Michelin Receives DEKRA Tyre Test Results

Readers of Tyrepress.com will be aware that Tyres & Accessories was in Narbonne, France in April 2009 to visit the roads on which the DEKRA Test Centre was putting several premium brands through their paces. Engaged by Michelin with part of the manufacturer’s 600 million euro annual research and development budget, the independent test centre compared the Energy Saver (195/65R15 H), the Primacy Alpin PA3 (205/55R16 H) and the Primacy HP (225/55R16 W) with other premium brand tyres purchased at the same time on the replacement market in two key areas; longevity and fuel consumption. The Test Centre presented T&A with the “circuits” it had drawn up from the varied road-types present between Narbonne and Toulouse, on which a convoy of four Volkswagen Golf 1.9l TDIs (195 and 205) and four Audi A4 Avant 2.0l TDIs (225) would travel during testing. A third set of comparative tests on these tyres was carried out by TÜV SÜD on its asphalt testing track at ATP Papenburg in Germany, this time concerned with wet braking.

In the segment 195/65R15 H, the Michelin Energy Saver was judged the best performing tyre in all categories. Based on an extrapolation of the most worn grooves on the front tyres after a test mileage of 10,000km, the Energy Saver would have lasted 15 per cent longer than its nearest competitor, the Pirelli P6 Cinturato, in reaching the legal limit of 1.6mm. The arithmetic average of all the tested tyres was around 77 per cent of the Energy Saver. In terms of fuel consumption, the Energy Saver yielded 5.26 litres per 100km, putting it 0.07l/100km ahead of the P6 Cinturato, again its nearest competitor. The arithmetic average was 5.37l/100km. On TÜV SÜD’s artificial rain-covered track the Energy Saver finished one percentage point ahead of the Bridgestone B250 in terms of the tester’s evaluation of the tyres’ deceleration performance. The speed range was 80-20km/h and ABS was utilised.

In the 205/55R16 H segment, Michelin’s Primacy Alpin PA3 M+S was 20 per cent ahead of its nearest competitor, the Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D M+S. The average of all five tested tyres was around 76 per cent of the PA3’s performance, based on a treadlife extrapolation after 12,000km. In fuel consumption, the Primacy Alpin again finished best, with 5.21l/100km. Goodyear’s UltraGrip 7+ M+S and the SP Winter Sport finished closest with 5.34l/100km, below the average of 5.37l/100km. In wet braking, all the tyres were closely matched, with the Primacy Alpin and the UltraGrip finishing level.

In the final size category, 225/55R16 W, Michelin’s Primacy HP was two per cent behind the joint leaders the Pirelli P7 and the Dunloop SP Sport Fast Response, based on an extrapolation after 10,000km. The average across the six tested tyres was 88 per cent of their performance. In fuel consumption, the Fast Response and the Primacy HP finished joint top on 6.18l/100km, with an average of 6.26l/100km. Meanwhile, wet braking performance saw the Bridgestone Turanza ER300 finish first, with the Fast Response and Continental’s Premium Contact 2 three per cent behind, and the Primacy HP on 96 per cent of the ER300’s performance.

Full details of the test results, including all the tested tyres and the methodologies used by both the DEKRA Test Centre and TÜV SÜD, will be published in the August edition of Tyres & Accessories.