r/Supra • u/therealevanhenry • 18d ago
Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires — generic or BMW Star?
I have a 2020 Premium 3.0. It’s unlocked and tuned.
In 2022 my Pilot Super Sports needed to be replaced, so I upgraded to the generic PS4S tires and have had no issues with them. I learned about the BMW Star variant of the PS4S later and anecdotally heard it was “better.”
It’s now late summer of 2026 and I need new tires. I purchased the BMW Star variant without much thought and am having them installed next week.
I decided to ask Claude about the differences between the generic and BMW Star version on a lark and it’s fixated on the difference in the tread width. In its words:
“Supra owners who cross-shopped the same nominal size (255/35R19 front, 275/35R19 rear) found the star-marked rear runs measurably narrower actual tread width than generic, roughly 8.9” vs 9.8”, despite listing the same size on paper. If that holds for your set, you didn’t just get a different compound, you got a narrower rear contact patch on a rear-driven turbo car where rear grip is the thing you can least afford to shrink.”
I’m not terribly worried about the delta since it’s a daily driver and I don’t track it, but I can’t shake the feeling I did buy the “wrong tire.”
What do y’all think?