Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 Tire Review: The Brand’s Promise Delivered

This review serves as perfect example to explain why it can be very important to compare what’s out there, both in quality and in price. I’ll admit that I was very excited by the thought of reviewing a set of new Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 tires and frankly, I wasn’t disappointed. But I did come across something of a head-scratcher…

Last year, I reviewed a set of Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S+ which were the same size and fitted on the same car, and in short, they thoroughly impress my wife and I with their smoothness, quietness, and overall performance. Here was a tire that exceeded expectations and that provided impressive value.

It’s understandable then that my hopes for the new Pilot Sport All-Season 4 tires were quite high. As I first drove away on the Michelins, I was elated by what I was experiencing. Instantly, I recognized the comfort provided by the tires, their responsiveness through the steering wheel and their ability to track straight and true – I knew the tires were not going to let me down.

Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S+ Tire Review: The ADVAN does it all

And they didn’t but by day number three, not quite 200 km in, we realized that the Pilot Sport All-Season 4 wasn’t surpassing the ADVANs in any way. That is to say that they delivered on the promise of performance. Crucially, it did not come at the expense of noise and harshness, nor did they falter over the course of countless severe downpours and thunderstorms throughout June and July (records were broken in July).

The Pilot Sport All-Season 4’s tread pattern is deceptively simple, but it features an advanced Extreme Silica+ compound that worked its magic during these storms. Never once were bored driving our beloved 2018 Volkswagen Golf Sportwagen, especially since it received a Unitronic Stage 1 ECU update last spring. Thanks to Michelin’s asymmetric tread pattern which positions large chunks of rubber on the shoulder, the tires handled the extra power under load and through some of our favorite onramps and switchbacks as though it wasn’t there. Truly, we have nothing negative to report.

I did dig a little deeper, where pricing is concerned. As I stated in the introductory review, Michelin tires are not inexpensive, and understandably so. I discovered via numerous online tire stores that on average, both the Yokohama and Michelin tires were, on average, priced about the same. The ADVAN’s price disparity was greatest being offered for far less or far more money that the Pilot Sport.

This has led to the following conclusion, and it’s not one I expected early on: Whichever between the two is less expensive while you are shopping online is the one you should select. The bottom line is that the Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 tire is an excellent high-performance touring tire capable in wet conditions, always remains comfortable, and extremely at ease when being pushed hard, as is the Yokohama ADVAN Sport A/S+.