Michelin Pilot 4s's v Sport Contact wear experiences

[andygo]

I'm ver soon going to be buying a set of new tyres for my Cayman GTS on 20inch wheels.

I have been for years a PS4s convert, but with the large price differential between them and SC7's i'm starting to lean towards the SC7's, particularly with the great reviews they seem to enjoy.

However the one thing that puts me off is the odd story of quite poor wear rate making them not so cheap as might first seen.

Has anyone got real world experiences of the SC7 wear rates?

[981Boxess]

Isn't the SC7 better suited to heavier cars, as in XL rating?

[andygo]

The Michelin PS4s's are an XL tyre in the Porsche N spec actually.

[981Boxess]

If you are happy with those and you can save a few quid why not, is the SC7 also Porsche approved then?

[andygo]

981Boxess said:

If you are happy with those and you can save a few quid why not, is the SC7 also Porsche approved then?

SC 7's aren't Porsche approved, although that isn't a Porsche warranty requirement any longer.

In my head, no point saving a few quid on tyres (circa £300) if they wear out significantly faster!

[Ed.Neumann]

For me it is worth it to get the steering feel back. The Michelin's are just numb, the steering feels wooly and the that super sharp turn in is just gone.

I only do 4-5k miles a year, I have long forgotten about a tyre purchase 2 years ago.

[andygo]

Ed.Neumann said:

For me it is worth it to get the steering feel back. The Michelin's are just numb, the steering feels wooly and the that super sharp turn in is just gone.

I only do 4-5k miles a year, I have long forgotten about a tyre purchase 2 years ago.

I have a GT4 steering map that I installed with a ThinkDiag, steering feels pretty sharp to me, no wooliness. Obviously not as good as the slicks I used to race on back in the day though..

[M11rph]

(718 GTS 4.0) I've had the PS4s previously and am currently on the Conti SC7.

The Conti's do wear faster, but I'm going to have to revisit my tread depth measurements.

At it's recent MOT the OPC measured the tyres at 1-1.5mm more than me, which affects my assessment.

I think the Contis might end up being circa 25% more expensive/mile, but it is worth paying because they bring the car back to life.

Longer version in my Reader's Cars thread below (29 Dec 2025 >)

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[PaulD86]

I'd echo the above remarks on steering feel. I've always been a big fan of the 4S but "feel" from the coninentals (and wet performance) is definitely better. Even if they wear quicker and that cancels out the initial saving, I'd still pick them as the car just feels better on them. The 4S was for a long time a no-brainer, but it is about 10 years old now and other tyres have caught and passed it.

[jeebsy]

Approaching 13k on SC7s in a 2.5 Cayman GTS, a lot of city driving but a fair amount of country roads too, pushing where conditions allow - still have about 3.5mm left on the rears.