Michelin Pilot Sport 4 returns as AMS tyre test winner

Following on from its double victory in Autozeitung’s size 225/45 R17 91/94 W/Y combined summer and all-season tyre test and the size 205/55 R16 V summer test conducted by the ADAC, Michelin recently enjoyed another win with Auto Motor und Sport (AMS). The Pilot Sport 4 was named victor in the test of 11 summer tyres published by the German car magazine late last month, the second consecutive year it has been bestowed this honour. Size 225/45 R17 94Y was the selected dimension for the AMS comparative evaluation and an Audi A3 served as test vehicle.

The top-performing Michelin rubber was followed by four ‘recommended’ tyres – the Continental PremiumContact 6 and Falken Azenis FK510 (both with 8.5 points), plus the Pirelli P Zero (8.3 points) and the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 (8.0 points). A further five tyres gained the ‘still recommended’ rating for their performance. These were the Nokian zLine (7.8 points), Giti Sport S1 (7.2 points) as well as the Toyo Proxes Sport, Cooper Zeon CS8 and Nankang Sportnex AS-2 (all 7.1 points). The wooden spoon and a rating of ‘conditionally recommended’ was given to the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti (6.9 points) for its overall performance.

“The tyre’s rolling resistance is far too high, it showed weaknesses in wet braking and aquaplaning.” – these were the reasons given for the Vredestein tyre’s presence at the bottom of the points table. The testers also found comfort to be slightly wanting. In the balance sheet’s positive column, the Ultrac Vorti was “virtually neutral on wet and dry surfaces and hardly sensitive to change of load,” and it was also found to have progressive steering behaviour.

The main criticism against the trio that finished the test with 7.1 points was wet braking, wet handling and rolling resistance (Nankang), a large steering angle in both wet and dry conditions and marked understeer (Cooper), as well as high rolling resistance, marked understeer in the wet and minimal steering spontaneity (Toyo). On the other hand, the Proxes Sport was considered easy to control on wet and dry surfaces. “With somewhat weak cornering grip in the wet still quite balanced and stable,” was the test team’s opinion of the Zeon CS8; they also found it easy to control and comfortable. The Sportnex AS-2 offered the best protection against aquaplaning, as well as a “very good ride comfort and good balance” and orderly performance in the dry.

The Giti Sport S1 performed a whisker better than the aforementioned trio, and was thus rewarded with an additional tenth of a point. The tyre’s cornering grip on dry asphalt was described as very good, as was its low rolling resistance and positive comfort characteristics, including low noise emission. However, the testers also detected weak wet grip in curves, poor traction in the wet through oversteer and understeer, as well as delayed steering response. This last issue also affected the zLine, and the Nokian tyre additionally delivered “too much understeer on dry asphalt, poor comfort, some tread noise and fissures in the tread when driven intensively.” To its credit, AMS writes that the Nokian tyre has orderly wet characteristics that are free from any serious weakness.

The Goodyear tyre was held back from a better result by a somewhat long braking distance in the wet. Otherwise, the Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 was viewed as a balanced tyre with just a light tendency towards understeer and a weak change of load response. “Somewhat nervous when changing lanes, deficits in aquaplaning and a higher rolling resistance,” were points of criticism directed towards the P Zero, however the Pirelli tyre also gave high levels of cornering grip in the wet, high steering precision and a “neutral to light understeering balance.”

As for the podium-placed tyres, the Azenis FK510 was described as safe and easy to handle, with good steering feedback in the wet as well as short braking distances on wet and dry road surfaces. On the downside, the Falken tyre was deemed to have a somewhat hesitant steering response, “light drifting hiss”, and AMS also found comfort characteristics to be less than optimal. Comfort was also a shortcoming for the second-placed Continental tyre, which was said to have “little self-damping.” On the plus side, the PremiumContact 6 offered “firm steering feedback in the wet, good precision and strong cornering grip in the dry.”

The most expensive tyre of the 11, the Pilot Sport 4 was praised for its wet braking performance – its 80 to 0 km/h stopping distance of just 30.2 metres around five metres shorter than the poorest test result. The only real criticism levelled against the Michelin tyre was “minor aquaplaning weakness,” otherwise it delivered “a top result in driving and braking behaviour on wet and dry road surfaces, rolling resistance, (external) rolling noise and aquaplaning, and in aggregate the best performance of all 11 tested tyres.” With a weighted average score of 9.4 from a maximum total of 10 points, the Pilot Sport 4 was rated ‘highly recommended’.