Why Michelin Pilot Sport 4's?

[JMP]

I get this might be a Northern person issue, but why did Kia feel they needed to fit the GT's with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tires? Thank you Kia for putting such a nice and expensive I might add, tire on the GT's, but did they really need it and does it make sense for a 4 door GT car? Most of these cars will be driven everyday, not on a track and not anywhere close to the limits.

Yesterday I swapped out the brand new sport 4's for pilot Sport 3+'s. (4's are on the shelf until car goes back from lease). Looks wise from the side of the car, they look almost the same. So far in ripping around, not noticing anything (to be fair it is cool outside). Performance wise, in the summer anyways there will be a slight difference no doubt, but the Sport 4's work in the Winter like a teenage kid at chore time. Even on cold days, you had to drive around for a bit to get them warmed up or the backend hopped around corners from tire slip.

The Pilot 3+'s work year round, so no need to swap out anything if you don't want when the car is new to get you through the winter. For everyday, spirited driving, they work really, really well, they are after all still a higher end performance tire. It just seems, they would have been better served, by starting with the 3's or 3+'s, not the 4's. Price wise they are about the same anyway. Looks, they are almost identical from the side. Would it have made such a difference in performance for handling spec sheet bench race bragging rights?

Just my 0.02$

 

[CVD]

Many northern states almost exclusively received cars with 18” wheels and all season potenzas. I immediately removed them for winter tires and am trying to sell the useless (to me) all seasons. I wish mine came equipped with summer only tires. Just goes to show you can’t please everyone.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I must not be "spirited" enough: I have yet to experience side slip with the Pilot 4S; and now I won't get another chance to till late next March: I have the Nitto Motivos back on. There won't be a noticeable difference in Michelin summer or A/S or the Motivo A/S unless the car is pushed hard in a curve. And that includes at or below freezing.

 

[I Stung U]

I'm actually considering selling the factory 19 rims and Pilot Sport 4 (since they only have 1300kms on them and putting winters on tues.), of which I assume I can get SWEEET $$ for these factory rims and Awesome tires, from some guy who just wants coolest stuff.. and use the $$ to get 18x8 Rims (something really cool similar to factory), and putting on performance All-Season/Touring type on it (Very good one), with sizes of
235/45/18 for the front, and either same for the rear, or keep it staggered and put 245/45/18 in the back.
Why ?
Cause I kinda wouldn't mind that WEEE bit better Comfort ride of the wee bit higher sidewall, and likely still have great handling for my driving.
It's comfort is just o.k. , but used to much better when driving the wifes 18' Legacy. It feels like a pillow when I get in her car, right after driving my Stinger.. hahaa.. the seats and ride are so comfy in that car.
I likely can do the swap and not cost me a penny, as the sale of the factory and pilot sports will likely fetch me enough to cover the new set.
Maybe make a few bucks on top for a tank of gas and lunch

Anyone have an idea of what I can ask for $$, for cool looking 19" factory and pilot tires with such low mileage on them ? New they're $400+ at Costco in Canada.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Anyone have an idea of what I can ask for $$, for cool looking 19" factory and pilot tires with such low mileage on them ? New they're $400+ at Costco in Canada.

Unless you get "cheapy" 18" wheels, you won't even break even selling used tires and staggered wheels. Unless you are one of the luckiest people on the planet right now! Expect to have a challenge selling them at all timely, and, when you do, you'll still have to put out some money to get those tiptop A/S tires and a decent set of aftermarket wheels. I like your idea; you know what you want and it looks like what you propose will work for you.

 

[itguy61]

The Pilot 4's are going to have better traction, how much is debatable. I did the same swap when I replaced my tires. I do feel that the AS-3 tires ride a bit firmer, probably due to the harder rubber compound. I am hoping the harder compound has the benefitt of longer tread life. My Pilot sport 4's were totally worn on the rear at 13k miles.

