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.
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.
Why are they not featured on any US sites?
Tire Rack doesn't have them yet
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.
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.
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.