Chinese Michelin Pilot Sport 5

Joined
Nov 8, 2018
Messages
678
Location
Ontario, Canada
These days, it feels difficult to figure out if inflation is caused by corporate profit and not supply chain issues.

Needed some new tires and wanted to get something fun.

The Nokian zLine A/S were my first performance set and they brought some life to the car.
They were incredibly cheap at the time - $351US for the set.

Checked what Costco Canada had to offer and was quoted $1453US for a set of Michelin Pilot Sport 5's.
Americans can get them for $1035USD on eBay and so the Canadian markup is harsh.

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In China, a set is $593US and Michelin sells direct to the consumer.

Shipping the tires to Canada via China Post sea mail was $212. Shipping took 70 days.

Total cost with shipping was $807. Compared to Costco's price of $1453, it feels like quite the win (45% off).

They're getting mounted in the morning.

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Pretty good savings if you can wait 2.5 months for them. Why are they not featured on any US sites? For some reason I feel like I’d be at risk for counterfeit tires even though the vast majority of things I buy come from China.
 
The better question is why anyone would want Pilot Sport 5. It’s not as sporty as PS4S but it’s still a summer tire with all the drawbacks. The PS AS4 seems like a better idea if you’re stepping down from the PS4S. It’s not any cheaper than PS4S either. For a slightly cheaper summer tire I’d look at the Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 if in North America.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good tire, but I don’t know why it exists. It’s occupying a category almost on its own as far as I can tell.
 
What website did you order them from? My searches seem to end up giving me Michelin star restaurants in China and how to find jobs at Michelin in China.

The official Michelin store on T-Mall is where I purchased it from. According to wikipedia, it's the third most visited website in the world.

Tmall is a Chinese-language website for business-to-consumer (B2C) online retail, spun off from Taobao, operated in China by Alibaba Group. It is a platform for local Chinese and international businesses to sell brand-name goods to consumers in Greater China. It has over 500 million monthly active users, as of February 2018. In the last few years, it has opened its features to brands, not only for online sales but also for developing brand awareness. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmall

Here's a link to the store:
https://michelin.tmall.com

For some reason I feel like I’d be at risk for counterfeit tires even though the vast majority of things I buy come from China.

Have to be fakes…..

No one is faking Michelin's official store. The whole point of T-Mall's B2C is to eliminate counterfeits and give buyers a better experience (fresh production date.. etc). You can find the tires for cheaper from 3rd party vendors on another marketplace but I've been burned before so I only buy from T-Mall if it's a big purchase.

They are using Michelin standard, it should be good.

Correct. Glad you're not stereotyping.

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Why are they not featured on any US sites?

Tire Rack doesn't have them yet :unsure:

When I search, I can only find posts saying these tires were manufactured in Thailand or China. If I had to guess: could be a supply issue, could be more expensive to produce or maybe they think Americans are willing to wait for the PS5S which is on the horizon.

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The better question is why anyone would want Pilot Sport 5. It’s not as sporty as PS4S but it’s still a summer tire with all the drawbacks. The PS AS4 seems like a better idea if you’re stepping down from the PS4S. It’s not any cheaper than PS4S either.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good tire, but I don’t know why it exists. It’s occupying a category almost on its own as far as I can tell.

For a layman who doesn't track but wants the option, it feels like the PS5's are better than PS4S.

A review from the American Michelin website:
https://www.michelinman.com/auto/tires/michelin-pilot-sport-5
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It got 1st place in this test against other summer tires:
https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2022-Tyre-Reviews-17-Inch-UHP-Summer-Tyre-Test.htm
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The look of the sidewall on the 5's compared to the 4S is also significant.

The process in which Michelin creates this effect with cutting-edge laser technology and the contrast between the dark and light checkers is created using light-absorbing micro-technology. So half of the checkers absorb more light than the other half, giving it the contrast checkered look that’s desired.

Here's a photo from this morning. It's low light outside and it looks like I applied tire shine even though there is none.

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For a slightly cheaper summer tire I’d look at the Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 if in North America.

Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 are $792US on eBay. At least in my mind, the sidewall alone is worth the extra $60/tire if comparing eBay pricing.

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FWIW, blackcircles doesn't have them, either, and Blackcicrcles is owned by Michelin :sneaky:

However, they do carry the Conti SportContact 5 (Continental's competitor to the Pilot Sport) and also the Conti PremiumContact 6 (grand touring summer tire like the Michelin Primacy 3 and 4)

The PS5 does appear on Michelin's US site :unsure:

When I search, I can only find posts saying these tires were manufactured in Thailand or China. If I had to guess: could be a supply issue, could be more expensive to produce or maybe they think Americans are willing to wait for the PS5S which is on the horizon.

Micheline should being back their Exalto line, or sell the PS5 non-S as a BFG (Comp3?)

Bridgestone does something similar, selling the Adrenalin performance summer tire as a Firestone in the US


Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02 are $792US on eBay. At least in my mind, the sidewall alone is worth the extra $60/tire if comparing eBay pricing.

The ExtremeContact is a cheaper summer tire just for the US/Canada market. Continental's real premium performance summer tire is the SportContact series. These are easier to get in Canada than the US.
 
PS4S is already too soft and if anyone thought the PS5 was better, OEMs like BMW, Porsche, and GM (Corvette) would be putting them on cars instead of PS4S.
 
5 S is not 5

S5, not 5S. There's a big correlation with Michelin where the S goes and they've been confusing for over a decade. Chances are the Pilot Sport S5 will be the spiritual replacement for the Pilot Sport 4, not the Pilot Sport 4S.

PS4S was the replacement for the PS3S, not the Pilot Super Sport (PSS) that was lauded as the well mannered trackable street tire. The replacement for the PS4S has yet to be announced.
 
So where are Pilot Sport 5 and Pilot Sport S 5 in relation to each other?
Do not forget that some tires are market specific and if one needs a replacement the wait may be a few months.

Krzyś
 
Manufacturing location matters.

Not saying you can't make a quality product in China, but culturally its different. If there choice is to bypass QC to ship product, and not ship product, they will always ship product.

If the OEM owns the QC, then fine. However these days its sampling at best. So I buy nothing from China if I can avoid it.

Of course US production could do the same thing. Its just culturally less acceptable.

Mexico isn't that much different. The worst tires I have ever owned are ones I got a couple years ago from General (Continental) made in Mexico. 3 of 4 had to go back - out of round, and not by a little bit. How does an OEM ship a out of round tire you might ask? No QC.
 
S5, not 5S. There's a big correlation with Michelin where the S goes and they've been confusing for over a decade. Chances are the Pilot Sport S5 will be the spiritual replacement for the Pilot Sport 4, not the Pilot Sport 4S.

PS4S was the replacement for the PS3S, not the Pilot Super Sport (PSS) that was lauded as the well mannered trackable street tire. The replacement for the PS4S has yet to be announced.
Yeah it’s S5, not 5S, my bad. You’re incorrect about the bottom part there I’m pretty sure. PSS was replaced by PS4S. There was no PS3S, just a regular PS3. The replacement for PS4S is PSS5 it’s just starting life as OEM only.

It’s very simple if you look at what Porsche and BMW use on each generation of 911s and M3.

E46 M3 - Pilot Sport
E92 M3 - Pilot Sport 2
F80 M3 - Pilot Super Sport
G80 M3 - Pilot Sport 4S
future - Pilot Sport S5


The PS3 and PS5 are the oddballs in the lower performance category.
 
I wasn't very impressed with my experience running the Pilot Sport 4, hopefully the Pilot Sport 5 is better.
 
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