What a fantastic improvement--have only had a chance to do about 25 miles on them so far, but the improvements are drastic. Vibration at any speed (especially 45-65mph) is non existant. Highway ride is much smoother overall. Tar strips and road irregularities are evedent, but the thump is less and seems softened. Noise level is about the same as the Dunlops which was low. Steering seems lighter (605 removed) than with the Dunlops. Turn response is much quicker and car seems more responsive. Pushed it hard on a wide sweeping wet off ramp and they stuck like glue. Overall, feels more like dedicated summer performance tires than all season tires. Running 36 R and 40 front. Will follow-up once I've had some time in the snow.

 

After much debate and reading the comments from people here, I thought the Michelins were the way to go.

I got a good deal from a tire/service place here in the DC area. Merchants Tire had a 3 day sale last week: buy 3 get one free. They even named the Pilot Sport A/S in the ad. Thought it was too good to be true. I paid $245 each including everything (mount, Bal, stems, recycle) x 3 rather than 4. Saved $245.

I had a noise problem with the Dunlops for the past 7,000 miles. I figured out too late that I had kept them underinflated (due to even shoulder wear) for a while. I think that lead to much of the noise.

My wife and I swap cars frequently and I haven't driven with them much except to work, but I'm very happy with the tires. MUCH quieter and smoother ride. The tread looks much more agressive from the side, looks like it should have better snow performance than the SP 5000's.

One thing I was pleasantly suprised to see on an ad in the shop was a 40,000 mile treadlife warranty. During my research on Tire Rack I didn't see this mentioned. Maybe this is only thru Merchants Tire? (Eddie@tirerack is this realistic) The store Mgr told me the free tire rotation must be done every 5k miles for this to be valid. Considering I only got 20,000 good miles and 7,000 poor miles from the Dunlops, I was happy to pay a little extra $ for more life.

For anyone considering the tire I'd say it worth it (so far).

Any other owners with Pilot Sport A/S experimented with tire pressures, I've got 235-45-17's??? 34 psi all-around.

 

I have had them in 6+" of snow twice and they work better than the SP5000s, except in tight turns where the Dunlop treat offered a bit more side bite.

I wish these tires had been available a year and a half ago when I had gotten the SP5000s. Then I wouldn't have had to go through the headaches of bad tires and tire replacements the Dunlops caused.

 

this spring. Any future reports will be appreciated.