 

[JMP]

Almost 3 weeks in since the tire swap, FWIW, the MP As3+'s work awesome on ice and snow. Stunned how well they work and how sure footed the car is. Yesterday was snow and sleet here, slicker than owl s*@t out there, was able scoot around no problem. In dry weather they work extremely well also. To be fair, not like I drive like a maniac, but I've pushed them hard enough on nice days and they don't feel any worse than the 4's felt. Granted I have not driven either tire in temps over 10c yet, but I still think the car should have come with 3+'s from factory (at least for Canada anyway) as I suspect the difference even in ideal conditions will be minimal. On the hiway, they are quiet and smooth. The 4's seem like a summer time over kill for a GT car.

 

[I Stung U]

agreed, to keep the awesome sport sedan theme, I guess, they should have just put a Top performing Ultra all season tire on this!! with a bit longer life in them, and bit better rolling resistance, etc.. characteristics to the. Now we all gotta swap out the tires in max 2 seasons.. and why I am not looking forward to doing it with 19" rims....

Re: selling mine, good point about the staggered thing. If they weren't I probably could make an easy sale and cover costs of new ones.. but with staggered, I'll have to be more patient for someone who doesn't mid that.. but that may not be so hard with lots of crazy car guys with various cars with cars with this bolt pattern and same or smaller hub size (can use rings)... Maybe it'll not be as hard ??

New Rims can be $600 and up, if look around for deal and not shy to negotiate... so maybe $1000 tax in if I get more reputable ones.
Tires, likely be around the same, tax in.. Likely max $2K can get new 18" set with a more comfy 45 sidewall size and likely more comfy and better rolling resistance tire. likely still more than good enough handling

 

[Waynerm002]

When you advertise your vehicle will do some ridiculous speeds, you need to equip it with tires that can backup that claim. Someone, somewhere would file a law suit if they didn't. For us the owners, we can certainly change them or get the other version which is speed limited, due to the lower performing tires. However, that all being said, they will offer AS in the 19's for the 2020 model year, I guess they heard the complaints and made a compromise. They also dropped the 18" tire/wheel option for the GT versions, some will rejoice and others will complain. At least we now have tires that can be used year round.

 

[JMP]

When you advertise your vehicle will do some ridiculous speeds, you need to equip it with tires that can backup that claim. Someone, somewhere would file a law suit if they didn't. For us the owners, we can certainly change them or get the other version which is speed limited, due to the lower performing tires. However, that all being said, they will offer AS in the 19's for the 2020 model year, I guess they heard the complaints and made a compromise. They also dropped the 18" tire/wheel option for the GT versions, some will rejoice and others will complain. At least we now have tires that can be used year round.

Offer them as an option just like Corvette offers a Z51 package that allows the 0-60 times. Create a "performance" option that gets you those tires. Just a thought. Wrap it up with an option for dedicated manual mode on the shifter

 

[westcoastGT]

I'm actually considering selling the factory 19 rims and Pilot Sport 4 (since they only have 1300kms on them and putting winters on tues.), of which I assume I can get SWEEET $$ for these factory rims and Awesome tires, from some guy who just wants coolest stuff.. and use the $$ to get 18x8 Rims (something really cool similar to factory), and putting on performance All-Season/Touring type on it (Very good one), with sizes of
235/45/18 for the front, and either same for the rear, or keep it staggered and put 245/45/18 in the back.
Why ?
Cause I kinda wouldn't mind that WEEE bit better Comfort ride of the wee bit higher sidewall, and likely still have great handling for my driving.
It's comfort is just o.k. , but used to much better when driving the wifes 18' Legacy. It feels like a pillow when I get in her car, right after driving my Stinger.. hahaa.. the seats and ride are so comfy in that car.
I likely can do the swap and not cost me a penny, as the sale of the factory and pilot sports will likely fetch me enough to cover the new set.
Maybe make a few bucks on top for a tank of gas and lunch

Anyone have an idea of what I can ask for $$, for cool looking 19" factory and pilot tires with such low mileage on them ? New they're $400+ at Costco in Canada.

