The GT Radial GAU861 all-position urban city-bus tyre has achieved three-peak mountain snowflake (3PMSF) certification, confirming its all-season performance credentials. The tyre, which was launched with M+S marking to indicate excellent traction and braking in mud and snow conditions, is available in 275/70R22.5 and is designed for use in both steer and drive positions on various configurations.
The latest addition to the Michelin Pilot range in North America was introduced yesterday at the NAIAS show in Detroit. The new Pilot Sport All-Season 3+ is an evolution of the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 and is said to transfer “the best of high-performance racing technology into a street tyre made for the roads and highways of North America.”
Speaking at the end of a presentation at Continental’s annual ContiTechnikForum, Prof Dr Burkhard Wies, Conti’s head of Tire Line development worldwide commented on the development of the winter and all-season tyres as a sector. This is nothing new. Wies has, of course, tracked the market for some time and has commented on this subject before. What’s different now is that, during the course of 2015, the sector broadened from three segments (winter, all-season and summer tyres) to something more like four (winter, all-season concept I, all-season concept II and summer tyres).
Zafco has unveiled two new tyres at Las Vegas’ SEMA show. The all-season Zeetex ZT3000, an eco-friendly alternative in the PCR category that offers exceptional wet grip and balanced driving behavior, and the slick Accelera Delta Sport, the brand’s first racing tyre engineered with the “R-Compound” are the new models on stand, which also featured Zeetex’s Café Zee concept.
Having reduced a field of 51 to 19, Auto Bild announced that three of the winter tyres tested had made it all the way to the top of the German magazine’s rankings, picking up “exemplary” ratings. Continental’s WinterContact TS 850, Pirelli’s Winter Snowcontrol Serie 3, and the Barum Polaris 3 were the best performers, according to Auto Bild’s testers, who ranked the tyres based on their performance on snowy, wet and dry roads and their cost. The tests were performed on a VW Polo, with the tyres sized 185/60R15 T.
Sailun Tyres has launched two new passenger car tyres developed particularly for the European market in an event held in the Brittany village of Lohéac, France. The tyres both appear in the company’s Atrezzo PCR line; the Atrezzo Elite asymmetrical high performance tread and the Atrezzo Eco, designed as a more eco-friendly alternative to sit below the Elite in terms of size profile. Compared to their predecessor, the 90-size SH-402, the tyres both have patterns in keeping with current market trends. During the presentation of the two new tyres, Sailun also gave details of its first all-season tyre, the Atrezo 4 Seasons, which has also been launched in five sizes. The event follows Sailun’s collaborative events in Lohéac and Val d’Isère with its French distributor DistriCash, though this time the manufacturer was “standing alone,” in the words of Sailun Jinyu (Europe) managing director Martin West, with guests attending from across Europe.
Nokian’s Weatherproof All-Weather, WR SUV 3, and WR D4 tyres have performed well in the latest round of consumer tyre testing. Most recently the tyres have respectively achieved the best performance on snow and in the wet in Auto Zeitung’s all-season tyre test 2015, the Off Road and SUV magazine winter tyre test 2015 top spot, and the “very recommendable” rating in Auto Zeitung’s winter tyre test. The all-weather product has also been lauded by the UK’s Auto Express and Germany’s VOX TV show, Auto Mobil 2015.
It’s already gained the attention of Auto Express’s tyre testers, been rated “exemplary” and taken top honours in this month’s Auto Bild test of ten all-season tyres, and gained approval as original equipment on Audi, Ford, Vauxhall/Opel and Renault models. Therefore it’s high time that we report the launch of the second generation Goodyear Vector 4Seasons.
In its annual winter tyre performance survey, German motoring publication AutoBild narrows a wide field of 49 winter tyres and two all-season tyres with wet and snow braking measurements before conducting a full test of a range of characteristics. 19 tyres made it through to the 2015/16 season test, conducted using the tyre size 185/60 R15.
The CrossClimate, Michelin’s winter-certified summer tyre, has been on the market in Europe since May – and the French tyre maker says it is doing well. A recent Michelin newsletter reported the sale of the millionth CrossClimate tyre just two months after the range’s introduction, and word from Michelin at this week’s IAA show in Frankfurt is that 2015 sales targets for the CrossClimate will most likely be exceeded by more than 30 per cent.
When it comes to testing a vehicle or tyre’s winter aptitude, few places in the world better are suited to the job than the Finnish village of Ivalo, some 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The average daily temperature struggles to rise above -10⁰C in the dark months of January and February, and for half the year the white stuff beloved by skiers is abundantly present. No surprise then that Test World, the internationally-renown vehicle and tyre tester and type approval centre, chose to set up shop just outside Ivalo. But what does Test World do in summer, when its ice and snow circle turns into a massive birdbath? It moves winter indoors.
Auto Express has named the Nokian Weatherproof as its number one all-season car tyre in its survey of the segment. Testing a modest six tyres at Nokian’s test centre in Ivalo, Finland for winter conditions and at Contidrom, Germany for summer conditions, the test was a first for the magazine, highlighting the growth trend Tyrepress.com has noted in the UK market for such products. The Nokian Weatherproof was declared the test winner, and an Auto Express ‘Best Buy’, perhaps unsurprisingly sweeping away the competition in the winter tests (the winter rubber specialist uses Test World to test its tyres). The test’s most notable omission is Michelin’s self-professed “game-changer”, the 2015 launched CrossClimate. The French manufacturer has responded hawkishly to references to the new product as an all-season tyre despite its year-round applicability, though tyre test coordinator Kim Adams noted that its March 2015 launch was “just too late” for the tyre to be included.
Falken has made its latest tyre developed with its 4D Nano Design process available across the Nordic region. The Espia EPZ2 M+S and Snow Flake marked passenger car and SUV tyre offers 25 per cent better braking on ice and 10 per cent improvement in acceleration against its previous EPZ1 pattern. Wet braking performance is also increased by 10 per cent over the previous EPZ2 tyre.
The new, 3PMSF-marked all-season tyre range that Nokian Tyres first gave word of earlier this year is now available. The Nokian Weatherproof covers 13 to 18-inch fitments and is produced in T, H and V speed ratings, while the Weatherproof SUV can be obtained in 16 to 19-inch fitments and H and V speed ratings. The Weatherproof C is aimed at vans and light commercial vehicles, and Nokian says a large line-up of tyres are available for 14 to 16-inch rim diameters and R to T speed ratings. The Weatherproof C range also includes various tread patterns for larger vehicles and extra load versions.
Launched internationally in Sicily at the beginning of 2015, Pirelli hosted a local UK market event to mark the introduction of its Cinturato All Season tyre at the Tamworth Snowdome. Closed to the public, the Snowdome’s indoor ski slope provided an excellent illustration of the increased mobility offered by the tyre; it allowed the demonstration Vauxhall Astra to ascend the steep inclines, which were rendered completely unmanageable when equipped with summer tyres. Meanwhile, Pirelli used warm outside conditions to demonstrate the tyre in dry and wet manoeuvres, particularly emphasising safety with a wet brake and swerve workshop.
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