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High Mileage Not a “Supreme Importance” for Winter Tyres, says Conti

Rating winter tyres according to just one criterion fails to take account of the many demands placed upon them, claim experts working with Continental Tyres. They report, for example, that mileage performance on its own cannot be considered to be of “supreme importance” for a winter tyre. Rather, a high level of grip on both wet and dry roads and in typical winter weather conditions – features that require a softer and therefore faster wearing compound – should be given higher priority.

“What makes a really good winter tyre is having a well-balanced design incorporating a wide range of driving characteristics,” explained Alexander Lührs, press officer at Continental. “And here what counts is not achieving outstanding performance in one or the other discipline, but rather offering a design that is as balanced as possible, so that overall its characteristics meet the highest demands.” Above all, a tyre needs to provide good driving characteristics in typical winter weather conditions, including effective aquaplaning prevention and short braking distances in the wet.

7th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Direzza Benchmark in Autocar Test

This year Autocar chose the Dunlop Direzza DZ02 a benchmark tyre for its detailed tyre test. According to Dunlop the tyre was chosen of its position as a leading road legal track tyre – and because it holds the lap record for road legal tyres at the infamous Nuerburgring Nordschliefe.

The Direzza was fitted to a Ford Mondeo TDCi to prove what kind of advantage a bespoke road legal track tyre could offer in the dry. The test team, led by Autocar’s Keith Howard claimed: “In the dry the Dunlop Direzza was much quicker through corners than any of the other tyres, in many cases needing a higher gear. Through the two fast S-Bends the difference was about 7mph. It was equally impressive under braking, stopping on average 2.6 metres shorter than the best conventional road tyre.”

11th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Imerys Trial Michelin XZM Tyres

St Austell-based Imerys Minerals Ltd has entered into a preferred supplier agreement with Michelin and ATS Euromaster, for the supply and fitment of Michelin XZM radial tyres across its fleet of 50 forklift trucks.

Imerys has been a long term Michelin customer for over 25 years, but the start of a new contract hire agreement in 2006 saw a number of new forklifts delivered with a mixture of solid and pneumatic tyres fitted from a range of manufacturers, providing the customer with an opportunity to undertake its own extensive tyre tests.

“The trial allowed us to benchmark the Michelin XZM tyres against a number of other brands which were fitted as original equipment to trucks supplied by Barloworld Hire,” explains Steve Truscott, Engineering Manager – Mobile Plant, at Imerys Minerals.

“We have always leaned towards the Michelin XZM tyres in the past due to their proven resistance to cuts and damage, combined with strong wear characteristics. We’ve run other trials in the past to ensure the Michelin tyres provided good cost-per-hour benefits, but this recent delivery gave us the chance to conduct a much broader test involving four different makes of tyre,” he adds.

5th October 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Hankook’s Icebear Performs in European Tyre Tests

Hankook’s winter tyres have impressed the German automobile press. The Icebear W440, for example, has received good results in “auto motor und sport” (Issue 21/2007; tested size: 205/55 R 16 H) winter tyre test. The Hankook winter tyre impressed with a low noise level prompting the “auto motor und sport” testers to give the Icebear W440 their recommendation: “…The Hankook Icebear W440 is proof that you do not always have to opt for the expensive premium tyre. The tyre’s balanced performance and attributes position the Icebear W440 right in the premium tyre segment…”.

The Icebear W440 has also received a recommendation in the big winter tyre comparison test conducted by the automobile clubs ADAC (Germany), OEAMTC (Austria) and TCS (Switzerland). The Hankook winter tyre was tested in the popular dimension 205/55 R 16 H on a front-wheel drive Opel Astra. As a result the testers gave a “recommendable” verdict. The W440 is available in the speed indexes Q (-160 km/h) to H (-210 km/h) in the dimensions 135/80 R 13 to 205/55 R 16, partially with Extra-Load specifications. Naturally the Hankook Icebear W440 bears, if you can excuse the pun, both M+S- and snowflake-markings.

