January 8, 2016
What does it take to be number one? If the answer were simple, everyone would be doing it, but the ideal formula often proves elusive. Tires are no different in this regard. Even though Ultra High Performance All-Season tires sit at the peak of the performance hierarchy for all-season tires, experience has shown that consumers shopping the category seek out high levels of dry and wet performance, but also are not willing to sacrifice light snow traction in pursuit of best-in-class dry and wet handling. Balance has proven to be the key, with the products at the top of the charts skewing more toward the all-season side of the equation. But what if a tire can offer category-leading grip and handling in the dry and wet combined with all-season capabilities that are competitive with the top offerings? That’s the question Michelin is asking, and the claim they are making, with their new Pilot Sport A/S 3+. A new tread compound, molded into the familiar pattern and mated to the proven internal construction of its predecessor (the Pilot Sport A/S 3), is designed to offer increased grip in light snow without any real degradation of that tire’s formidable dry and wet performance. Will it be enough to propel it to the top in the ultra-competitive, Ultra High Performance All-Season rankings?
Michelin invited select members of the Tire Rack team to preview production-spec Pilot Sport A/S 3+ tires in advance of the March 2016 launch. The focus of the two-part event was to showcase the snow traction of the Pilot Sport A/S 3+, and also show that dry and wet performance weren’t diminished.
Michelin’s big promise for the new Pilot Sport A/S 3+ is
improved snow traction, to the tune of 28% better than its predecessor in their testing. To demonstrate, they
arranged acceleration, braking, and handling exercises on a snow-packed course built on a flat concrete pad at a
small airport in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. For reference, they brought two other Ultra High Performance
All-Season tires, the Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus and the category’s light-snow performance benchmark, the
Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06. Tires were installed on a trio of BMW 335i sedans.
Our drivers’ first experience at the event involved accelerating each tire on the provided
BMW 335i sedans from a dead stop to slightly over 20mph. Traction control was deactivated, and the in-car
performance data loggers measured the time required to accelerate from 5-20mph. Each driver completed six runs with
each tire, followed by a repeat of the first tire. Objectively, the Michelin and the Continental tires were nearly
identical, and some of the test team achieved a faster 5-20mph average with the Pilot Sport A/S 3+. The subjective
observations favored the Continental, however, which had a more approachable, user-friendly feel as it reached peak
traction. The Continental tire felt as if it achieved greater grip levels (up to a point) with more spin. This would
allow the casual driver to apply consistent, moderate pedal pressure and achieve forward progress. The Michelin
Pilot Sport A/S 3+, on the other hand, felt peaky, with a narrower band of usable traction. The tire proved to be
quite capable if the driver stayed within the traction limits, but when asking too much, forward progress turned
into excessive spin that took some time before it could recover.
The handling portion of the demonstration was performed on a small, B-shaped autocross course that required approximately 35 seconds per lap. To begin, our drivers took two laps per tire with traction and stability control active, finishing with two repeat laps in the first tire. The process was then repeated with traction and stability control completely deactivated. Though the data loggers were reporting lap times as a reference for our drivers, no official numbers were recorded, leaving strictly subjective impressions on the handling course. In this test, both tires proved to be quite capable, but the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 held a slight advantage as an all-around package. The grip characteristics of the Continental paid dividends on the handling course, with good front-end bite while braking and turning that allowed the driver to rotate the car through turns. Turn-in was responsive, and the grip at higher levels of spin made it easy to power away from the apex. The Pilot Sport A/S 3+ represented itself well, but struggled somewhat when asked to do two things at once. Attempting to turn while braking resulted in stubborn understeer. Once through the turn, the somewhat peaky acceleration traction meant drivers had to be gentle with the throttle on corner exit or they may face momentum-killing tire spin with the front tires pointed straight ahead, or abrupt oversteer if the driver had not yet unwound the steering wheel. As seen in the acceleration runs, the Michelin was an able performer, but the driver had to take some care to remain within the tire’s limits.
In addition to the gains in snow traction, Michelin claims to have not given up any other attributes, such as dry and wet traction, handling or road manners. To get a feel for this side of the all-season equation, part two of the demonstration featured a touring drive on public roads and highways along with an autocross and dry braking demo.
The day started with a drive out of the city and through scenic byways and foothills of Red Rock Canyon, ultimately making the way to Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, about 60 miles outside Las Vegas, Nevada. While this was a spirited touring drive, our team didn’t get to explore the handling limits of the Pilot Sport A/S 3+, which is a good thing. The sporty road drive allowed them to focus on how the tire behaves during normal, everyday driving. While there wasn’t any comparison with other Ultra High Performance All-Season tires, the road manners and handling of the Audi S4, BMW M4 and Lexus IS350 test cars all felt well-matched to the Pilot Sport A/S 3+ tires, riding smoothly on the highway and handling well along the twisty canyon roads.
Once at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch, Michelin demonstrated what carries over from the original Pilot Sport A/S 3, showing what this tire can handle when the tempo is turned up another notch. Like for the snow demo, Michelin again brought along the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 and Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus for comparison.
The autocross was a subjective handing demonstration around a course featuring a mix of offsets, a slalom, several 90-degree and one 180-degree corner, using Lexus IS350 F Sport sedans. To add to the challenge, the middle third of the course was wet, so not only did each lap test the dry and wet traction of the tires, it also added the element of transition from one condition to the other. While no lap times were recorded, from the driver’s seat it was clear the Pilot Sport A/S 3+ provided direct and responsive handling in the dry and the most traction in the wet portion of the course. The transition from dry to wet was at the exit of a quick 90-degree corner, and here the Pilot Sport A/S 3+ displayed the smallest difference in traction as it crossed the transition. In comparison, neither the Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus nor Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 tires were able to match the Michelin’s traction or handling composure in either dry or wet portions of the course.
Traditionally, making gains in winter traction often results in giving up capability somewhere else. To demonstrate there was no real trade-off in the ability to handle a panic stop, the dry braking demo used Audi S4 sedans, measuring 60 - 0 mph with the Anti-Lock Brakes engaged for the whole distance. Similar to what we find during testing back at Tire Rack headquarters, differences in dry stopping distance are pretty small. An onboard datalogger measured the distance required to stop, and nearly 40 panic stops were made on each tire. While not a perfectly scientific test, the Pilot Sport A/S 3+ displayed a small advantage over the other two tires.
Finding the sweet spot often means achieving balance. Memories of its predecessor reveal that Michelin has moved the fulcrum closer to the center of the Ultra High Performance All-Season equation with the new Pilot Sport A/S 3+. Our team’s early experience seems to support Michelin’s claims of better snow traction along with class-leading dry and wet performance. We’re anxious to bring production tires to our home court Real World Road Ride and Performance Track Drive to see if the Pilot Sport A/S 3+ really does have the winning formula. Watch for a full comparison test coming in the summer of 2016.
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