and Worn Summer Tyre Test (noise)
Relative Score (0–100): the weighted average of the categories below, each 60% road tests and 40% owner reviews (comfort 40/60). Based on 2 + 27 road tests and 152 + 6,614 owner reviews. How we score
Pilot Sport 4 S is ahead, 83–75
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Tests 75 · 2 tests Owners 74 · 152 reviews
Best test result: #1 of 14 in 2018 New and Worn Summer Tyre Test (noise)
Tests 82 · 27 tests Owners 86 · 6,614 reviews
Best test result: #1 of 15 in 2021 Auto Bild 19 inch Summer Tyre Test (dry braking)
“A note about the pilot sport 4 S: in cold weather (below 5 degrees) even if it isn't icy, the tyre compound hardens and has dramatically reduced grip. They are excellent summer tyres though, good in the wet too. These days I run Uniroyal rainsport 5 and they're very good.”
Relative Score per category, 0–100. Open “Why this score” for the tests and owner ratings behind it.
| Source | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 2 / 25 tests | 78 | 94 |
| Reviews found online | 74 | 92 |
CrossClimate: 60% × 77.8 + 40% × 73.9 = 76
Pilot Sport 4 S: 60% × 94.3 + 40% × 92.1 = 93
| Source | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 2 / 26 tests | 75 | 86 |
| Reviews found online | 78 | 91 |
CrossClimate: 60% × 75.5 + 40% × 78 = 76
Pilot Sport 4 S: 60% × 86.4 + 40% × 90.7 = 88
| Source | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 2 / – tests | 71 | – |
| Reviews found online | 66 | – |
CrossClimate: 60% × 70.9 + 40% × 65.6 = 69
| Source | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · – / 6 tests | ≈ 70 (est.) | 70 |
| Reviews found online | 76 | 84 |
CrossClimate: 40% × 70.5 (est.) + 60% × 76.3 = 74
Pilot Sport 4 S: 40% × 70.4 + 60% × 84.2 = 79
No road tests of comfort for CrossClimate. The test half is the tested tires’ average (69): owners’ comfort ratings barely follow the road tests.
| Source | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 1 / 20 tests | 71 | 70 |
| Reviews found online | ≈ 67 (est.) | ≈ 67 (est.) |
CrossClimate: 60% × 70.8 + 40% × 66.6 (est.) = 69
Pilot Sport 4 S: 60% × 70.3 + 40% × 66.6 (est.) = 69
No owner ratings of noise for CrossClimate or Pilot Sport 4 S. The owner half is the owners’ average (67): owners’ noise ratings barely follow the road tests, so the tests say nothing about how owners would rate it.
| Source | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 1 / 1 tests | 74 | 70 |
| Reviews found online | 75 | 74 |
CrossClimate: 60% × 73.8 + 40% × 74.8 = 74
Pilot Sport 4 S: 60% × 70.2 + 40% × 74.1 = 72
| Source | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews found online | 73 | 90 |
| Source | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 2 / 23 tests | 76 | 72 |
| Category | Michelin CrossClimate | Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Relative Score | 75 | 83 |
| Dry | 76 | 93 |
| Wet | 76 | 88 |
| Snow | 69 | – |
| Comfort | 74 | 79 |
| Noise | 69 | 69 |
| Treadwear | 74 | 72 |
| Handling (owners) | 73 | 90 |
| Efficiency | 76 | 72 |
Higher is better. The Relative Score follows your weights below; category scores do not change.
Wet grip and treadwear start at “Important” — the two things buyers rank highest. Move the sliders and the scores update instantly.
Only one of the two tires has a score here, so this weight changes nothing in the head-to-head.
CrossClimate
Pilot Sport 4 S
Only categories both tires have data for count toward the headline score.
