BadgerNation

I worked out the deal, as many on here have, to have the OEM tires replaced with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. I picked up my car 2 days ago and looked at the tires to make sure they were correct. They said Michelin Pilot Sport but did not say A/S. It made me stop and think but I didn't realize if it didn't have the A/S it was in fact not allseason but rather the summer performance Pilot Sport. I looked at the comparison and ratings on tirerack.com and they look pretty similar but of course the A/S rates better in wet/snow conditions.
I know I specifically requested the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S but unfortunately I have nothing that actually states that so I am not in a great position. Furthermore, this dealership claims they don't do tires and the switch I made was the first time they had done this. So presumably they couldn't easily use my nearly new tires.
Anybody have any ideas how to approach getting the tires changed or is it even worth it?The differences between the two tires doesn't appear great on paper. Anybody have personal experience with both tires?

donkeykang

I say try to get the A/S, however if the dealer says no, don't argue. Michelin Pilot Sports are still great tires and much better than the garbage bridgestone's that myself and most TL drivers have.

neuronbob

The difference you mention is correct. The A/S is all-season, and the ones you have are the summer tires. Unless you say something to the dealer, you are stuck buying an additional set of winter tires (though the weather isn't as bad downstate as it is here against Lake Erie ).

Moving to "tires".

kosh2258

The biggest difference between the Pilot Sport and Sport A/S is the wear rating. The Pilot Sports have a 200 wear rating, the Sport A/S 400. The Sport A/S will wear twice as long.

Haven't seen anything yet on the Pilot Sport 2, a new version of the Sport.

rets

I thought there isn't 235/45/17 size for Pilot Sport 2 now...

kosh2258

Show me where I said there was, you read into my statement.

I was referring to the wear rating of the Pilot Sport 2 vs the Pilot Sport. I've sinced checked and the PS 2 is 220 vs Pilots rating of 200 - not much better wear wise.

The Pilot A/S is a much better choice if service life is the consideration - nearly the same price but twice the mileage.

Anybody considered the Pirelli PZero Nero? It's a best seller at Tire Rack and has extremely high buyer survey ratings in all catagories. And the price per is pretty darn attractive.

Vicman17

The A/S on the Pilot Sport A/S is a marketing gimmick. It has negligible A/S properties on it. Rain handling maybe, but snow? Forget it. It's a very good tire and I drove cars with those on and wished Acura fitted their cars with them. Their dry handling is phenomenal and wet is reasonably good. The way it looks, it has that center rib that channels water off at a very fast rate compared to other tires.

The all-season rating on tires is actually an "expiring" thing. The A/S qualities of the tire diminish after the first winter season and the tires are no better than summer only tires come the dry season. It's because the wear on the tire is much faster during winter as the tires has less grip than an actual winter tire and you keep on spinning it. Maybe it was developed for "winters" on the lower west coast where snow is almost unheard of. If you drive on wintery/ snowy roads on winter and don't want to get your car creamed then it's almost imperative that you fit them with winter tires.

I'm contemplating on getting the 3rd Gen TL on 6MT but I may have to spring for 17" steel rims with winter tires on just to drive them all year round.

RhodeRunner

I had the exact same thing happen- pretty funny that it happened to somebody else too. I had the dealer swap the tires out at no charge. The way that I did it was I called and asked service to tell me what type of tire they had ordered. The service person told me Pilot Sport A/S. I then told him that the tires on my car were not the A/S. He told me that he would switch the tires at no cost to me.

Be careful to examine the rims before and after they do the work. My rims were badly scratched by somebody. I am assuming that it was the guy changing the tires, but I cannot prove it because I only examined the rims after I had the car for about a week. I know that I never scratched them. I am pretty sure that when they took the tires off that they let them fall flat, which would explain why the rims were scratched since there is so little tire exposed to protect the rims...

JetJock

Guys...I just got rid of my RE-030 Summer High Performance Tires and replaced them with Michelin Pilot Sport PS-2's. They are improved in every respect over the old Pilot Sport tire, but they don't look as radical. I've had many tires over the years on different cars, I can't even mention the brands because I change tires like most people change socks. It's not unusual for me to switch tires with 3000 miles just to try a different tire. All I can say is the PS-2's are the best tire I've ever driven. They are quiet for a performance tire, round to exactness.....never flat spot.....and provide the best all around performance for my TL that I could ever expect. I'm sensitive about vibration issues, ride quality, steering "feel" and the ability of the tire to "talk" to you and let you know when it's approaching it's limits.....this tire does it all. And for a car like the TL...with it's quiet cabin and asesome sound system....just what you don't want is a noisy high performance tire that drones and makes the car noisy........just go buy these tires......you won't be sorry. For you snow loves...personally I don't drive my TL in the snow...I just can't stand the salt and crushed stone ruining my new car....I drive a "beater" during the winter so A/S Pilot sport tires were not a consideration for me....they don't ride as well..and are much noiser. In case you're interested....my daily work commuter "beater" is a Honda DelSol with Dunlop A/S tires...it gets 42mpg, is fun to drive, and was cheap to buy as a second car. I just drive it in any weather....and I've passed 4X4 Suburbans stuck in snow going up a hill....I just drive right by them and laugh thinking how much gas those pigs use every day. I usually pay $10.00 to fill up the Honda with regular gas...and it lasts all week driving 86 miles to work round trip.

jjsC5

I have Michelin Pilot Sports on my Corvette. The rears last about 15,000 mile for me, but I must admit that they are not treated real well

My front tires look like they are going to last about 30,000 miles. Mind you, Houston doesn't have a lot of good, winding roads. But I have autocrossed on them four times, and I do push them through curves occasionally. But overall the fronts don't get much of a workout on that car.

I would anticipate that if your rotate regularly and drive somewhat sanely, I'd expect around 20,000 miles on the Pilot Sports on the TL.

Let us know how things turn out.

93SHOcar

I would not be so quick to write off the Pilot A/S as just a marketing gimmick. I agree that they are not serious snow tires but there is potentially more involved here than just snow. The compound used in some summer-only performance tires are just plain lousy in the cold. A buddy with an Evo has been scouring their forums and the conventional wisdom is to absolutely not try using the stock Yokohama summer performance tires through a winter and that is with AWD. I don't know enough about the Pilot Sport summer tires to be sure they would be equally as bad as the Yoko's but I gotta believe that the rubber compound used in Pilot A/S is better suited for a cold Ohio winter than the Pilot Sports. That said, if we were to get snow again in the next NC winter, I will leave my TL with the Pilot A/S parked in the garage and I will be driving my truck