Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 Snow results

J-Cooz said:

Quattro doesn't do shit when you're trying to stop!

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you can throw it in reverse real quick and slam on the gas to help stop faster. :laugh:

allset said:

Not too worried about snow cuz Quattro
But they were bad in snow FWD?

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Any front wheel drive will be better in snow with winter tires than a 4WD with all seasons.

I have the AS3 but never tried it out in snow living in Socal, Cold/Rain weather it handles great, shares a lot of characteristics with my previous set of super sports which I will be going back to in the summer. That sunflower technology on the AS3 though is pretty dope.

I am between these and the Conti DWS. Does ANYBODY have experience with both??? Comparison tables are one thing, but real life experience is another. Right now I am leaning towards the DWS, but the real reason for my tires is amazing dry weather traction, WITHOUT SWITCHING TO SUMMERS!!! So if the AS3 are that much better in the dry summer vs dws, but the dws are better in the winter.....F*#k the winter!!! haha

So has anybody owned both through the seasons and can give a decent recommendation. I have searched on here and google with the "site: golfmk6.com addition and have found nothing.

I live in central Indiana, so most of the time the roads are plowed. But today was the first Icing/Snow while driving home from work. My stock pirellis have 38k on them and they SUCK!!!! I plan to go stage 2 in the spring, burn the hell out of my stock Pirellis, then buy my new rubber right before next winter. :lol::thumbup:

I was actually shocked at how well the PSS's held their own in the cold and wet. No way in hell I'd drive them in the snow/ice, but I changed my tires later this year than I ever have.

Not sure about the DWS but the warranty on Michelin is amazing. AS3 is covered till 45k and if they wear out before that they replace them for a much better price. I can say that the as3 in the dry feels almost like my previous set of supersports, just a little bit more noise (barely) and the braking takes just a tad longer, its just a champ tire all the way round so far from what i've been experiencing.

LoveMyGTI8970 said:

I am between these and the Conti DWS. Does ANYBODY have experience with both??? Comparison tables are one thing, but real life experience is another. Right now I am leaning towards the DWS, but the real reason for my tires is amazing dry weather traction, WITHOUT SWITCHING TO SUMMERS!!! So if the AS3 are that much better in the dry summer vs dws, but the dws are better in the winter.....F*#k the winter!!! haha

So has anybody owned both through the seasons and can give a decent recommendation. I have searched on here and google with the "site: golfmk6.com addition and have found nothing.

I live in central Indiana, so most of the time the roads are plowed. But today was the first Icing/Snow while driving home from work. My stock pirellis have 38k on them and they SUCK!!!! I plan to go stage 2 in the spring, burn the hell out of my stock Pirellis, then buy my new rubber right before next winter. :lol::thumbup:

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Having now experienced snow today I can tell you that the DWS's are better. How much better? Not enough to give up the huge advantages in dry and wet grip, and steering response the A/S 3's have over the DWS's. If DWS's were 10/10 in the snow the A/S 3's are 8/10.

First time in the snow today on my 4K old A/S 3's. Compared to stock A/S Pirellis, I found these suckers to be a lot less grippy, and way too unpredictable. On packed 1-2" snow/slush/possible ice, the car was all over the place. For a FWD car, it took way too long to get it rolling from a dead stop, kind of reminded me of my RWD 330.

The car was a lot easier to drive once the TCS was turned off.

For comparison sake, I wish I could just throw on some DWS's to see how much they differ over the Michelins as this was my number one tire choice earlier in the year.

Overall pretty disappointed. No shit these tires performed a lot crappier on the strip at about 40-45F, when compared to stock Pirellis. Effin ehhh.

The DWS are very good in the snow. Granted I had them on a AWD car, but I found them to be very predictable when they did lose traction.


Butt posted from my Galaxy Note II

Drove in snow today with my "R",,,, I'll agree with the OP. Great 3 season tire! Snow performance is meh.
Car plowed like crazy, and was sliding a lot. Not impressed at all in the snow. Dry and wet on the other hand is great!
I honestly felt my P Zero Nero M/S tires were better in the snow.

Looks like Sonny is selling me some Winter Sport 3D's.

fredf said:

Any front wheel drive will be better in snow with winter tires than a 4WD with all seasons.

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You need to define your version of "better".

I have 4 brand new 16" snow tires (General Altimax Arctic) on my 2014 GTI. We recently got about 6-8" of wet heavy snow here in Rochester, NY. I went out drifting with my buddies in a WRX wagon and Legacy GT. (*Spoiler alert* The WRX ended up going home a flat bed tow truck and I drove home the driver.)

They both had older all season tires (continental DW). As far as acceleration from a stop goes, the subarus were definitely faster.

I played with traction control (fully on, partially on, and fully off) and they still took off faster than me. However, I was about 1 car length behind keeping up.

Now, even though they were accelerating faster than me, they were fishtailing all over, and were lucky no one else was on the road or else they would have crashed. When you accelerate hard in the GTI w/snows, the car is controlled very well and tracks a nice straight line with traction control on. Turn ESP all the way off on the GTI, and then it starts to get out of line, but in a controlled manner.

Once we got up to highway speeds, I was driving faster than both of them in a straight line and around the turns.

Thoughts:

FWD with snow tires in 6" deep heavy wet snow:

• Better vehicle control and handling at higher speeds 40 MPH and up
• Better control of vehicle when accelerating fast
• Hand brake drifts are very easy to control
• Can drive through snow until the snow is so deep it lifts the vehicle up.

AWD with all season tires in 6" deep heavy wet snow:

• Better acceleration from a stop (faster 0-60)
• Can drive through deep snow but not as controlled
• Better high speed drifts
• Better at continuous drifts

Snow tires on an AWD car is obviously the best option. A FWD car with snows will act like an AWD car with all seasons with more vehicle control but slower acceleration from a dig.

My buddy with the WRX smashed a curb early in the night and had to be taken home on a flat bed :bellyroll: Broken control arm, messed up CV joints and a broken rim.

I'm looking forward to driving my GTI in the snow now that I have snow tires. I run Vredstein Wintrac Extremes on my Audi and unless the snow is too deep I'm unstoppable. I recently got a set of WIntracs for my GTI...unfortunately its in the shop getting a new clutch so it will have to be the next snow (never drove the 2010 GTI in the snow - either had stock all seasons or summers). In the meantime I drive my Audi with AWD & snows and it really reigns supreme!

TRUboost said:

The DWS are very good in the snow. Granted I had them on a AWD car, but I found them to be very predictable when they did lose traction.


Butt posted from my Galaxy Note II

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Yea I bet they are! I have read nothing but great feedback for these in rain and snow, for an all season tire that is.

Well, I just bought a set of the A/S 3's to replace the Pirelli P-Zero's that came with my 2011 GTI. Here in Western WA, we really do not see much snow, so I have not been able to try them out in snow. Of course when we do get snow, everyone else looses their mind, so I am not complaining. In the rain and the cold (24 F), they seem to do better than the Pirelli's. I am still happy that I got them, but if lived in Eastern WA, I would probably get real snow tires based on the posts here.

dmarsh15 said:

They both had older all season tires (continental DW). As far as acceleration from a stop goes, the subarus were definitely faster.

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continental dw are summer tires.

i am on dws and they perform very well. i kind of feel like a wimp driving because in the snow we've gotten lately i've been babying it, but it really doesn't loose traction without doing something dumb. i was powersliding around a parking lot and could time it all very well. plus the snow doesn't just get clumped up in the tread.

and i think it's been said before, but the michelins are good because they (should) perform decent in cold weather but still maintain dry/wet performance. i don't think they were made with the snow in mind.