I sold my oem 19s for 1300 on Craigslist , they came off the car before I picked it up so they were fresh , see my sig for what I replaced them with , as for selling your oem Stinger wheels ? I doubt they will appeal to anyone other than Stinger owners , so maybe advertise them here on the Forum .PS the tires will sell quickly in the Spring they are very desirable for BMW and Audi , in winter this market is pretty quiet ( from past experience )

 

[Regs120]

Many northern states almost exclusively received cars with 18” wheels and all season potenzas. I immediately removed them for winter tires and am trying to sell the useless (to me) all seasons. I wish mine came equipped with summer only tires. Just goes to show you can’t please everyone.

Funny you say this - I don't see anyone in my state selling Michelin 4S or 4 now. It's all potenza tires that are over 300 dollars each. Maybe seasonal?

 

[redspeed]

I agree with the comments about summer tires on the Stinger, but you got to remember Kia needed good reviews on this car for it to sell well. It's likely they knew car reviewers and buyers would look at the Stinger really hard since it's a $50k car. If it came with regular all season tires it probably would've been seen as negative on the car as opposed to a positive on reviews.

 

[G-886885]

I sold my oem 19s for 1300 on Craigslist , they came off the car before I picked it up so they were fresh , see my sig for what I replaced them with , as for selling your oem Stinger wheels ? I doubt they will appeal to anyone other than Stinger owners , so maybe advertise them here on the Forum .PS the tires will sell quickly in the Spring they are very desirable for BMW and Audi , in winter this market is pretty quiet ( from past experience )

$1300 for rims only or with the tires ?

 

[JMP]

FWIW, I understand why they put the 4's on the car (allow them to claim best possible performance they can). Just wonder if they couldn't have wrapped them into a performance track-pack style option. Is what it is. I'm not overly stressed about it, just would have been nice not to have to buy new tires right off the bat is all.

Interesting interview with a Michelin rep to add to this discussion though

If you don't want to watch the whole thing, you can skip to about the 4:10 mark for his comments about the 4's vs. the 3as's. His comments about feedback from track testing 4's bs. 3's is interesting

It confirms what I feel when i drive the car on nice days. Plus after another nasty, nasty day here in Southern Ontario (-10c for a high, plus 4 inches of snow), man do these 3's work well on this car.

 

[CVD]

I’d take what a sales rep is saying with a big grain of salt. If their summer only tires are only 5% better than their all seasons then they aren’t worth the rubber they’re made out of.

 

[westcoastGT]

$1300 for rims only or with the tires ?

Tires only ..................

 

[MerlintheMad]

I agree with the comments about summer tires on the Stinger, but you got to remember Kia needed good reviews on this car for it to sell well. It's likely they knew car reviewers and buyers would look at the Stinger really hard since it's a $50k car. If it came with regular all season tires it probably would've been seen as negative on the car as opposed to a positive on reviews.

This is a good observation. (Glad you revealed your presence so I can say, Hi! )

 

[I Stung U]

Few days now with these Nexen Winter tires, and so far so good. They're on the quiet side and decent on comfort feel.
Very Good Grip in light snow, cold wet ground.

 

[runner1]

Southern Ontario -10 and snow? Wow, I’m in Windsor (southern Ontario) and were in the mid 40 and gorgeous, where are you at?

FWIW, I understand why they put the 4's on the car (allow them to claim best possible performance they can). Just wonder if they couldn't have wrapped them into a performance track-pack style option. Is what it is. I'm not overly stressed about it, just would have been nice not to have to buy new tires right off the bat is all.

Interesting interview with a Michelin rep to add to this discussion though

If you don't want to watch the whole thing, you can skip to about the 4:10 mark for his comments about the 4's vs. the 3as's. His comments about feedback from track testing 4's bs. 3's is interesting

It confirms what I feel when i drive the car on nice days. Plus after another nasty, nasty day here in Southern Ontario (-10c for a high, plus 4 inches of snow), man do these 3's work well on this car.