Dry Braking | ▲Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV: 33.9 M | ▼Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2: 40.1 M |
Dry Handling | ▲Bridgestone Turanza T005: 66.4 s | ▼Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2: 68.1 s |
Wet Braking | ▲Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV: 21.5 M | ▼Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2: 26.3 M |
Wet Handling | ▲Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV: 71.59 s | ▼Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2: 78.01 s |
Straight Aqua | ▲Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV: 90.4 Km/H | ▼Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2: 76 Km/H |
Subj. Comfort | ▲Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2: 4 Points | ▼Pirelli Scorpion Verde: 2 Points |
Subj. Noise | ▲Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2: 4 Points | ▼Bridgestone Turanza T005: 2 Points |
Rolling Resistance | ▲Bridgestone Turanza T005: 4.97 kg / t | ▼Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2: 5.29 kg / t |
As usual, we'll summarise the important data from the test below, and recommend you head over to the brilliant ViBilagare website for a more in depth look.
Dry
Dry braking was led by the new Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV, stopping the test BMW X3 0.3 meters ahead of the second placed Bridgestone Turanza T005 and 0.7 meters ahead of the third placed Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5. The premium mild all-terrain tyre was considerably worse than even the worst pure on-road SUV tyre, stopping the vehicle a huge seven meters later than the test winning Michelin.
Dry handling was again led by Bridgestone, Goodyear and Michelin, but this time the Goodyear and Bridgestone SUV tyres had the advantage, tying on a 66.4 second lap time, with Michelin 0.4 seconds behind. Again, the mild all-terrain tyre struggled, early 2 seconds off the pace.
Wet
Wet braking was again won by Michelin, with a more significant advantage over the rest of the tyres than in the dry.
Michelins wet advantage continued to the wet handling and straight aquaplane testing, with Goodyear, Bridgestone and Nokian also performing well in all wet tests. Sadly, the mild off-road tyre didn't perform any better in the wet than it did in the dry, losing all three of the wet tests.
Environment
ViBilagare did an excellent job of rating each tyres subjective comfort rating, which is how the tyre feels and sounds in the cabin, rather than a simple drive by noise test.
All eight tyres were close, but as we've seen in other tests the Nokian Hakka Blue 2 SUV and Vredestein Ultrac Satin both provide excellent levels of comfort while driving on all surfaces. The mild all-terrain tyre finally excelled in a test, matching the very best of the on-road tyres in comfort levels.
The subjective noise test results were close. ViBilagare also tested objective drive-by external noise at two different speeds on two different surfaces, so head over to their website to see the full results.
The rolling resistance testing was also close, but as seen in other tests, the Bridgestone Turanza T005 has an advantage over its premium rivals.
Results
1st: Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Near faultless performance in the dry and wet, good balance, safe driving characteristics. Steering not as linear as the Bridgestone and Goodyear, a little noise, high price. Read Reviews Buy from £153.01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2nd: Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Good dry handling, excellent aquaplaning resistance, good wet performance. Steering not as sharp as the Bridgestone, high price. Read Reviews Buy from £168.54 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3rd: Nokian Hakka Blue 2 SUV | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Very comfortable, low noise, well balanced and easy to drive. Average dry braking. Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4th: Bridgestone Turanza T005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fun to drive with quick steering response, short dry braking, excellent dry handling, good wet handling, lowest fuel use. Average aquaplaning resistance, high noise. Read Reviews Buy from £126.78 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5th: Vredestein Ultrac Satin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Good aquaplaning resistance, high comfort levels, well priced. Below average braking performance in the dry and wet. Read Reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6th: Pirelli Scorpion Verde | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Low fuel consumption, well balanced in the dry. Poor wet handling with sudden loss of grip, low aquaplaning resistance, poor comfort. Read Reviews Buy from £118.22 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7th: Nankang AS1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cheap to buy, progressive loss of grip with early warning. Low grip level in all conditions, with oversteer balance. Read Reviews Buy from £108.32 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8th: Continental ContiCrossContact LX 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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High levels of comfort, the grip releases progressively with early warning [Tested against on-road tyres]Generally a lower level of grip compared to on-road specific tyres, poor steering feedback. Read Reviews Buy from £145.76 |