28th September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Bridgestone Praised in Independent Tests

Bridgestone’s Potenza RE050A, which Bridgestone reports is from the same high-performance range as official F1 tyres, was a top performer in Evo magazine’s 2007 tyre test, while the Turanza ER300 was also praised in the annual Auto Express tyre test.

The RE050A performed well across all nine disciplines in the Evo test, and was particularly strong in wet braking, and curved and straight-line aquaplaning. Evo personnel used quantitative and qualitative data to analyse the performance of nine different tyres from leading manufacturers. The RE050A finished with an impressive 92.7 per cent overall score, less than four per cent behind the overall winner.

The magazine described the RE050A as “on the pace in both the wet and dry tests,” with driver Jethro Bovingdon particularly impressed with its “very predictable” performance on the dry handling track.

21st September 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

New and Improved

There are two types of European winter: the winter we know and grumble about, with coats, scarves and the heating cranked up a few notches – and then there’s the mind-shatteringly cold northern winter, an environment so unforgiving that even the careless act of touching a metal surface with an ungloved hand may result in the loss of a few layers of skin. So with two vastly different definitions of winter existing within the one region, it makes sense for a tyre manufacturer to recognise this distinction when developing a winter tyre range. Michelin has done exactly this, and offers different winter products in different markets. In Scandinavia and Russia the tyremaker sells products like the Latitude X-Ice North, a studded, blocky, heavily siped tyre designed to tackle severe Nordic conditions. But such a tyre would obviously be ridiculously excessive for a shopping trip to the high street or commuting on the M25, so for our milder, yet deceptively hazardous winters, Michelin offers a more suitable range.

30th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Never Lose Your Cool

Living in an environment so cold that even a polar bear thinks twice about popping out for a pint a milk can have its advantages. The lawn doesn’t need mowing very often and there’s no real cause for concern if the tub of ice cream is left out overnight. Plus, if you just happen to be in the business of testing winter tyres, nature will bless you with ideal working conditions day after day.

Test World is located in such a place. Based in Ivalo, Finnish Lapland, some 300 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, Test Word is the world’s northernmost winter testing facility. Every year when it gets cold in Ivalo – which, given its balmy May average temperature of 5ºC, is most months – tyre, vehicle and other manufacturers and importers, regulatory authorities, technical institutes and intrepid media representatives rug up and head north in order to put tyres, not to mention a huge range of different products, through their paces.

30th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Winter Tyre Test Specialist Appoints New MD

Test World, the independent winter tyre testing facility located in the brisk northerly reaches of Ivalo in Finnish Lapland, has a new managing director. Following the retirement of incumbent managing director Timo Mäkelä on August 1, deputy managing director Harri Eskelinen has filled his snow shoes.

The company performs an invaluable service for Europe’s tyre manufacturers. Tyre World’s extreme northerly location ensures frigid weather for a large chunk of the year – the test season begins in late October and runs until the end of April – making Ivalo a much sought after location for putting winter tyres through their paces. The testing specialist has developed track maintenance techniques that permit invariable conditions for the duration of tyre tests, and can conduct tests in all conditions likely to be encountered, including snow, slush, wet and dry surfaces. During 2007 the company is also launching a brand new indoors test facility that will be used for performing approval tests conforming to ECE norms.

20th August 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Sportrac3 Rated a ‘Winning Tyre’ in Auto Express Product Honours

Auto Express magazine has named a Vredestein product as top performer in the tyre segment of the magazine’s Product Honours 2007 awards. The Vredestein Sportrac 3 performed well in the 15-brand tyre test that covered wet cornering, wet handling, dry handling, aquaplaning, wet and dry braking, noise levels and rolling resistance, coming out in the lead in all areas with the exception of dry braking and rolling resistance.

“The Sportrac3 stars on wet surfaces and is a worthy champion. A great tyre at a good price,” said Kim Adams, consumer editor of Auto Express. The report further added that “new Russian owners haven’t stopped the Dutch brand’s ability to produce a winning tyre, as this is Vredestein’s third victory in as many years.”

