Are the Michelin pilot sport 4S the best summer tire for the model 3?

[Daniel in SD]

Depends on what you're looking for. If it's looking for price, longevity, and comfort, the 4S isn't optimal.

For me, I'm driving on the road and most tires do fine in dry, so I look for what works best in wet conditions. Last thing I want is to lose control or be unable to stop when I hit a puddle.

For my desired requirements, the Avid GT tires are the top in its category for me.

If you look at Tire Rack's test the PS4S is better in every way including wet braking, wet cornering and wet lap time. It's definitely the best summer tire for the street. They're very comfortable but yes they're expensive and only have 300 treadwear rating.
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay.jsp?ttid=237
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay.jsp?ttid=223

 

[Blucenturion]

They cost the same as the Michelins I have on my Malibu, albeit I have gotten 30K mi off those. Just waiting for a buyer of the car this month.

 

[dfwatt]

RE71R is better

For the track absolutely. For the street, that would be an absolutely no.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Received our Model 3 last week and we are upgrading our wheels/tires. We live in a warm sunny climate, so performance tires are preferred. It looks like the Michelin pilot sport 4s tires are the highest rated tire in this category.

Any other tires we should consider?

Hopefully we can sell our 18 aero wheels/tires easily.

The Tesla version of the PS4S are amazing tires (and likely all of the versions are similarly great). If you can, try to follow @dfwatt ‘s advice about getting Tesla spec, if you aren’t particularly price sensitive.

It is a spectacular tire in dry and wet. Just don’t track it with the Model 3.

Also under no circumstances can it be run in sub-freezing conditions, even if it is 100% dry. Would not likely be relevant for your use case unless you travel north of the Mogollon Rim.

Having run RE-71Rs on a couple other cars, I can confirm @kbecks13 list of downsides to that great track and autocross tire. You can use it on the street, but you will never forget you have them on; there’s no way to ignore the constant clatter of gravel bouncing off the soft rocker panels of your car.

 

[TMThree]

If you look at Tire Rack's test the PS4S is better in every way including wet braking, wet cornering and wet lap time. It's definitely the best summer tire for the street. They're very comfortable but yes they're expensive and only have 300 treadwear rating.

I can assure you it's possible to get a better tire with an even lower wear rating.

My goal is a mix of performance and longevity. There are a lot of people on the forums who get 20-30k out of 500 wear rated tires. Not interested in the slightest for a 300 tire. It's not like I'm driving on something unsafe either.

 

[AZWhiteM3]

The Tesla version of the PS4S are amazing tires (and likely all of the versions are similarly great). If you can, try to follow @dfwatt ‘s advice about getting Tesla spec, if you aren’t particularly price sensitive.

It is a spectacular tire in dry and wet. Just don’t track it with the Model 3.

Also under no circumstances can it be run in sub-freezing conditions, even if it is 100% dry. Would not likely be relevant for your use case unless you travel north of the Mogollon Rim.

Having run RE-71Rs on a couple other cars, I can confirm @kbecks13 list of downsides to that great track and autocross tire. You can use it on the street, but you will never forget you have them on; there’s no way to ignore the constant clatter of gravel bouncing off the soft rocker panels of your car.

Good info. How does one go about finding the Tesla specific tire model? The tire Tesla sells is the 20” and I will be getting 19” inch rims.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

This will be my last post on this thread since I am talking about a non summer tire.

It's not like I'm driving on something unsafe either.

I would definitely not describe your tire choice as unsafe. However, it is inferior as far as braking performance is concerned (and any other performance metric except cold weather performance most likely). It’s likely a 10-15% difference or so in stopping distance (no I have not tried to look up the exact numbers for the Avid GT - but it is an all-season...so there are compromises), perhaps even more in the wet. The OP wanted a performance tire, not an all-season. Someone who requests a performance tire is likely well aware that it is not the lowest cost tire solution, and is also aware of the benefits and safety advantages. They wanted to know specifically about other tires in this class that they should consider. (I don’t think any other tires in the same class have been suggested yet but I may have missed it.)

The tire Tesla sells is the 20” and I will be getting 19” inch rims.

I think you won’t be able to get Tesla spec for that size (someone else can chime in if I am wrong). I would just look on Tire Rack in the size you are looking at and see the variants of the PS4S that are available. (Tire Rack will have “TO Tesla” in the description for the Tesla specific tires - which have a premium price).

The PS4S will be an excellent tire regardless of whether it is Tesla-specific - it just may not be optimized for an EV as @dfwatt outlined above.

 

[mswlogo]

I would definitely not describe your tire choice as unsafe. However, it is inferior as far as braking performance is concerned (and any other performance metric except cold weather performance most likely). It’s likely a 10-15% difference or so in stopping distance (no I have not tried to look up the exact numbers for the Avid GT - but it is an all-season...so there are compromises), perhaps even more in the wet. The OP wanted a performance tire, not an all-season. Someone who requests a performance tire is likely well aware that it is not the lowest cost tire solution, and is also aware of the benefits and safety advantages. They wanted to know specifically about other tires in this class that they should consider. (I don’t think any other tires in the same class have been suggested yet but I may have missed it.)
.

I was curious so I looked it up. The PS4S stops 1 foot shorter in wet than the Avid GT. Not bad for an all season. TireRack test.

 

[dspwhite]

The PS4S stops 1 foot shorter in wet than the Avid GT. Not bad for an all season.

Thought the PS4S was a summer tire not all season.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Thought the PS4S was a summer tire not all season.

Referring to Avid GT...
He was just comparing wet braking performance - which sounds like it is excellent for the Avid GT.

