kevm14

I had a pretty worn (and unevenly - center of tread in the rear was down to the wear bars but outer/inner not so, and fronts worn more on the inner edges) set of Continental ExtremeContact summer tires. That's what the car came with and I put about 6k on them. I have a ~2,000 mile road trip coming up and tires are pretty key. So I got a set of the new AS4s. I thought I would provide my initial thoughts.

First, I was a huge Michelin fan from my previous experience with the original PSS back in 2011 on my CTS-V. They were outstanding and actually I sold the car a month and a half ago with the same set. The PSS was kind of a new class of tire with 300 tread wear, and really just a terrific summer tire that is not full kill but provided very impressive performance. Actually they wore really evenly on my V though I was fairly religious about rotation (could do full cross rotation on that car luckily). However, the PSS appears to be gone and the PS4 seems....priced like the rest of the Pilot Sport line has. That was the big deal with the PSS. It was less expensive than the PS2 at the time and newer. But the PS4 just seems a step too far for how I plan to use the car. So I read some Tire Rack reviews and ended up with the AS4s. At least one review said they were just as good as a previous set of PSS. Wow, that's quite a pitch.

I've only driven them maybe 215 miles and really nothing crazy for corners so take this as you will. However, there are a few very noteworthy things about these that I shall list:
- Stiffer sidewall than the Continentals. This is great. Overall the tire feels sporty. It almost seems about as firm in Comfort in some ways as the Continentals did in Sport 1. But I think this is a good thing. I do not like soft feeling tires.
- On-center steering feel dramatically improved. That's right. Particularly noticeable at highway speeds, the car goes straight with less effort AND, impressively, seems to react more quickly to corrections. It really transformed this aspect of the car. It also generally feels like the ratio is a little quicker off center because the response is that much better.
- As expected, they roll very smoothly. In fact I showed a late model S4 what's up during that initial trip I took yesterday.

So my initial impressions are I am VERY pleased with these and it is going to be an amazing road trip machine later this month. And they don't have that 40F warning that the PS4s did, AND they are cheaper, AND should last longer, work better in the rain, and obviously could be used in colder conditions with some light snow. At least for me the choice was obvious and I don't regret it. As they break in I'll try more cornering stuff and see. New tires are unfair to rate in cornering because of the mold release compound and tall tread.

equitiesguy

They're loud, and if not rotated they don't last. Watch your initial wear patterns and adjust tire pressure accordingly.

kevm14

Yeah a little noisy but seems like a fine tradeoff.

What was your experience with pressure? Is the stock 35 too high at the rear?

equitiesguy

Considering what Michelin did with the Super Sport replacements in not-so-low-temperature, I think their all seasons are a better option. I stopped using Michelin's.

The all seasons in general wear strange based on the weight of the vehicle. If you're used to putting 35 psi in the rears, you may find that is slightly too low in pressure and they wear the inner/outer edges quickly and if it's slightly too high they'll wear the center tread. I had three sets of them, and they were odd. Just watch the wear pattern over the first 1,000 miles rather than going off what you're used to pressuring your tires to. You might have to go up or down a pound or two.

kevm14

You had the AS4? Or AS3?

kevm14

2,900 miles on these already. Still very pleased with them. I guess I should check tread wear and see if any trends are developing.

Sulaco

Do they hook up on launch? I'm using some cheaper tires; Bridgestone Potenza RE980s and I love them except for the complete inability to take off without ESP. If I turn off ESP it's just spinning and spinning.

kevm14

In 80+ degree weather they grip pretty well, maybe more due to the power dropping off with intake temps. In fact I did kind of a WOT launch the other day and don't think I even saw the light through 1st. The old Continental ExtremeContact DWs definitely gripped less.

kevm14

Did another WOT launch from a standing start the other day. Similar temps. Only a little flickering of the light at the beginning. Should have turned ESC off to see what it really wanted to do but they definitely do grip. Oddly the car even feels slower with them. With the Continentals it was straining through first gear and felt like an animal. With these it seems to have a lot more traction (which is good).