“Our engineers have once again achieved a remarkable success in producing tyres that are the best in an important and growing segment of the market,” commented Bert Stellinga, managing director of Vredestein UK, who further claimed “Our network of specialist tyre retailers throughout the UK can confidently promote Vredestein car tyres as the very best quality in the market today.”

5th June 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Goodyear Dunlop on Top Down Under

The Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 has been singled out as Australasia’s tyre of choice for large cars after scoring highly in independent tyre tests conducted by leading Australian motoring publication Wheels Magazine. South Pacific Tyres, Goodyear Dunlop’s Australian and New Zealand operation, also received a second accolade as the Eagle F1 GS-D3 was joined by the Dunlop Sport Maxx as the best tyre for small to medium cars.

In 2006 the tests were conducted on 17-inch tyres only but this year the magazine editors created two classes – one for 245/45R18 tyres, which were mounted on a 6 litre V8 Holden Commodore SS, and the other for 205/55R16 on a turbo diesel VW Golf. Six different brands of tyre, including those fitted as OE, were tested by professional rally and race drivers. The tests comprised slalom, cornering, braking and hot laps on wet and dry roads.

18th April 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Tyre Test Impresses Fleet Owner

Freighting, haulage and transportation logistics company Top Gear Transport is fitting its HGV fleet with Michelin Energy tyres following positive results obtained during a 12-month trial involving Energy tyres fitted to one of the company’s vehicles. Top Gear Transport fitted the Michelin tyres to a 4×2 tractor unit and compared the monthly fuel economy with figures obtained from the same vehicle 12 months earlier, when it was fitted with Michelin E-segment tyres. Fuel consumption was on average 5.9 per cent lower when the Michelin Energy tyres were fitted.

15th March 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Swift Handling with Goodyear

Goodyear is claiming its Eagle F1 tyre has won more independent tyre tests in its category than any other tyre, and now Suzuki have chosen the award winning tyre for their latest hot hatch, the Suzuki Swift Sport. Every Swift Sport that leaves the factory will have Goodyear Eagle F1 as standard equipment. Former F1 driver Tiff Needell was thrilled by the handling of the Goodyear Eagle F1 equipped Swift on TV’s 5th Gear recently: “Across the Brecon Beacons I wanted to find out if the Swift was as much fun as a Ferrari or Porsche. The Swift feels alive, it feels frisky” raved Needell. The Swift Sport is fitted with 195/50R16 or 195/45R17 Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD-3 tyres as original equipment.

1st December 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Cold Weather Tyres Top Tests

Continental Tyres has been awarded top accolades by four leading German consumer motoring magazines for its range of cold weather tyres. The tests, carried out by AutoBild, AutoBild Sportscars, Auto Motor & Sport and Powercar, underline the performance of Continental’s cold weather tyre range.

Tyres were put through their paces in dry, wet and snowy conditions. The Conti TS 810, winner of the test carried out in AutoBild, was described as being the “best all-rounder” in the test, offering “a dynamic and sporty drive, excellent steering precision and short braking distances on wet surfaces”. AutoBild Sportscars also rated the ContiWinterContact TS 810 as the clear winner and the TS 810 scored well in Powercar’s tests, coming second for its “very balanced performance across all criteria, especially on dry ground.”

20th November 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Pirelli Performs Well In Winter Tyre Tests

The track record of Pirelli’s winter tyres is very impressive and proof is provided, yet again, by a series of the toughest and most important tests in Europe – those of the automobile clubs and specialist motorist magazines in Germany and Austria, which test out the safety of a wide selection of winter tyres under typical winter driving conditions.

23rd October 2006/by Tyrepress Editors

Steinbichler Optotechnik: Cost-effective Shearography

Steinbichler Optotechnik has almost two decades of experience in optical metrology and is a leading supplier of shearography tyre test systems. In recent years, shearography has become an indispensable tool for retreaders inspecting casings and in quality control testing at new tyre plants.

27th June 2006/by Tyrepress Editors