You may want to read from the beginning. But anyway, this thread is turning into the standard discussion of the merits (or potential lack thereof) of all-seasons, though the original question is: when picking a Max Performance Summer tire, what other Max Performance Summer tires should be considered besides the PS4S?

 

[dfwatt]

Depends on what you're looking for. If it's looking for price, longevity, and comfort, the 4S isn't optimal.

For me, I'm driving on the road and most tires do fine in dry, so I look for what works best in wet conditions. Last thing I want is to lose control or be unable to stop when I hit a puddle.

For my desired requirements, the Avid GT tires are the top in its category for me.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=GTAS

(note where the OEM Michelin Primacy MXM4 ranks)

The OP is looking for a performance summer Tire. Even so, if you look at the data available on the tirerack website about wet performance the 4S is the best-performing tire in the wet in terms of handling and braking overall. Way better than the Avid GT. In fact it's not all that close frankly at least in terms of wet handling - wet braking is close. Also when you say it's not optimal in terms of comfort, I'm curious what your data is on that? Have you ever driven a car with these on? Have you ever owned a pair? They're actually very comfortable relative to other Max performance summer Tires, as demonstrated over and over again in literally hundreds of tirerack owner surveys.

 

[22522]

I am going for the Tesla 18" summer set with the 4 with no S.

 

[AZWhiteM3]

Thank you for all the info - I purchased the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires.

 

[Swampgator]

Thank you for all the info - I purchased the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires.

Just swapped out my contis for the Pilot sport 4S (Porsche version). You will be very happy

 

[Swampgator]

Hands down best tire for the car. Make sure that you got the Tesla specific version of the 235/35 - 20. The differences are not just the acoustic foam but also a redesign of the tread. The tread is significantly wider. If you're going staggered also make sure you get the Tesla specific 275 / 30. It is almost a full inch wider than other more generic 275/30 4S tires. Nobody knows exactly what Tesla and Michelin did to that Tesla specific tire but the speculation is that the outer rib is slightly wider and slightly softer, and the center rib might be slightly harder.

The combined effect of these changes would be to give extra cornering in hard turns, reduced accelerated crown wear at high inflation pressures, and reduced rolling resistance relative to a larger 245 / 35, as a 235 tire is generally considered too skinny to support a 4000 pound car. However it's actual tread width is 8.8 in, wider than any 245 / 35 and as wide as an average of the three available 255/35 4S tires on the Michelin spec sheet. Lots of people think the acoustic foam is the only difference between the tires but I believe that significantly mistake.

The 4S is the best street Tire anybody's ever made. There's pretty much no debate about this. It's amazingly comfortable, has excellent transient response as well as pretty high ultimate grip, gives great feedback and it might be the best tire in wet weather for performance driving anyone's ever made including even relative to the Extreme Performance Bridgestone re71 that beats it in the dry. The one downside of all these changes may be that's because of the extra tread width and perhaps the softer compound, the tire is really highly vulnerable to chunking when it gets super hot and you track it, especially if you don't have some way of giving the tire more negative camber which is impossible currently to do on the front of the car. Even with lowering the car it's tough to get to more than about a degree of negative camber which is not enough for tracking. It's significantly more vulnerable to chunking and essentially the disintegration of the outer tread area than its predecessor Tire the Michelin Super Sport. This does mean that if you really like Michelin tires, you might explore putting super sports on the car if you're planning on getting on the track. Better yet though is get a second set of tires for the track.

Hope that's helpful.

You are in FL? Good luck getting the acoustic foam version patched should you pick up a nail.
I ran into this issue in Fort Myers and after three shops and no luck getting a tire patched, I decided to replace all 4 with the Porsche (non foam) version. For me, it's much more important to be able to patch a tire than having a little different tread design. We will see about wear though on these tires.

 

[dfwatt]

You are in FL? Good luck getting the acoustic foam version patched should you pick up a nail.
I ran into this issue in Fort Myers and after three shops and no luck getting a tire patched, I decided to replace all 4 with the Porsche (non foam) version. For me, it's much more important to be able to patch a tire than having a little different tread design. We will see about wear though on these tires.

Not sure where you're getting your information from. I've already had the acoustic foam tires patched successfully without issue. Perhaps your installer or repair person did not know how to do it properly. It does require a different technique.

 

[mswlogo]

Not sure where you're getting your information from. I've already had the acoustic foam tires patched successfully without issue. Perhaps your installer or repair person did not know how to do it properly. It does require a different technique.

He said he went to 3 places. In the event of an emergency or road trip you may have less choices of who to go to.

Both my Summer and Winter tires are foam free. That stuff does nothing but cause trouble.

 

[dfwatt]

He said he went to 3 places. In the event of an emergency or road trip you may have less choices of who to go to.

Both my Summer and Winter tires are foam free. That stuff does nothing but cause trouble.

In your opinion. Everything is a trade-off. You get significant reduction of droning and tiring noise on the highway, at the hassle of a bit more difficulty patching the tire, and a bit more weight. For you that's not a worthwhile trade-off. But for others who have tried the tires without the foam and have noticed a significant increase in noise, perhaps they may strike a different balance point.

 

[roguenode]

Fwiw, I've been trying the Bridgestone S700A and so far, it's grippier than the PS4S while having better road manners and wet handling than the RE71's. It's also wearing better than the RE71's I've run on other cars, but may not last as long as the PS4S (240 vs 300 treadwear rating).

 

[Nocturnal]

Why does the foam complicate patching tires? It's just a strip of polyester looking foam stuff like you find in a cushion.