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Although sports cars and sporty cars are no longer as popular as they once were, there are still some great ones out there. Many that still exist leave the showroom floor on summer-only performance tires. This is true of the Toyota GR86 Torque News added to its family fleet this spring. Summer-only tires are not safe below about 40°F, so we looked for the best tire we could find to replace the Michelin Pilot Sport tires the GR86 came with. After an exhaustive search of reviews and owner posts, we came to the conclusion that the best tire for the car would be its sibling, the Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4. Here’s our initial review.
Before we get started, we should let readers know that although we paid just over MSRP for our GR86, and therefore paid for the summer tires it came with. These tires were provided by Michelin to Torque News for testing and review. We don’t accept advertisements from manufacturers or product makers, so our budget is limited. Rest assured, the opinions and impressions we offer are honest.
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 - What Is It?
The Pilot Sport line is a high-performance tire line from Michelin intended for those rare cars that are at home on a racetrack or a morning commute. The All-Season 4 is the model in that lineup that offers four-season drivability. It’s not an all-weather tire and does not have the three-peak mountain snowflake. It’s all-season, meaning it can handle cold temps on dry pavement safely, wet weather, and also light snow and slush.
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 - Price
Michelin is the premier tire manufacturer in the world, and the price of its tires reflects that. You get dependability, reliability, quality, performance, and much more. Here is a price comparison of the 215/40/18-sized tire we are using as our tester. We used Tire Rack as our price source:
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 - $223
Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06 Plus - $200
Bridgestone Potenza RE980AS+ - $161
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 - Specs
The tire we are testing has a speed rating of “Y,” meaning a maximum rated safe speed of 186 mph, and a load rating of 89, meaning it can handle 1,279 pounds per tire. Both of these are safely under the limits of the lightweight GR86. The UTQG code is 540 AA A. That translates to a relatively short treadlife (due to its emphasis on performance), the highest grip, and the highest temp rating possible. The Pilot Sport All-Season 4 is “supercar certified,” and Michelin says that it was the first all-season tire Chevy chose for the Corvette.
We measured the tread depth new of the Pilot Sport All-Season 4 tires at 7.98 mm. By contrast, the summer-only tires we removed had worn to 5.7 mm after about 15,000 miles of use. More evidence that the new tires will be safer in light snow.
The tread of the Pilot Sport All-Season 4 clearly has more sipes and other weather-related design aspects by comparison to the racecar uniform summer-only version.
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 - Mounting and Driving Impressions
We used Boston Mobile Tire as our professional installer, and all went well. Jay Condrick, our friend and trusted technician, told us that, as one would expect from Michelin, the tires needed few balancing weights, and the mounting went smoothly.
Over the initial 20 miles or so, we felt and heard what we assumed was some mold release agents making the tires a bit squeaky and slippery. This is not unusual, and it quickly dissipated. Over the first 100 miles we drove on the tires, the best compliment possible came to mind. “They feel just like the summer tires,” said Ean Goreham, our primary tester for this vehicle and tire. I agreed with that assessment after a country-road sprint on dry pavement, with tires and temps around 35°F. This was a relief. The GR86 was specifically purchased for its fun factor. The all-season tires didn’t diminish that fun in any way on dry cool roads. Knowing that the compound was designed to offer safe operation well below freezing, we could corner aggressively and brake hard without concern that the car may step out of line unexpectedly.
The GR86 handles like it is on rails. Steering is ultra-sharp, and the Pilot Sport All-Season 4 tires feel very much the same as the summer-only versions. We think they may be a bit more “comfortable” on broken pavement, but honestly, it was not a night-and-day difference.
The new tires did seem to be similar or just a smidge louder than the summer-only tires. The GR86 has almost zero sound insulation, so there is a lot of road noise and wind noise, making it hard to discern changes in sound from the tires. We thought they might have been quieter than the summer-only tires, but we didn’t think so after testing.
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 - Looks
The GR86 is Ean’s daily driver, and he said, “I like the look of the Michelin Pilot Sport tires.” He went on to add that the GR86 is a sleek and handsome design, and the Pilot Sport tires augment its sharp styling.
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 - Online Owner Reviews
Tire Rack's ratings for the Pilot Sport All-Season 4 are all either Excellent or Good. It has a 4.5/5 average score on reviews there. Here are some selected owner posts:
- 2017 Honda Civic Coupe Owner - “I've had PS4S on wider wheels on the same car, and these tires are pretty good for a similar all-season.”
- 2025 BMW M4 Competition xDrive Coupe Owner - “So far I love these tires, I haven't run them in snow yet, but I don't plan to do much driving in it.”
- 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Owner - “Love these tires!! Super high quality!”
- 2023 Kia EV6 e-AWD GT Owner - “These somehow feel stickier than the Goodyear Eagle summer tires that just came off. I've been really impressed so far and haven't noticed that they are any louder than the EV-specific tires were.”
- 2013 Subaru Impreza WRX 5-Door STI Owner - “Came from summer tires to these Michelin and I am not disappointed. I haven't found the limit yet, but they seem to have good grip and not much tire lean. We'll see how long they last, but very happy so far.”
- 2024 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 - “This is exactly the tire to replace your summer-specific (tires). I have them on my 718 Boxster with the same results. These let me drive deep into the fall and even into light snow and ice conditions. These things are fantastic, confidence-inspiring, and sure-footed in the wet and the dry. I have driven them fast and hard and more easily and leisurely, and they have performed flawlessly, almost approaching the summer tire performance that they replaced. I would recommend these to anyone with a high-performance sports car who wants to have deeper annual availability. This is that tire, and it does it well, making it well worth the price.”
Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4 - Initial Conclusions
Putting new tires on a rear-wheel drive performance car is always a bit of a nail-biter. We love how the GR86 handles and performs, and don’t want to lose any of its abilities. Based on our first 100 miles, we are confident that we made the right choice by opting for the Michelin Pilot Sport All-Season 4. Watch for coming updates once we have some very low temperatures and light snow on which to test the new tires.
If you have this tire on your car, please add a comment below. Your first-hand input may help a shopper make an informed decision.
John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools.
Images by the author, Ean Goreham, and Jay Condrick.
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