Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3+

Great tires and were a welcome improvement coming from a Hankook Ventus. Started to tear and chunk when they were at the last few 32nds but that may be due to driving style.

Purchased 4 of these tires for my '05 BMW 330CI ZHP in 255/35/18 *4 (I put two rear wheels on the front to get a more equal handling characteristic at high speeds), In dry, handling is excellent, not enough room to test it out at it's limits (traffic) but it's relatively good traction in 270 degree on ramps. in the rain, night and day. The car 'floats' with any water on the concrete at highway speeds. If you consider speeding in the rain, all 4's are going to put the car into a flat spin and you're going for a ride. For those out there that 'know' when your car is right at it's traction limit, you will be lucky to travel 70MPH in a 70 zone with these tires in the rain on concrete. Asphalt is a little different, better traction but you can still feel it get loose a little over 70. I purchased these tires because they were supposed to have great handling in dry and wet, dry is good, not great, wet is a skating rink.

I had the dealership put tires on during service and they put the Michelin Pilot Sport AS 3 Plus on my 2012 GTI MKVI. These cost me right at $900 for the set but I couldn't be happier. I've got about 50,000 miles on them and in dry weather they still preform great and I really drive my GTI. I go shooting at a range up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas a at least once a week and I look forward to the drive as much as I do time at the range. A great test for tires. With 50K miles on them they preform on dry road like they did when I first bought them. I take off fast but, when it comes to stoping I use my gears and I'm easy on the breaks, I still have the ones from the factory with 172k miles on the car. The Michelins have worn evenly and I've only noticed road noice for about the last 10k miles. Probably my fault, I did 5k tire rotations up until 30k and have only rotated them once since then. They did well in the rain however, I drive a lot more conservatively when it rains. Last winter we got a lot of rain and during extremely heavy showers I did feel a little hydroplaning when a lot of water was standing on the road. These are not the most smooth riding tire but they last and preform very well. I'm pricing a new set now before winter. One more thought, these tires take a lot of abuse from our very poor California roads and I haven't had to repair or replace one.. I can't rate snow or ice I almost never drive in those conditions we never get snow and as far as ice it's a rarity and I try to stay off the roads I'd rather not risk someone sliding into me. I've found for the 225/49/18s $175 a tire is about the lowest I'm going to get.

Coming from the Continental Extreme Contact DW prior to this set, These were not too bad. I live in Los Angeles, so they never got to see snow. I did go up Mt. Wilson with these once in early spring and saw small patches of snow on the ground, but the road was wet, not snowy if that makes sense. Let me clear, these tires let you feel everything on the road.. If there's a stone on the road, you will feel it. The sidewall has decent flex. And When I compare them to the Conti or even the Firestone Indy 500 that I have on my other set of wheels, the tire's sidewall does give some comfort and will flex when cornering hard. At the time of this writing, I no longer run on these tires. I still have them on my OE wheels, but I will be changing them out this spring, but since I'm driving on my Firestone Firehawk Indy 500s, there's no rush to do so since they have plenty of tread on the Firestones. The reason for swapping out the Michelins is because they have aged out. they are too old and too stiff to drive on safely.

As I write this review, this tire is no longer in production. I still have them on my OEM wheels, but I don’t use them anymore. I drive a 2009 Honda Civic Si and it’s a lightweight car. So much so that these tires have aged out before I can wear the tread down.


I enjoyed these tires, and their performance in the rain was confidence inspiring. They were quiet, and had low rolling resistance. But now that they have aged out, they have become extremely hard and I feel everything on the road. Going to replace them with Falken Azenis FK460 A/S because the Michelins that replaced these are now out of my price range. And since the tires age out before I can wear down the tread, it doesn’t make sense for me to buy premium tires anymore.