| Test Summary | |
| Wet Braking |
Hankook Ventus Prime 3 K125 |
| Dry Braking |
Bridgestone DriveGuard |
| Rolling Resistance |
Uniroyal RainSport 3 |
| Noise |
Uniroyal RainSport 3 |
| Snow Handling |
Bridgestone DriveGuard |
| Snow Handling |
Nankang Eco 2 Plus Toyo Proxes CF2 Nexen N Blue HD Plus BFGoodrich gGrip Nokian Line |
Testing ten 205/55 R16 touring tyres on a VW Golf, Polish Motor magazine included the new generation Bridgestone DriveGuard runflat tyre against the traditional non-runflat competition.
In the past runflat tyres have been criticised for low comfort, high noise and poor wet grip. During the launch of the Bridgestone DriveGuard last year, Bridgestone promised the latest generation runflat tyre had made these issues a thing of the past, and this is the first independent test confirming the new tyres abilities.
While Bridgestone were the only premium manufacturer included in the test, the very well regarded second tier brands from Continental (Uniroyal) and Goodyear (Fulda and Debica) were included to ensure Bridgestone didn't have an easy time of it.
Wet Braking
Uniroyal confirm their reputation as the wet masters, acing the wet braking test, and beating second placed Bridgestone by over a metre. Debica had a strong showing in third, with Nankang struggling in last place, a full 8.5 metres behind the winning Uniroyal.
Wet Handling
Bridgestone prove to be the fastest across a lap, with Nokian and Debica close behind in second and third place. Again, Nankang were totally off the pace and the slowest tyre on test
Bridgestone won both the lateral and longitudinal aquaplaning tests.
Dry Braking
Hankook proved its near-premium credentials, winning the dry braking tests, with Nexen and Bridgestone close behind. This time Toyo struggled, finishing last, but just 1.4 metres behind the winning Hankook.
Dry Handling
Hankook also won the closely contested dry handling test, setting the fastest lap. Bridgestone were 1/10th second behind, with Fulda another 3/10ths slower than Bridgestone.
Noise / Comfort
The real challenge for runflat tyres are the comfort and noise tests.
While the Bridgestone came joint last in the comfort assessment scoring 5.5 points, it tied with two well respected tyres and was only 0.5 points away from five other patterns in joint third place with 6 points. Uniroyal had the clear comfort advantage scoring 7 points overall, and Fulda finished second with 6.1 points.
The magazine chose to noise test the tyres twice, once at 50 km/h and once at 80 km/h. At both speeds Nankang won the test with Toyo second, with Bridgestone scoring third place at the slower speed, but tenth place at the quicker speed.
Result
