Tires are one of the most important parts of a vehicle, and having the right set to complement your vehicle’s capabilities and expected comfort is essential. In my continued quest to review vehicles and own a wide variety during my lifetime, I’ve had the opportunity to experience several tire brands and types. While many of my personal and family vehicles have been rarities within the scheme of what most Americans choose to drive, tire choices have evolved to apply to many different applications. As such, our 2020 Lincoln Aviator’s 22-inch wheels have a multitude of tire selections for proper fitment from many different brands, including the original equipment choice of Goodyear Eagle Touring tires, which now require replacement, and our choice happens to be from Michelin.
My selection to go with the Michelin tire brand revolves around many factors, which start and end with personal experience in having many Michelin high-performance summer tires on many performance and sports cars that I’ve owned. However, when it comes to finding tires outside the summer high-performance category, I was not certain about my search, considering the tires are for our Lincoln Aviator, which is a midsized luxury SUV.
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Finding tires for a luxury SUV can be somewhat of a delicate act as you look for tires to retain the luxury feel without compromising overall performance for sound comfort, ride quality, responsiveness, wet performance, and ability to adapt to winter and snow conditions. Such a tire must be an all-season, and my choice was settled on the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires.
The new Michelin All Season 4 tires have already received many high rankings in tests and consumer reviews. However, you never really know about a tire until you experience it for yourself. After doing research on how the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tire is constructed, I was immediately impressed with its multi-compound makeup, including it being about 4 pounds lighter than the OEM Goodyear Eagle Touring tires that were in need of replacement. Not to mention, the new Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires are Z rated, giving the added confidence of tires being more performance oriented with the ability to handle higher speeds (even though we’re not going to exactly put those speed ratings to the test). The Goodyear tires were not that bad through nearly 50,000 miles of driving, which is why I was anxious to get into the Michelin All Season 4 tires to do a direct comparison.
After about 4,000 miles, I can say that the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires have far exceeded my expectations. Initially, upon installation of the new Michelin tires, I noticed that the turn-in response of our Lincoln Aviator was immediately improved. However, the one thing that I did notice, possibly because Goodyear did a good job with sound insulation through their noise reduction tech using a foam insulator in the tires, was the Michelin All Season 4 tires had a slight howl sound at some speeds. However, that sound seems to have dissipated, or maybe I have become accustomed to its faintness. Still, for the Michelins to not have the weight-added foam to insulate the road nose, the tires are still very quiet and properly fit the demeanor of the Lincoln Aviator’s soft suspension air suspension and exceptionally quiet cabin.
Going through just one quick rainstorm made me appreciate the water dissipation of the Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires, as there was no noticeable hydroplaning, and it seemed to do slightly better than the old Goodyear tires. In fact, the turn-in on rain-soaked roads was the major factor in the Michelins excelling in their performance over any other all-season that I’ve experienced.
For now, I obviously could not test out the winter performance, but we do plan on having a winter trip up north to put them to the test, which will be a few thousand miles later of tire wear. Speaking of tire wear, so far, I have not noticed any uneven wear or the unwanted deceleration roar that I got with the Goodyear tires after several thousand miles of wear.
In all, Michelin continues to impress me, and having my very first experience with one of their all-season tires, which surprisingly cost considerably less (at $368 a tire) than the OEM Goodyear Eagle Touring tires ($495 a tire) that came with the Lincoln Aviator. You’re talking about a $127 price difference, which, in such a case, feels as if I’m getting a much better deal with a far superior tire from Michelin. Fundamentally, the Goodyear tires feel way overpriced to me, even though they did last a long time without glaring issues. I do look forward to many more ‘safe’ miles on the new Michelin Pilot Sport All Season 4 tires as they look to also have a slightly longer treadwear life (540) than the Goodyear tires (500), in addition to a 6-year/45,000-mile treadwear warranty.
