Ex-PzKW Cdr

Well......The pilots are VERY narrow for their size. 255/45-18's on a 8.5 in. rim are NARROWER than SO3's 225/55-17's on 7.5 rim by 1/8 in. They also run TALLER than their theoretical height. They are also noisy! Although they are listed as all season they are much closer to a snow in tread design. They also sound like a snow tire outside the car. I didn't notice this until it was warm enough to roll down the windows. I'm not sure how this will turn out over time. They ride about as hard as SO3's but don't tramline like they do. Steering feels sharp, but I run all my tires near max pressure. I didn't think the Pirelli'ss were horrible, just not great. At max pressure they handled well enough, but when new the tread squirmed. After wearing down that stopped. They do wear fast though. I haven't pushed the A/S's hard yet, I'm afraid to, the noise would indicated a LOT of tread squirm, which is not very condusive to handling. Also the wear rating of 400 would mean a hard compound. To be fair, without a durometer, the tread between new A/S's and 75% worn SO3's felt about the same. Which is no suprise as Bridgestone says the S03's use a more conventional compound after the first 50%. Also this explains why the S03's start to fall off in wet and dry after that. I'm not impressed by the A/S's I think the rave reviews these tires get are 50% Sony syndrome, and 50% really ****ty OEM tires. I would not recommend them unless you don't want to change tires for winter. On the plus side the increased diameter (5%)is something you can appreciate in the 6spd, first gear is far more usable. The shift point is less herky jerky. I'll let you now how they work out over the long run.

moto-one

I have a set just waiting for my RS4 wheels to show up. But past experance with Mich's on other vehicals (Big and Small) have been positive. Mine look wider then my P6s anyway.

Ex-PzKW Cdr

Yes they are wider than P6 which run narrow, what size did you get?

moto-one

245/45/18

Ex-PzKW Cdr

Should be about 8 in. across the tread or so

itacud

Regarding the hardness of the compoung - there are actually 3 rubber compounds in these A/Ss, with the soft sticky stuff existing only on the shoulder blocks.

If you get the tire pressure high enough, then get the car settled on the outside tread blocks during a turn, they'll hold fairly well! Not like the best max perf tires, but better than any other all-season I've tried from Michelin.

The size you've picked would seem a little big, for a 8.5" rim. I'd guess 245/45/18 to give a flatter footprint with stiffer sidewall support, and less squirm. That said, the size I have (245/50/17) is also wider than ideal for the stock 7.5" wide rim - if the goal is to avoid any squirm.

Finally, the Tread pattern is unique - no doubt aided in it's uniqueness by the mingling of three rubber compounds - but it's not that diff from well known max perf summer tires. In fact, I'd say the Michelin's look a lot like siped S03s! The Toyo's are missing the big center rib as well as the siping, but don't look enourmously different, otherwise...

Pilot Sport A/S:
<img src="http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/michelin/mi_pilot_sport_as.jpg">


S03:
<img src="http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires/bridgestone/bs_s03.jpg">

Proxes T1-S:
<img src="http://www.1010tires.com/images/tires/toyo_proxes_T1_S_large.jpg">

misha

What's the "Sony Syndrome"?

RichP

was about to pull the trigger on some 245.50.17 Pilot A/S's

I have snow tires for the winter.

allroad'Ed now

Not to pick a fight, but my experience with the tire is much different.
I went from stock size Goodyear RS-A (205/55HR-16) to Dunlop SP5000 (225/50ZR-16) to Pilot A/S (225/50WR-16)

- Yes, they are narrower looking at the tread than others. I still can't get past that from a purley cosmetic point.

-They are significantly quieter that both the Goodyears and the Dunlops. And have remained quiet after more than a year of use and rotation. Granted on an A6Q, but I cannot believe how quiet these tires are on all but certain concrete surfaces. I have just recently rotated for the second time and had the tires dismounted and moved from left to right to keep the tire wear even.

- Ride- after the Dunlops, they ride like a , dare I say it, a Cadillac. Without giving up any performance relative to other High Perf All Season tires. IMO this is the tire that should have come on all A6's

- Responsiveness- took probably 1000 miles to begin responding well. I, too, thought at first that the tires were squirmy in turns especially after the stiffness of the SP5000s. However, after a few weeks of wear, they "came in" and I have been extremely pleased since.

-Wear- after 12000 miles, I still have better than 7/32 of tread; came new with 10/32. Thus after 12k, only 30% worn. Dunlops only gave me 20k of life.


Bottom line- I pick up my new (to me) '02 allroad with 11,000 miles on Friday and will likely install Pilot Sport A/S tires on Saturday. Wish there was a somewhat more cost effective 17" tire for our allroads, but I haven't found one.

Ex-PzKW Cdr

if you asked for opinions you were told" You can't go wrong buying a Sony".