Motor Tyre Test - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

russellw · 12-26-2003, 05:15

Having finally found some spare time to have a detailed read of the test conducted on 235/40 x 18" tyres, I was rather surprised at some of the results.

The usual riders apply: the tests are valid on the day, under the conditions and with the car used (in this case a Commodore).

I have divided each of the tests conducted into individual charts which are posted in separate threads below.

On a side note: the author of the test stated that there were no really bad tyres in the test - a conclusion I would take issue with based on the results shown below. You be the judge.

Cheers
Russ

6pAc|30nG|00n · 12-26-2003, 05:17

Threads Russ?

6pAc.

russellw · 12-26-2003, 05:25

Test 1 - Wet Weather Braking Performance

Conducted at the DECA skid pan the test simply used ABS activated braking from 80 km/h.
The Falken was the best performing tyre, stopping in (a very good) 32.4 metres while at the other end of the scale the Toyo Proxes could only manage a pitiful 44.0 metre stop. Put into persepctive that is a difference of 11.6 metres or 38.6 foot for us old timers - in simple language about 2.8 car lengths. That is the difference between a miss and a VERY big bingle. I'll do the math later to work out what speed impact the Toyo equipped car would have at the 34 metre mark but it's likely to be upwards of 65 km/h.

The two local OEMs (Dunlop and Bridgestone) didn't exactly crown themselves with glory, finishing 4th and 7th respectively (from 8 contenders) which is a bit odd given that the Bridgestone is the OEM trye for the Commodore.

russellw · 12-26-2003, 05:33

Dry Weather Braking Performance

Also conducted at DECA this test was the same as the previous one but with the speed increased to 100 km/h.

This time the gap between best and worst is only 8.4 metres or 28 feet or 1.8 car lengths but that's still enough of a difference between "missed" and "faaaaaaaaaaaaark".

Once again the Falkens take the honours with a distance of 37.7 metres while the Dunlops take the wooden spoon at 46.1 metres. The OEM Bridgestones garnered themselves another 7th place showing to at least be consistently poor brakers.

Let's next look at the combined results:

AU1SIXA · 12-26-2003, 05:42

Now we know why some magazines complained about the brakes not feeling so good, its not the bloody brakes its the bloody crappy dunlop sp sport 9000
that are no bloody good.

russellw · 12-26-2003, 05:50

Combined Results

There isn't much doubt when it comes to braking the Falken is a fair bit above the rest of this pack. I've used the really simple measure of combined distance to rank the tyres over the two tests and included that in the attached graph. It may not be absolutely the best criteria but it is at least a measure.

On this basis the winners (and losers) are:

Falken GRB FK451 70.1
Hankook Ventus Sport K104 74.1
Pirelli P Zero Nero 77.4
Goodyear Eagle F1 79.3
Michelin Pilot Sport 82.0
Dunlop SP Sport 9000 83.9
Toyo Proxes T1-S 84.3
Bridgestone Potenza RE040 85.8

I will look at the lap and short course times a little later and see how this impacts on the end results.

Cheers
Russ

xacoupe · 12-26-2003, 13:31

surprising to see some big names not up the top.
P Zeros, Pilots are big dollar tyres

Noboss · 12-26-2003, 13:47

The pennys dropped at last, the sp9000 and the bridgestones are used by ford and holden because they have done a deal with them, not because they are the best tyre for that car! they are the ones thet meet the price barrier that all, so next time your due for tyers go for something else. I think the SP9000 are not bad but there is better for the same price...

XR8 Lamah · 12-26-2003, 18:01

I'm very surprised that the Hankooks are up there. Maybe I've been out of the loop, but I always thought they were fairly bodge tyres. Might have to consider them next time round !

davocol · 12-26-2003, 18:09

I would have liked to have seen the kumo ecsta 512s in there but from that evidence (braking only, I would say it is not very conclusive) you would have to go with the falkens and avoid the sp9000s like the proverbial plague.