Across driver feedback, the Michelin Pilot Sport 3 (PS3) is widely seen as a strong ultra-high-performance all-rounder with standout wet grip, confident braking, and very good hydroplaning resistance, often making cars feel more stable and secure. Dry grip and handling are generally praised too, with many noting a comfortable, relatively quiet ride for the category. The most consistent downside is rapid treadwear for the price-especially on powerful or hard-driven FWD/AWD cars-along with frequent comments about soft sidewalls that can make steering feel a bit numb or delayed at the limit.
What owners mention most counted across 248 reviews
Very good tires, excellent grip in the dry and wet and could handle a lot of torque very well for a street tire.
The downside is that they dont last that much. Had to swap rear for fronts in about 10.000 km about 6500 miles, but take in consideration that i had 550 nm only on the front wheels and drove it hard.
Another thing to add, the wall doesnt take bumps and pot holes pretty well. blown a tire at only 30 mph.
Simply the best tires I have ever bought. Nothing quiet compares to them. I have been driving professionally for 45 years and find these tires amazing.
My reason for changing to them was at the time the roads were very icy and back roads ungritted and dangerous. The percieved difference was like chalk and cheeze. The tires I took off were Dunlop SP Sports with lots of tread left. I first bought the Michelin Pilot 3's during the British winter of 2010. No other tire I have bought comes near to the performance of these tires.
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Tire wear the only problem if you have a powerful car, oem with my RS250 works very well. A tire that one must try at least once in a life time....PS2 is better than the PS3
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Driven around 30k kilometers rotated thrice at 8k kilometers each time. Grips well at high speed cornering. Wanted to rotate at 32k kilometers but tires deem not safe for further driving. Generally brakes with high confidence level, no feeling of skidding. Only downside will be poor lifespan, other than that highly recommended.
The Pilot Sport 3 tires are excellent in every way but I had hoped they would last longer than 17,000 miles. The grooves around the circumference of the tire are wide so there is less rubber then on some tires. I guess that's what gives the grip. I often have the car loaded up with windsurfing equipment and it still has excellent handling and cornering. Unsurprisingly they were not so good in the snow and very difficult indeed to get going without spinning. However, once moving they weren't bad. Overall a very good, safe tire at speed on all kinds of roads.
To be honest, I find it hard to objectively say whether these handle or grip or whatever better than other tires, as I'm still only on my second car, but I can say a pair of these just managed 28,000 miles with me. They aren't cheap, but that's some good milage right there, I think.
Replaced Original Equipment Dunlop Sport Maxx ( 18500 miles after 1 rotation of set ) with a set of 4 PS3'S late last year. Having had Exalto and PS2'S on previous cars I decided to go for the PS3 as I knew the previous Michelins had lasted and performed well. Suffered a tire bulge just over 1000 miles and had to replace front o/s. Michelin after much discussion decided to send a free replacement without acknowledging fault. Fair enough. Well done Michelin - Eventually. Back to the performance and the tires squirmed a little in the wet under acceleration and through shallow standing water on several occasions causing a bit of a surprise to both drivers of the car. Towards the end of their service aquaplaning was quite evident on shallow standing water and at 2/2.5mm decided to change for obvious safety reasons. I now have one new ( replacement from Michelin ) ps3 and one new Goodyear Eagle Asymmetric 2 on the front so I will be VERY interested to see how they perform against each other. Treadwear on ps3 is 320 against Goodyears 300. Front ps3's lasted 16000 miles approx before changing due to wet weather concerns, I do understand performance rapidly drops after less than 3mm but I have never noticed this being so obvious in any other previous Michelin tire I have had. Rears are doing fine with about 6mm after 16000 miles. Garage advised best tires on front ( new ones ) due to how good the condition of the rear Michelins were. Dry grip fantastic, good feedback, progressiveness good although never tested to the limit due to the style of driving. Tires quiet. Buy again reflects Michelins response to the bulge issue and the wet weather concerns encountered.
Previously I had the PS2 and I found those better in the dry but worse in the rain. The PS3 gives less road feedback than the PS2 probaply because it's more finetuned for comfort. Yet in the wet the PS3 is much grippier than the PS2. When driving in the sometimes heavy rain these tires give me much confidence. For wet weather they are by far the best tires I've ever had. So far I've driven 16000 miles with them and the wear is hard to notice. I am very happy with these tires, just the road feedback needs some improvement.
Grip in wet and dry conditions was great. A tad noisy on some roads, especially on the motorway when the engine is generally quieter. The only thing that let me down on these tires was the wear - I got about 15k miles. I've used michelins for a number of years now, so would like to try something different.
The PS3 is responsive & fairly quiet. Wet grip superb, as is dry. They are also reasonably comfortable for a low profile. But rapid wear is a negative. Previous Kumho KU31 about 40,000km but these will be worn in less than 25,000km.
