Across 306 owner reviews averaging 78.9%, most drivers rate the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 for its standout grip: around half praise both wet and dry traction, often describing very high confidence and predictable handling. Comfort also lands well for many (around a third mention it positively), though opinions are more mixed on noise, steering feel and especially longevity. Tread life is the biggest point of disagreement (mentioned by 42% overall), with plenty reporting strong mileage while a similar number complain of faster wear; a smaller group also call out the sidewalls as too soft.
What owners mention most counted across 304 reviews
excellent tyres, superb wet grip with very progressive breakaway, dry grip is also phenomenal, compliance is also a great mix, vertical is really soft but without the sidewalls giving out too much on lateral load, although in more extreme cornering they are a touch too soft and will skip slightly.
Too early to comment on wear, thought it appears decent to start with. I have run most other tyres in this segment (MPSS, conti SC 5 and 6), in comparison to PSS - I am hard pushed to tell the difference most of the time, SC5 i thought were pretty rubbish, shocking wear rates, poor feel and managing to combine very soft sidewalls with stiff vertical compliance. SC6 another kettle of fish, fantastic wet grip (much more so than pss or ps4), better feel and balance of lateral/vertical ride but (and I only have about 1k on these on a heavy 4wd audi) wear is shaping up to be poor.
Feburary purchased four new tires, for A4 2.0T Quattro (B7). Steering feels light, dry grip is excellent have the confidence again with these to push hard in all weathers, in fact in gear five flooring it from 30mph the grip is shockingly superb acceleration. I'm not sure if it's in my mind or the car but car feels lighter on the road with these on hard to explain. Alloy sits nice and deep in tire giving it good protection. It could be in my mind but I think I'm getting 2-3 mpg better over my old tires (crappy kumhos). I just hope and prey the wear is good on them because at £120 each today not cheap.
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
First 250 miles on new tyres, so cannot report on wear and how well they keep their properties with time.
Dry and wet grip are excellent. In fact you have so much grip you want to drive the car faster than you would normally do it.
Comfort level is a huge improvement on my previous Falkon Ziex ZE912 - tyres are much quieter and feel softer. On one hand you get less road feedback on another hand you skip on road feedback you don't really need - i.e. when you come across a patch with that special noisy-generating surface.
My previous tyres were pretty stiff, so steering with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 is quite different. On one hand there is a microsecond delay between your intention and the car actually starting the maneuver. On another hand tyres behave like some very stiff springs when cornering, so you have less body roll and may drive faster without compromising safety. To test tyres and handling I use one corner not far from where I live. There you can drive 30 mph safely in any car (even a double-deck buses do 30 mph there). With my previous Falkon tyres going above 40 mph was a bit risky and you would loose grip if you do 45 mph. With Michelin Pilot Sport 4 I can do it at 45 mph and even 50 mph is reasonably safe in dry. Mind it is a large family car, not a sports car!
Considering motorways... Tried them at speeds from 60 mph to 100 mph. Haven't noticed any difference in grip, noise, comfort or level of road feedback. I did just 70 miles on motorways though.
Cannot report on braking distance as I got new brake pads and brake discs soon after swapping tyres. So far they seem to be alright and very comfortable even under load, but I didn't do any emergency stops yet...
All in all, can highly recommend that tyres!
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I just got these tyres at the front yesterday. The steering feel is much much better then the Pilot Sport 3's I had at the front. I started buying Michelin Pilot Sport, with the Pilot Sport 2. For me that was the best tyre I have ever owned. The Pilot Sport 3 never really convinced me, it felt like I was driving on jellyfish. The PS3's felt like they where more touring orientated. These Pilot Sport 4's give me the feeling back that I had with PS2's. I will post later more info when I have more km's.
Early review after just 100 miles so can't grade everything. Much more comfortable than the Continental tyres they replaced on the front of my golf, less noise, insane wet grip.
One slight negative if you like driving is the Pilot Sport 4 lacks a little steering speed compared to the old worn tyres, but it's not very noticeable.
Very happy with my purchase so far and hope to get more miles out of them than the last pair. Will report back!
I have today (11/01/16) received some of the first available Pilot Sport 4's in the UK. They are to replace my worn out Goodyear Eagle ASY 2's on the rear of my GAD Tuned C250 Cdi.
I will review again in a few weeks when I have had chance to thoroughly try the tyre out, however my initial observations are as follows:
Aesthetic appeal: They look good and sit well on the rims, a pleasant development over the PS3, both in tread pattern and sidewall appearance, without being 'over the top'.
Cost: For my size I paid £145 per corner delivered from mytyres, however tyreloader(?) have them currently at £135. As they are new on the market I expected to pay a premium, and I anticipate as they become more established the price will come down in the coming months.
Other: They have a good size/width kerbing protection ring which is welcome, especially as they did not state they had one in the sellers description. A must for expensive alloys!
Potential downsides are that when measured from new I have gotten a reading of 7.2mm tread depth, as opposed to the 8mm once seen from new on sport tyres. This seems to be a growing trend as the Hankooks and Bridgestones I have used on my other cars in recent months have also been supplied with 7mm from new as opposed to the 8mm expected.
I have also noticed that the grooves (in my size at least) seem wider than the PS3's I have used in the past. Whereas I am sure that the performance of this tyre on our British roads esp. in the wet will excel, I am concerned about the longevity of this tyre and its potential wear rate as simply there is less rubber contacting the road. Lets hope the compound will make up for it! I have found on my other cars that these wider grooves and lesser tread depth is causing my tyres to need to be changed much more often than their predecessors (under much the same driving conditions and mileages), so despite the marketing bluff about increased longevity, I am sceptical.
I will re-review when I have had chance to get some miles done on these tyres.
