Relative Score (0–100): the weighted average of the categories below, each 60% road tests and 40% owner reviews (comfort 40/60). Based on 27 + 3 road tests and 6,665 + 3,492 owner reviews. How we score
Pilot Sport 4 S is ahead, 83–63
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Tests 81 · 27 tests Owners 86 · 6,665 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.”
Tests 74 · 3 tests Owners 47 · 3,492 reviews
Best test result: #1 of 20 in 2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test (dry handling)
“New rubber for the road wheels Pirelli P-Zero RS TLR 30mm, measuring 33mm on 25mm inner rim width. Rides like a dream, but the center thread is narrow, so I'd not feel confident if I raced anything with tighter cornering.”
Relative Score per category, 0–100. Open “Why this score” for the tests and owner ratings behind it.
| Source | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 25 / 3 tests | 95 | 80 |
| Reviews found online | 92 | 61 |
Pilot Sport 4 S: 60% × 94.6 + 40% × 91.5 = 93
P Zero: 60% × 79.6 + 40% × 61.4 = 72
| Source | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 26 / 3 tests | 86 | 81 |
| Reviews found online | 91 | 55 |
Pilot Sport 4 S: 60% × 85.9 + 40% × 90.5 = 88
P Zero: 60% × 81.1 + 40% × 54.9 = 71
| Source | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) | – | ≈ 60 (est.) |
| Reviews found online | – | 36 |
P Zero: 60% × 59.7 (est.) + 40% × 36.4 = 50
No road tests of snow for P Zero. The test half is estimated from the owner ratings, as far as owners and testers agree (correlation 0.32).
| Source | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 6 / 1 tests | 70 | 70 |
| Reviews found online | 84 | 46 |
Pilot Sport 4 S: 40% × 70.4 + 60% × 83.5 = 78
P Zero: 40% × 69.8 + 60% × 46.2 = 56
| Source | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 20 / 1 tests | 70 | 61 |
| Reviews found online | ≈ 66 (est.) | 53 |
Pilot Sport 4 S: 60% × 70.3 + 40% × 66.3 (est.) = 69
P Zero: 60% × 60.7 + 40% × 52.9 = 58
No owner ratings of noise for Pilot Sport 4 S. The owner half is the owners’ average (66): owners’ noise ratings barely follow the road tests, so the tests say nothing about how owners would rate it.
| Source | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 1 / 1 tests | 70 | 65 |
| Reviews found online | 74 | 29 |
Pilot Sport 4 S: 60% × 70.2 + 40% × 74.1 = 72
P Zero: 60% × 65.3 + 40% × 28.7 = 51
| Source | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews found online | 90 | 56 |
| Source | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Professional tests (TWG score) · 23 / 1 tests | 72 | 59 |
| Category | Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S | Pirelli P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Relative Score | 83 | 63 |
| Dry | 93 | 72 |
| Wet | 88 | 71 |
| Snow | – | 50 |
| Comfort | 78 | 56 |
| Noise | 69 | 58 |
| Treadwear | 72 | 51 |
| Handling (owners) | 90 | 56 |
| Efficiency | 72 | 59 |
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.
Pilot Sport 4 S
P Zero
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.
In the overall rankings of 1 tests that ran both, Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S finished ahead 1 times and Pirelli P Zero 0 times.
| Discipline | Category | Pilot Sport 4 S | P Zero | Δ | Head-to-head |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry Braking | Dry | 94% #8/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | 92% #17/49 · 2020 Tyre Market Overview Braking Test | – | Different tests |
| Dry Handling | Dry | 100% #2/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | 100% #1/20 · 2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Straight Aquaplaning | Wet | 100% #1/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | 93% #14/20 · 2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Wet Braking | Wet | 90% #7/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | 83% #28/49 · 2020 Tyre Market Overview Braking Test | – | Different tests |
| Wet Handling | Wet | 90% #6/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | 99% #3/20 · 2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Comfort (tester's mark) | Comfort | 84% #6/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | 67% #14/20 · 2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Noise | Noise | 98% #4/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | 97% #18/20 · 2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Rolling Resistance | Efficiency | 98% #2/8 · 2026 Autobild Sports Cars Summer Tyre Test | 73% #16/20 · 2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Also published by the testers (not in the score) | |||||
| Price | Cost | 46% #11/11 · 2023 Sport Auto UHP Tyre Test | 66% #18/20 · 2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test | – | Different tests |
| Overall Ranking | Overall | #1/7 | #6/7 | – | 1–0 in 1 shared test Newest: 2019 Motor Summer Tire Test 235/35 ZR19 · 235/35R19 |
Themes extracted from owner reviews found online — not the opinion of TireWheelGuide.
From Reddit, forums and review threads. Not part of our score
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.
“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.”
Based on 208 community posts
Community sentiment regarding Pirelli P Zero tires is polarized across its automotive and bicycle product lines. While users praise the tire lineup for sharp steering responsiveness, comfortable ride quality, and strong dry grip—especially on newer models like the AS Plus 3 and PZ5—many drivers report fast tread wear, wet grip issues on certain summer variants, and vulnerability to sidewall bubbles. Additionally, cyclists frequently note that the tubeless road variants offer impressive rolling speed but can be exceptionally difficult to mount.
“The only tires on your list that I have tried are Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 and Pirelli P-Zero. Both provide excellent traction. I found the Pirellis to wear slightly faster than the Michelins and also to become noisy as they approach the end of their life. This isn't the case with the Michelins. The only "cheap" tires that I've tried on the 996 are Sumitomos. I won't ever do that again. I really like the way the car performs with the PS2 and I will continue to buy them.”
“I used to ride Conti since the GP4K and switched over to Pirelli when I had my new bike 3 years ago. The P-Zero Race was fine I guess but the P-Zero Race RS TLR were the worst. Nightmare to put on and wore out quite fast as well. Punctured the one in the back after 300km and couldn’t seal it. I’m back on the GP5k STR now with no issues or mounting problems. Probably gonna stick to them for some time longer”
“So many people seem to hate the p zero but I’ve got along with them so well, but yes they can go rock hard when they’re cold but once they’ve got some heat in them especially in the wet they grip so well for me. I have noticed though that anything below 4-5°c is when they become hard to keep heat in but once you work the tyre properly they’re brilliant. I have run them all winter on my 300bhp fwd car and can’t complain, I don’t get why no one likes them🤷♂️”
Based on 277 community posts
| Attribute | A · Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S | B · Pirelli P Zero |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Summer | Summer |
| Vehicle type | Passenger Car / Crossover | Passenger Car / Crossover |
| Sizes available | 110 | 194 |
| Rim diameters | 17″ – 22″ | 17″ – 24″ |
| Tread depth | — | 10/32″ |
| UTQG | 300 A - AA A | 220 A A |
| Sidewall | — | Blackwall |
| Max pressure | — | 50 psi |
| Sizes in common | 96 | 96 |
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
Pirelli P Zero
Winner: Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S — better handling, comfort and dry. It leads or ties in every category we score.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S scores 90 vs 56 on handling.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S scores 78 vs 56 on comfort.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S scores 93 vs 72 on dry.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S scores 72 vs 51 on treadwear.
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Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 88 vs 71 on our wet score.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 93 vs 72 on our dry score.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 69 vs 58 on our noise score.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 78 vs 56 on our comfort score.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 72 vs 51 on our treadwear score.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S, 72 vs 59 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
