XJR I just purchased three weeks ago had Pirellis and even though they had plenty of tread left I couldn't stand them. Sounded like snow tires. I couldn't believe how LOUD they were.
Same as on my first XK8 when I changed to Michelin Pilot Sports it was like another car. Just drove home with them and can't believe the difference in noise AND ride. I can now actually hear the ENGINE while on the interstate highway.
Leaves me with a question. What's the fuss about Pirelli? Are they that much better performance for aggressive driving? I guess if I had a Turbo Carrera and took it to track days I wouldn't care about the noise or ride, my only interest would be minimum lap times but for every day driving, in my opinion, the Pilot Sports beat them hands down!
2X

 

Tire companies are like car companies, sometimes you can give generalities but most of them have both good and bad models. you need to name which pirellis...as both michelin and pirelli made good and crap types.

 

I'm sure you are right.
I should have looked at the model but I didn't. All I know for sure is that I am two for two switching from Pirelli to Michelin on Jags. I won't even get into motorcycles. No comparison.
2X

 

I changed to Michelin Supersport, they are more expensive than the Pirelli so (blind faith) you should expect them to be better. But I have used Pilots before on performance cars, and been very happy with the drive; but they are also quieter and longer-lasting than anything else I have used.

The European market probably has different tyres to the ones you get, but all tyres here now have to be officially tested and graded by road noise, so it is easy to compare db ratings of two similar tyres.

The European independent Consumer organisations co-operate to do tests of road tyres, the combined market of the EU is about 508 million, so between them they can do a lot of testing, much more than any magazine or individual, but they focus on the more popular sizes, so I don't think I've seen my enormous Jag sizes on test, so I am guided by the nearest size for a powerful car. Michelin, Pirelli, Bridgestone, Dunlop and Continental tend to cluster round the top of the table, and there are some economy brands that are consistently awful.

I am lucky enough not to need winter tyres.