Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S vs Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ — Compared

“Quote: Originally Posted by gcurnew I got the Goodyear F1s on my car when delivered and found them surprisingly nice: good grip, quiet, compliant ride. Put PS4Ss on last year and while I'm happy with them, they are a tad noisier than the F1s with a slightly stiffer ride and no apparent difference in grip or handling. I know the Michelins are the "go to" tire and pretty much everyone raves about them...but I'm in the camp that thinks the F1s are an equivalent tire. Having had both, I would have just bought a set of F1 rears (my fronts were only partially worn) rather than a full set of Michelins. I've used Michelin exclusively for the past two decades. My car came with the F1s and was pleasantly surprised. Dare I say better than 4S? Excellent in the wet and dry and they don't seem to get greasy like the 4Ss can when pushed. Still don't know how they wear but unless performance drops off or noise suddenly goes up like with Pirellis, I might buy them again.”

“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.”

“I got 30k miles out of the pilot sport 4s and pilot sport all season 4. The cost difference was not too bad and the all season 4 grip almost as well and are rated to 11f vs 40f for the pilot sport 4s. And they all wore evenly. Upsizing definitely made it feel more planted 245 275.”

“Slam me if you must, but I bought the Falken Azenis FK460 A/S in size 255-40x19 for my 2016 Mustang GT, based largely on Tire Rack testing and their customer comments. First thing I noticed was they are quieter than my old Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3+ tires, which were noisy when new and got worse. Also, the rear tires don't want to slip out like the Michelins when I get on the gas through a tight turn. However, the Michelins had been on the car for >6 years and 27K miles. But other than than the two categories above, it's hard for me to discern a lot of difference. Maybe it's only in my head, but perhaps the Michelins were a bit more responsive to quick motions at the steering wheel. I have no idea how well the Falkens will perform after 20K miles, but for me that's probably 4 years from now. Fair or not, I shied away from the Contis because I had read about balancing issues on a couple websites.”

“Just had these Pilot Sport A/S 3+ installed to replace OEM Dunlops”

“Pilot Sport A/S 3+ Tires just installed Just got the tires on this morning with an alignment and proper balancing. Holy cow, night and day difference from the original Bridgestones on the car. Car handles so much better. It honestly makes me feel like I just bought a new car. If you have any questions or are considering getting them, feel free to ask!”