Per discipline: the average % of the best tire over every test both tires were in, and how many of those tests each one won. “Different tests” rows compare results from separate tests.
| Discipline | Category | CrossClimate | Pilot Sport 4 S | Δ | Head-to-head |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | Dry | 99% #2/14 · 2018 New and Worn Summer Tyre Test | 94% #8/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Dry Handling | Dry | 90% #7/14 · 2018 New and Worn Summer Tyre Test | 100% #2/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Straight Aquaplaning | Wet | 94% #4/11 · 2017 All Season VS Winter Tyre Test | 100% #1/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Wet Braking | Wet | 87% #9/14 · 2018 New and Worn Summer Tyre Test | 90% #7/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Wet Handling | Wet | 96% #4/14 · 2018 New and Worn Summer Tyre Test | 90% #6/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Noise | Noise | 100% #1/14 · 2018 New and Worn Summer Tyre Test | 98% #4/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Rolling Resistance | Efficiency | 100% #1/8 · 2017 Auto Bild All Season Tyre Test | 98% #2/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Also published by the testers (not in the score) | |||||
| Overall Ranking | Overall | #9/9 2018 ADAC All Season Tyre Test | #1/10 2026 ACE Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
Themes extracted from owner reviews found online — not the opinion of TireWheelGuide.
From Reddit, forums and review threads. Not part of our score
We haven't collected enough community discussion about this tire yet.
The community widely regards the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S as a benchmark max-performance summer tire, praising its outstanding dry and wet grip, stability, and daily driving refinement. Common criticisms focus on its premium price, rapid tread wear on high-powered heavy vehicles or hot track sessions, and significantly reduced grip in cold weather. Many enthusiasts consider it an ideal street tire, though some note softer sidewalls compared to predecessors or recommend dedicated track tires for hard circuit driving.
“A note about the pilot sport 4 S: in cold weather (below 5 degrees) even if it isn't icy, the tyre compound hardens and has dramatically reduced grip. They are excellent summer tyres though, good in the wet too. These days I run Uniroyal rainsport 5 and they're very good.”
“I tried conti’s and took them off the car after 2 days and went back to ps4s. Obviously on a closed course they feel very floaty around 130 and I’ve had the Michelin’s up to 165-170 and they stay planted. Depends if you drive those speeds, but like Watkins glen you’ll legally notice the difference. It was shocking at first.”
“If you can burn through a set of rock hard Bridgestones in 8k miles then you must be driving like a nutter. Most will see 20k miles on the fronts. You also talk about "throwing" the car around. If you're flinging the car around, I think you'd find the car a lot more predictable on 4 tyres of the same type rather than those on the front axle being a lot gripper than those on the rear axle. I'd recommend 35psi fronts and 33psi backs, if you were running 4 x PS4s. Back end stability is a little way off the likes of a Golf GTI when you start flinging it around - rear axle grip for both wheels on a bend would be far better with multilink rear suspension (which the Polo doesn't have). I've momentarily lost the back end once when I had all Bridgestones on. My 2018 Polo GTI went tail happy doing some moderate acceleration out of a large roundabout (so large it was almost straight) when I had 4000.miles on - bone dry road on a warm day. In the outside lane, a Golf GTD gunned it at twice my rate of acceleration, with no drama. That was the incident that made me decide to ditch the Bridgestones for PS4s.”
Based on 208 community posts
| Attribute | A · Michelin CrossClimate | B · Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S |
|---|---|---|
| Category | All Season | Summer |
| Vehicle type | Passenger Car / Crossover | Passenger Car / Crossover |
| Sizes available | — | 110 |
| Rim diameters | — | 17″ – 22″ |
Michelin CrossClimate
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
Winner: Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S — better dry, handling and wet. Pick the Michelin CrossClimate if efficiency matters most to you.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S scores 93 vs 76 on dry.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S scores 90 vs 73 on handling.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S scores 88 vs 76 on wet.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S scores 79 vs 74 on comfort.
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Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 88 vs 76 on our wet score.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 93 vs 76 on our dry score.
Neither, by our numbers: 69 vs 69 on the noise score, within 3 points.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 79 vs 74 on our comfort score.
Neither, by our numbers: 74 vs 72 on the treadwear score, within 3 points.
Michelin CrossClimate, 76 vs 72 on our efficiency score.
Every category score blends two independent signals. 60% comes from professional tire tests (braking distances, lap times, noise measurements), each result compared with every other tire in the same test and newer tests counting more. 40% comes from owner reviews found online, adjusted for how generously each site rates. Both use one scale: the average tested tire gets 70, the best 100. When a tire has only one of the two, the missing half is estimated from the other and the score stays closer to average; with no road test and fewer than five owner reviews it gets no score yet.
Handling is the exception: road tests measure it inside the dry and wet scores, so its own row comes from owner ratings only and starts as less important.
Community buzz from Reddit and forums is shown for context only — it never changes the score. Full methodology