Bridgestone Rates Well in European Magazine Tests

Bridgestone reports receiving highly favourable results in summer tyre tests conducted by German and Nordic region magazines. Europe’s largest motoring magazine, ADAC Motorwelt rated the Japanese manufacturer’s Turanza ER300 in the top group of “highly recommendable” tyres in its 2008 summer tyre tests. Singling it out from 18 major brand competitors, the magazine described Turanza ER300 as a “very well balanced summer tyre with best grade on dry and also good on wet”.

The VW Golf 2.0 FSI test vehicle fitted with 195/65 R15 tyres completed the full range of performance tests with weightings of 20 per cent for dry, 40 per cent for wet, 10 per cent for noise, 10 per cent for rolling resistance and 20 per cent for wear rate. ADAC awarded its final rating based on the overall weighted score, after downgrading for any individual result judged to be unacceptably weak. ADAC also rated the ER300 “highly recommendable” in 2007.

The widely read German consumer test magazine Stiftung Warentest also evaluated the 2008 ADAC criteria and results. The magazine declared the Turanza ER300 its test winner: “For compacts and mid-sized cars, the Bridgestone Turanza ER300 is the winner and the only tyre that reached a ‘very good’ rating on dry.”

A third feather in the Turanza’s cap came from Germany’s auto motor und sport magazine, in whose tests the Turanza ER300 was the only tyre out of eight brands tested to score maximum points for high-speed dry lane changing (124 kph). Testing with a Mercedes-Benz S 350 on 235/55 R17 Y/W tyres, the ER300 also scored a maximum 20/20 for dry handling and 10/10 with the best data of all competitors for rolling resistance. AMS magazine commented on the strengths of the ER300: “very good handling performance on wet and dry, and good in hydroplaning” and stamps the tyre “recommendable”.

Bridgestone’s UHP Potenza has also received praise from Germany’s motoring press. After testing 17 different tyre brands (225/45 R17 with Y/W speed rating) on a Mercedes C-Class 320, Germany’s largest weekly car magazine, Auto Bild, placed the RE050A on the podium with a “highly recommendable” rating. AutoZeitung magazine, with a readership of more than 200,000, was another to test the Potenza RE050A (225/45R 17Y tyres on a VW Golf V FSI 170 hp testing 16 top-name tyres). The magazine gave the tyre a “very recommendable” and declared it “good on dry”.

Industry publications further north have also expressed their approval, comments Bridgestone. Testing 205/55 R16 tyres on an Audi A3 125 hp, Swedish motor magazine Auto, Motor & Sport ranked the Turanza ER300 first out of 12 brands tested and gave it a full five-star rating. “Turanza is very easy to drive with a fast response and excellent capabilities on all surfaces. Bridgestone has managed to balance the properties of the tyre without having to make compromises” commented the Swedish publication.

Sharing the same data as Sweden’s AMS publication, Finland’s top motor magazine, with more than 650,000 readers, praised the Turanza for its all-round performance and ranked it top of the class: “Bridgestone’s well balanced performance was admirable. It reached the best points in only a few test items, but was almost always close to the top. Best side of Bridgestone is its easy driving behaviour. Bridgestone also behaves nicely on the limit. It reacts quickly to the steering, without behaving too sharply. With a unanimous decision by all test drivers, Bridgestone’s driveability on dry asphalt was the best in this group.”