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Michelin is one of the largest tire manufacturers in the world, the company designs and makes various tires that cover every kind of vehicle. When it comes to a well-made and top-performance tire for top-performing cars, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire will always be in talk.
Want to know more about the tire? We have made this Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tire review exclusively for you. Here you will find all the pros and cons of Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tire and every other possible detail. So, stick to it.
Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tire Review-Let’s get started
What is the crucial thing you need to enjoy driving your sports car?… A good set of tires and the Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tire is one of the most popular performance tire options for the owners of premium sports cars. Certainly, high-performing cars require well-made and high-performing tires. And that’s precisely what you get with the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire.
We can say that if you want to get the most out of your sports car, then the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire is the one to look for. Moreover, it is also slightly cheaper than its successor, Pilot Sport 4S.
For sizes larger than 19-inch wheel diameter, this model could cost you around 10-20% less than the Pilot Sport 4S. Well, that is not a big thing as this product was launched over a decade ago. It was specially developed for one of the highest-performing supercars, the Ferrari 599 GTO. However, many high-performance car manufacturers chose to utilize their highest-performing models like BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi.
The ‘Le Mans’ inspired tread compound of the Michelin Pilot Super Sport holds up to the added stresses of high-speed cornering. Besides, Michelin Pilot Super Sport also employs a motorsport-derived construction process. More specifically, we can say that this tire is born from the 24 Hours race of Le Mans. Michelin learned to make high-performing tires that can provide longer tread life, all thanks to that endurance racing.
We will discuss how the tire performs on different kinds of roads, its comfortability, and all right here, and for that, you have to read the complete Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire review. Meanwhile, this tire comes in many sizes that can cover most popular sports cars and even some performance SUVs. So, keep reading on.
Pros
- The tire provides excellent feedback from the road, even when pushed to the limit.
- Easily controllable at the limit
- Exceptional traction for quick acceleration
- Outstanding cornering grip on dry roads
- Super-short braking distances on dry surfaces
- A very responsive and direct steering
- The 30,000-mile treadwear warranty is pretty impressive for a performance summer tire.
Cons
- Harsh ride quality and a lot of vibrations when driving over uneven roads
- Wet grip is worse than more modern competitors
- Noisy on most roads
Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tire Features
The French company claims the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire offers 12% better handling than its competitors. Well, these claims are more justified in the context of a decade ago but not from the modern point of view.
Apart from this, Michelin also states that the Pilot Super Sport has longer tread life and better braking than most high-performance tires. And to be able of this, it uses the Bi-Compound tread rubber, which encompasses a ‘Le Mans’ inspired dry compound on the outer shoulders that hold up to the added stresses of high-speed cornering and a wet mixture on the inboard shoulders as well.
Consequently, providing the driver with an outstanding cornering grip. On the other hand, its center ribs and inboard shoulders use a compound that helps improve traction and hydroplaning resistance on wet roads.
To your knowledge, Twaron is a material that provides superior strength reinforcement without adding too much weight to the tire. Furthermore, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire has a spirally-wound Twaron cord. That’s the main thing that differentiates this tire from the competition.
That said, using this material lowers the overall weight of the tire by 10%. As a result, you will get better handling and performance. The Michelin Acoustic Technology is also used in some Pilot Super Sport tire sizes. It uses a sound-absorbing foam attached to the tire’s inner liner, which is responsible for lowering the road noise.
Michelin Pilot Super Sport- Maintenance indicators
To help the driver in orr monitor how much tread is left there tire, Michelin utilizes the regular TWI’sTWIsad wear indicators) in the Pilot Super Sport. Without sufficient tread depth, the tire won’t be able to dispel water. So, we can say that these indicators are crucial for safety purposes. Thanks to its TWI that you can easily monitor whether your tire has enough tread left or not.
Here, the minimum tread depth of the X Tour A/S T+H tire is 2/32-inch. And this is the state when the tire can’t work on wet surfaces anymore. Therefore, it is time you must replace the tire with the new one.
TWIs are narrow rubber bars built into the tire’s circumferential treads. Seemingly the bars become more visible as the tread wears down. And they will be completely flush with the surface when the tread depth falls to 2/32-inch. And are recessed when the tire is new.
Meanwhile, Michelin provides a 30,000-mile treadwear warranty on the Pilot Super Sport. And it puts the Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tire in a good position in the market as other tire manufacturers don’t provide treadwear warranties on their max-performance tires.
Michelin Pilot Super Sport- Behavior on dry road
Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire is over a decade old, although it still can deliver a lot of thrills behind the steering wheel to the driver. Meanwhile, the tire is responsive, and the gripping is surprisingly good.
Furthermore, Michelin Pilot Super Sport has some of the best handling and cornering characteristics, and the high-speed stability and braking distances are also simply exceptional.
Overall, we can say that the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire has impressive dry road performance to deliver even when it is pushed to the limit.
How Michelin Pilot Super Sport performs over wet, slippery, and snowy roads?
The Pilot Super Sport was quite competitive when it was a newbie. The tire offers enough traction on moist or wet surfaces, and it is in the corners and has short braking distances as wever; today, you may find many other performance tires that perform better in these conditions.
Meanwhile, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire isn’t mainly designed for freezing conditions, yet you can expect good traction and short braking distances in light snow.
Michelin Pilot Super Sport- What about comfort and off-road driving?
This tire is not designed for any particular kind of driving. And if you are thinking of taking this tire for off-road driving, stop there. Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire doesn’t have enough tread depth for off-road surfaces.
Talking about its comfortability, it is the area where the Pilot Super Sport lags behind new competitors. Especially over rough and uneven surfaces, its ride quality is stiff, and the road noise is high.
Final words- Should you buy the Michelin Pilot Super Sport?
This was our Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire review. After the whole discussion and analyzing the tire on various aspects, we can say that Pilot Super Sport is over a decade old now, so if you want to have the best max-performance tire from Michelin, its successor Pilot Sport 4s might be a better option.
But still, if you get a good deal on the Pilot Super Sport, grab it because the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire is one of the best in terms of performance. Additionally, its tread life is also perfect.
We hope you liked our Michelin Pilot Super Sport tire review. Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Check these as well-
Michelin X Tour A/S T+H tire review
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Hi, I am Miguel; I own a car body repair shop. I like writing and reviewing tires and car parts. I've been contributing to TopTireReviews.com for 2 years now