First let me say thank you to Michelin for giving us the opportunity to test their new Pilot Sport A/S 3+. Our day included open highways, canyon driving, city streets and finally on the track at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch about 60 miles outside Las Vegas, Nevada. Three cars made up our testing, a pair of 2015 Lexus IS350 F-Sports, 2015 Audi S4s and 2015 BMW M4s which I drove throughout the day. The focus here was to showcase the increases in wet and dry traction as well as steering response over the original A/S 3 and other competitors in the ultra-high performance all season class. A smaller group also tested the tires enhanced winter traction in Steamboat Springs, Colorado with BMW 335's.



Tire Details
Lexus - 225/45-17 UTQG 500 AA A V-speed rated 10.5/32nds tread depth

Audi - 245/40-18 UTQG 500 AA A Y-speed rated 10.0/32nds tread depth

BMW - 255/35-19 (Front) UTQG 500 AA A Y-speed rated 10.0/32nds 275/35-19 (Rear) UTQG 500 AA A Y-speed rated 10.0/32nds


Highway/City/Canyon Roads



We left Las Vegas early morning hitting moderate traffic but eventually met more open roads outside the city leading toward Hoover Dam. The A/S 3+ responded great in/out of traffic and they really felt at home on the twisty roads leading up to our first driver change near the dam. At regular highway speeds the A/S 3+ was very quiet and rode great, even in the M4 with 19's. After swapping cars, we made our way through the foothills of Red Rock Canyon. The tire drove excellent and begged for more driving through the canyon. We ran into some high winds and rain which didn’t affect the tire's performance or ability to hug the curvy roads. We spent a good four or so hours of public road time over the three different cars before heading to the track.




Our next stop was Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, Nevada to see how the tire performs when pushed to the max. This is a world class facility with over six miles of track, an 8,000 square foot clubhouse, pool, and even condos. They are also the official high performance driving school of Corvette and offer a two day Radical SR3 racing school. Three exercises were set up for us, a dry/wet auto-x course, dry braking demo, and lead follow on their track. Michelin put the new A/S 3+ up against Continental's Extreme Contact DWS06 and Pirelli P-Zero All Season Plus during testing.




Auto-x



The Lexus IS350's were test cars of choice here. The course featured a combination of offsets, several 90-degree and one 180-degree corner, and a slalom. A combination of dry and wet surfaces, with the middle third of the course being wet, allowed us to test the transition from one condition to the other. It was quite obvious the A/S 3+ was the stronger performer here in steering response and hands down in wet traction. The transition from dry to wet was at the exit of a quick 90-degree corner, here the A/S 3+ displayed the smallest difference in traction as it crossed the transition. Overall, for an all season tire being tested in an auto-x environment I was very impressed.

Dry Braking



In this exercise we used the Audi S4's to demonstrate 60 - 0 mph stopping distances with the anti-lock brakes fully engaged going into the braking zone. We used an onboard data logger to measure and record the distances each brand of tire required to stop. A similar test is performed at our headquarters in South Bend and we typically find there's minimal differences between the tires. The same type of results were found in this exercise. After 40 panic stops made on each tire the AS 3+ showed a small shorter distance advantage over the other two in dry braking.

Lead Follow



They weren’t quite ready to cut us loose alone on the track with a $70K+ M4, but we did get a lead follow session in. Keeping in the back of my mind I'm track driving an all season tire, I was still quite pleased with how well the tire performed. Larger outer shoulder blocks helped plant the car confidently through the corners and response back to center after a turn was snappy. Great dry stopping allowed me to brake a bit later and provide more power out of and through corners. Like other all seasons, it's not a tire I'd try to win a SCCA championship on. However, for the purpose of demonstrating how the A/S 3+ feels outside its comfort zone I was impressed.

Conclusion
Michelin reinvented their position in the Ultra High Performance class with the new A/S 3+ . The enhanced wet traction, steering response, and much improved ice/snow traction has made them more well-rounded than the original A/S 3. It's an enjoyable tire for spirited driving on curvy roads, yet on long hauls it delivers a great ride with minimal noise. You can drive this tire more confidently in snow and ice, and those who see more rain than snow in their area will be impressed with the hydroplaning resistance. Michelin knew the original A/S 3 fell just short of the bulls eye they'd hoped for. However, working up from that base and changing a few things (most importantly the tread compound) has made the A/S 3+ a top contender in its class. Keep an eye on Tire Rack.com for our full test report this late spring/early summer!

 

P.S.

I'll add the snow testing information here, as it said my intitial post was too long

Snow Testing
The other crew started their snow testing with an acceleration exercise starting from a dead stop to just over 20 mph. Same data loggers were used, traction control was disabled, and the same Conti DWS06 and Pirelli P-Zero All Season Plus tires were tossed in the mix. The data logger measured the time it took to accelerate from 5-20 mph over six runs with a final run on the first tire. The Michelin and Continental performed very similar with some members having a faster 5-20 mph on the A/S 3+ . Their next test was braking from 20 mph to a full ABS stop. The data loggers measured 20-5 mph stopping distance with, the Michelin averaging a few feet shorter than the Continental. The Pirelli couldn't keep up with the pack in these tests. What's important here is how much better the new A/S 3+ is in the snow compared to its predecessor, the A/S 3, because of the compound change. Those who have long term tested the tire here during our Midwest winter have also expressed how impressed they are with the snow/ice traction.

 

So Neal, with all this testing using a tire with a UTQG of 500 is this a better tire than the Pilot Super Sports with a UTQG of 300 for braking on all surfaces. With the 500 isn't the compound harder than that with a 300 offering less total traction? I got 20K miles out of my last set of Super Sports out back and always first out of the gate.
Gary

 

Those two tires are in completely different classes with wildly different compounds and tread designs. I can't speak absolute and say all surfaces as the compounds react differently in ambient temperatures, in cornering, etc. Although we do not test tires across classes, traditionally an all season tire will be better in wet traction due to the amount of void and in some cases deeper tread depth. That "choppier" tread design will take away from steering response and cornering as that additional void makes the tire squirm/roll over more compared to a summer only tire.

Summer tires have a more compact design and a smoother shoulder area to aid in cornering and steering response. The tighter design will help in shorter stopping distances also. The warm weather compound isn't as flexible at lower temps and most of them have minimal void for water evacuation.

So to compare the two against each other really isn't fair to either tire. They both do excellent in the areas they are designed to perform in. There's a lot more than judging a tire by a UTQG number. What would I expect moving from the Super Sports to an A/S 3+? A quieter better ride, longer tread life, enhanced wet traction and cold weather ability. You'll trade some steering response, dry traction, and high speed cornering. Living in CA your main motivation for moving from the PSS's to the A/S 3+ would be a more practical, better riding,longer lasting tire option. If you're happy with the PSS longevity and overall performance then I'd continue using them.

 

And I will Neal, thanks for the information...Gary

 

Great writeup! Thanks Neal. If I were to pick one tire, I would go for the A/S 3+, but I love the PSS for 3 seasons, and will continue to use winter tires for the snow/ice traction and temperature flexibility.

 

These are no where close in your test to the Contis in snow.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=201

 

The tire tested in that link is the prev generation A/S 3, not the A/S 3+ featured in this thread. Yes, the original A/S 3 was quite poor on the winter side.