Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S is the new best summer tire

In the automotive industry, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire was widely regarded as the best summer tire on the market. Almost every high-performance automotive brand would put the Pilot Super Sport on its highest-performing cars or at least have it as an option. And any enthusiast serious about lap times would do the same. However, Michelin wasn’t content on leaving it there. So the famous French tire brand went out and developed a new tire, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S.

We recently had the opportunity to go out to California to give the new Pilot 4 S tires a test on a variety of different cars, including the BMW M2, Audi R8 V10, Ferrari California and Mercedes-AMG GT. We tested it against all of its major competitors, including the new Continental ExtremeContact DW, Bridgestone Potenza Pole Position and Pirelli P Zero. In all tests, dry braking, wet braking and dry lap times, the Michelin came out on top.

It’s an extremely impressive tire and it’s interesting to see all of the work Michelin put in to improve an already incredible tire. Michelin actually employed a bi-compound technique, where the tire is made up of two separate rubber compounds. This allows the inside half of the tire to be better for wet traction and the outside half better for dry traction. The idea is that, during wet driving, there isn’t going to be a lot of high lateral g-force on the outside of the tire, so the inside half should be better in the wet. And the exact opposite for dry traction, where there will be a lot of high g-forces applied to the outside and sidewall of the tire, so make it better in the dry.

Along with two separate compounds, there are also two very different tread blocks, inside to out. On the inside half of the tire, where it’s better in the wet, there are smaller tread blocks with more channels through them. This allows for more water dispersion and better grip in the wet. Along the outside, you can see that the tread blocks are much larger, with fewer rain channels, so that it gets better traction during high g-force turns on dry pavement. The more rubber hitting the road is better for dry traction, which is why you see racing slicks with no tread on F1 cars. So the larger tread blocks on the outside will provide better dry performance.

Michelin also worked on dispersing heat and pressure throughout the entire contact patch of the tire, as the only real downside of the previous Pilot Super Sport was that it got a bit hot in certain areas. The better dispersion of heat, the better the tire will grip. Michelin has improved this on the new Pilot Sport 4 S and it shows across the board.

 

 

Overall, it’s an extremely impressive tire, besting its competition in every single category, including durability and longevity. To improve on what was already such an excellent tire is difficult but Michelin has been able to do it and then some. If you’re looking for a new tire for your performance car, look no further than the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S.

The article Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S is the new best summer tire appeared first on BMW BLOG

from BMW BLOG http://ift.tt/2jBV82D