This year Sport Auto have chosen 235/40 R18 as their ultra high performance tyre test size. Sadly, this resulted in a couple of the key new tyres being left out, so Sport Auto also tested the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 in 225/40 R18 and the Continental Sport Contact 6 in 235/35 R19 to get an approximate idea of how they compared, but excluded them from the final results.
Sport Auto did manage to get four new tyre patterns in the tested size - The new Goodyear Eagle F2 Asymmetric 3, Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2, Toyo Proxes T1 Sport+, and the Cooper Zeon CS Sport are all new for the 2016 summer season, and are being tested against the slightly older, but still updated for 2016 Pirelli P Zero, Hankook Ventus S1 Evo2, Vredestein Ultrac Vorti and Falken Azenis FK453.
Braking
Wet braking was close. Hankook took the top place stopping from 50 mph in 25.7 meters. Toyo was next at 26.2 meters, then Goodyear and Pirelli in 26.5 and 26.7 meters. Dunlop, Cooper and Falken were all in the 27 meter range, stopping in 27.3, 27.5 and 27.8 meters, and Vredestein was the only tyre to break in the 29 meters, stopping in 29 meters dead.
Dry braking was just as close, with Hankook winning once again stopping the Ford Focus ST in 33.7 meters from 62mph. Dunlop and Goodyear tied for second in 33.8 meters, and Vredestein made up for a poor wet result, stopping the car in 33.9 meters for fourth place. Falken and Pirelli tied for fifth place in 34.5 meters, Toyo finished seventh in 36.1 meters and Cooper finished last, nearly 3 meters behind the Hankook, stopping the car in 36.3 meters
Vredestein issue
Despite an excellent dry result, where the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti proved to be one of the most agile and well balanced tyres in the test, it was excluded from the final result due to delamination during high speed endurance testing. Vredestein were contacted to explain the cause, and the official reason was a curing issue in that particular batch of tyres which caused a weakness in the rubber...
The Continental and Michelin
With the Continental Sport Contact 6 replacing the 19" and above Sport Contact 5P, and not the smaller-sized Sport Contact 5, it seems a little strange the Sport Contact 5 wasn't included in the test, especially when you consider the 6 is aimed at high powered RWD performance cars. Fortunately in 235/35 R19 on the Focus ST, the new Sport Contact 6 proved to be an excellent tyre, with razor sharp steering and excellenty grip on both dry and wet roads.
While the new Michelin is made in the test size of 235/40 R18, it wasn't available at time of test, so Sport Auto tested in 225/40 R18. Like the Continental, the Michelin proved to be a match for the best tyres on test in both the dry and wet, and while it wasn't quite as single focused as the Sport Contact 6, it looks like it will be an excellent all round tyres for hot hatches and medium sized cars and would have troubled Goodyear and Dunlop had it been tested properly.
The Results
The weight of the overall results are: Dry 40%, Wet 50%, and environmental 10%.
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3
235/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
| Test | % |
|---|---|
| Dry | — |
| Wet | — |
| Subjective | — |
| Comfort | — |
| Rolling Resistance | — |
| Noise | — |
Dunlop SportMaxx RT 2
235/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
| Test | % |
|---|---|
| Dry | — |
| Wet | — |
| Subjective | — |
| Comfort | — |
| Rolling Resistance | — |
| Noise | — |
Hankook Ventus S1 evo2
235/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
| Test | % |
|---|---|
| Dry | — |
| Wet | — |
| Subjective | — |
| Comfort | — |
| Rolling Resistance | — |
| Noise | — |
Pirelli P Zero
235/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
| Test | % |
|---|---|
| Dry | — |
| Wet | — |
| Subjective | — |
| Comfort | — |
| Rolling Resistance | — |
| Noise | — |
Toyo Proxes T1 Sport+
235/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
| Test | % |
|---|---|
| Dry | — |
| Wet | — |
| Subjective | — |
| Comfort | — |
| Rolling Resistance | — |
| Noise | — |
Falken FK453
235/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
| Test | % |
|---|---|
| Dry | — |
| Wet | — |
| Subjective | — |
| Comfort | — |
| Rolling Resistance | — |
| Noise | — |
Cooper Zeon CS Sport
235/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
| Test | % |
|---|---|
| Dry | — |
| Wet | — |
| Subjective | — |
| Comfort | — |
| Rolling Resistance | — |
| Noise | — |
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
235/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
| Test | % |
|---|---|
| Dry | — |
| Wet | — |
| Subjective | — |
| Comfort | — |
| Rolling Resistance | — |
| Noise | — |
After the PS3 and the PSS, I trust that Michelin can combine the best of both. Tyre tests vary too. So far, 1000miles in with 235/40R18, certainly not regretting my choice so far, good and progressive grip, good steering feedback and not uncomfortable either. 300hp fwd car.
Thanks for the feedback, we look forward to hearing another review after more miles! :)
I cannot believe that 6 months after the PS4 came to market there is no single test where this tyre is compared to competitors; makes no sense that non of auto sport magazines is not able to obtain it..
We believe Auto Express and EVO magazine are testing it in their tests this year, however their tyre tests aren't usually out until later in the year.
How late is "later"? I´m also interested of a review of the new Yokohama Advan Fleva V701 and new Pirelli P Zero PZ4.
And I agree with Santorini11, I have this magazine and the conclusion of the PS4-"test" is like a feeling, not a objective result. And they wrote taht the PS4 would be in the top 3, this sounds to me like it would be the 3rd, but is the most expensive tyre
Vredestein really seem to be letting things slip of late, their once strong performance has faded and the wet grip is increasingly being reported as poor... The delamination is not good! A bad batch is always a possibility but someone like Vredestein should have the quality control in place to ensure it doesn't.
Things seem to have slipped gradually since apollo bpught them, i wonder if the asian company are penny pinching and cutting corners while syphoning the r&d for their own tyres...
Vredestein is here (Germany) most known for good snow tyres, but summer tyres? I drove some Vredestein many years ago, in the wet it was not really good and after some years the rubber was hard like stone.
Vredesteins winter tyres are also not known for good performance on the wet, the Snowtrac 5 don´t made it to the final 18 of 50 tyres in Autobild 2015 because the wet braking result was over 44m.
The Ultrac Vorti have very hard sidewalls, looks like it was hard for some tyre dealers have a problem to fit it on the rim or damage it.