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While I concede they are long overdue, I finally got new tires for my E550 the day before the first snow of the season. Glad I did, the drive home from campus earlier was pretty slick, but the new tires handled extremely well.
I decided to go with the Michelin Pilot A/S 3 measuring 245/40/18 all around (stock E550 4-Matic sizing). $987 mounted and balanced. I first tried these tires on a friend's E55 AMG in warmer weather last week, and they were really sticky for all seasons, even compared to some fairly worn summer tires I've driven on. They hooked up effectively off the line, and it would be hard to break traction on shift with these tires, even when going all out.
On my car, they have definitely lived up to my previously established expectations. Today was about 11 degrees Fahrenheit here in Highlands Ranch with pretty icy roads, and I rarely triggered ESP even on slick intersection start-ups, noticeably more controlled than my previous tires which were Michelin Primacy MXM4s, one of the higher end grand-touring tires they offered before the AS3 was released. I did have a 255/35/18 on there previously, and I miss the noticeably wider contact patch from an aesthetic point of view from outside the car, but the excessive wheel gap was improved with 40 series sidewall. I think it helped with fitment, although I am still getting used to the difference (excuse the dirty car):
The Pilot Sport A/S 3 is what I would consider the all-season version of the Michelin Pilot Super Sport, with a heavy emphasis on performance driving. You can tell this just by the tread pattern and even on drier (but cold roads) earlier today they really kicked when they hooked up around corners, grip was excellent. Obviously the PSS will be stickier when it's warm, but both tires implement very similar compound technologies:
Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3:
Michelin Pilot Super Sport:
Moral of the story (TLDR): Consider the Michelin Pilot A/S 3 if you do the all-season tire thing, obviously it's better to have a dedicated summer set and dedicated winter set, but if you're like me and have no room for a second set of rims and want to go all season, I like this tire a lot so far.
Last edited by AMGAffalterbach; Nov 11, 2014 at 11:14 PM.
Great choice in tire!. When I drove a B8 S4 with these tires I was very impressed with the amount of dry road grip and feedback they delivered, I would go so far as to say the were very comparable to the older Pilot Sports that I ran on my E55. Michelin has really been bringing their A game lately and I can hardly wait to ditch these horrible Yokohamas for a set of Pilot Super Sports.
I just put these on my E55 a couple of weeks ago. 275/30/19 & 245/35/19
Excellent handling in dry. Amazing in wet.
Supposedly good tread life, but we'll see
Same here; had them a couple of months now and done almost 5K miles on them. It was a natural choice for me replacing the earlier A/S Plus; they lasted around 30K miles and only wore out on the inside edges due to negative camber set on my lowered car. I just swapped L/R wheels last weekend, something that was not possible with A/S Plus which were directional tires. Admittedly swapping is not rotating but 'may' do something to increase longivity; it does not bother me really.
I need to update my signature photo.
Last edited by pinebaron; Nov 13, 2014 at 04:30 PM.
Glad there's such positive feedback on these tires, I know a few people were warning me of belt-related issues when they first came out but I haven't heard anything about that sense and to be honest I'm really glad in my choice, they're really sticky tires.
They came with my car, according to the date code, they're only about a year old. No complaints about them, seem pretty decent. I've put about 2k on the tires so far.
Put a number of miles on them in a lot of cold driving conditions, ice, snow, dry pavement, warm days, and these are amazingly sticky tires for all seasons. All of my initial impressions were correct. I've never had all seasons kick up as many rocks as these do on hot days. They recently helped me avoid an accident in the snow, and were stellar on a 30*F canyon run we did the other weekend.
Live in Vegas and currently. It doesn't snow here and doesn't get below the 30's. I have the Super Sports but am looking for tires soon. Should I stay with Super Sports, go with A/S 3's, or another brand?
If you look on tirerack, their #1 rated tire under ultra high performance all seasons is the Continental ExtremeContact DWS. I think they're cheaper than the Michelins too. If you don't have snow, I guess you don't really need all season, but I think summer tires might be too aggressive and won't last as long. I think if you do a search of the threads, they're also well liked.
They would make a good winter set for stock wheels, they aren't a dedicated winter tire so you're better off with something like a Blizzak or X-Ice but I feel ya boardboy.
ParadiseLV, think of these as an all season version to the Pilot Super Sport. You would definitely be going back a step in ultimate grip and handling with these versus the Pilot Super Sport so I recommend staying with them if you are sporting those already. Those are my first choice for summer tires anyway.
Cetialpha5, I have seen the ratings but to be honest I have driven on both tires and I really don't think the continental handles as well as the DWS as it really just doesn't feel as good for ultimate grip and stickiness. I see the DWS as a good mid-range tire based on price but the A/S 3s are definitely more summer oriented than the DWS which would probably outperform these in snow due to the biting edges on their tread pattern
Live in Vegas and currently. It doesn't snow here and doesn't get below the 30's. I have the Super Sports but am looking for tires soon. Should I stay with Super Sports, go with A/S 3's, or another brand?
I just changed form Super Sports to A/S 3 couple months ago.
A/S 3 is much!!!better.
Several thousand miles later the wear is a lot faster than expected but still gripping fine and nothing outrageously terrible with mileage wear, just not great.
Several thousand miles later the wear is a lot faster than expected but still gripping fine and nothing outrageously terrible with mileage wear, just not great.
This weekend will be a good test during my 3000 mile virtually non-stop coast to coast drive
Awesome, drive safe! Please report back though I'm interested to see, these AS3s is wearing pretty fast, I love these tires though. Not sure what I want to do next, all season or summer/winter set, or if I want to do something more like a Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta or what.
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