Evo Tyre Test 2010

[Fr0dders]

My subscribers copy dropped through the letterbox this morning, was very excited to read that this issue, they've done another tyre test.

However, i have to say i'm thoroughly disappointed and it appears evo have produced nothing more than an advert. Here are the tyres they tested:

Bridgestone Potenza RE050
Continental Contisportcontact 3
Hankook Ventus K12
Kumho Ecsta KU39
Michelin Pilot Exalto
Uniroyal Rainsport
Vredstein Ultrac Cento
Yokohama Advan Neova Ad08
Zeetex HP103


Basically a range of crap tyres that those wanting the best are going to overlook.

What about the Goodyear Eagle F1, Michelin Pilot Sport 3 ? Vredstein Sessanta etc.. ?

yes they tested them back in 2007, but we want to know how they fair up against this years tyres like the Pilot Sport 3

Look away now if you dont want to know the winner....


But its the Contisportcontact 3

but given the crap tyres it was put against its no surprise.

And this makes me wonder why they choose such a biased review. The answer probably lies with the location of the test....

The contidrom of course ....

 

[Fr0dders]

thing that annoys me is they did it a the contidrome last year

and the sportcontacts came 3rd

This year the tyres that beat it, arent tested yet the conti sport 3s are tested again....

blatently they read the review last time and said if you want to do another you cant test those tyres again ....

 

[Fr0dders]

Neova's are faaaaaaaaaaaaar from crap, and RE050 are not crap either. You got a scan of the results? I'm interested in how a Continental can beat a proper sticky tyre like a Neova, presumably down to wet grip and aquaplaning or something?

Not got a scanner but:

Wet Braking

1. Continental
2. Bridgestone
3. Uniroyal
4. Michelin
5. Hankook.
6. Vredstein
7. Yokos
8. Kumho
9 Zeetex

Dry Breaking.

1. Continental
2. Bridgestone
3. Yokos
4. Hankook
5. Uniroyal
6. Michelin
7. Vredstein.
8. Kumho
9. Zeetex

Laptimes (dry)

1. Yoko
2. Bridgestone
3. Continental
4. Michelin
5. Kumho
6. Vredstein.
7. Hankook
8. Uniroyal
9. Zeetex

Subjective (dry)

1. Yokos
2. Uniroyal
3. Bridgestone
4. Vredstein
5. Continental
6. Michelin
7. Kumho
8. Zeetex
9. Hankook

Lap time (wet)

1. Continental
2. Vredstein.
3. Michelin
4. Bridgestone
5. Uniroyal
6. Hankook
7. Yokohama
8. Kumho
9. Zeetex

Lateral G (wet)

1. Continental
2. Michelin
3. Vredstein
3 = Bridgestone
5.Uniroyal
5= Yokohama
7. Hankook
8. Kumho
9. Zeetex

Subjective (wet)

1. Continental
2. Michelin
3. Vredstein
4. Uniroyal
5. Bridgestone
6. Hankook
7. Yokohama
8. Kumho
9. Zeetex

Aquaplanning Test (straight)

1=Uniroyal
1=Vredstein
3. Hankook
4. Continental
5. Michelin
6. Bridgestone
7. kumho
8. Yokohama
9. Zeetex

Aquaplanning Test (curved)

1. Uniroyal
2. Vredstein
3. Hankook
4. Kumho
5. Continental
6. Zeetex
7. Michelin
8. Bridgestone
9. Yokohamas


The yokos appear to perform quite poor, indeed they were the most likely to aquaplane of all the tyres bar the budget zeetex in a straight line, and once on a curve, the most likely of them all. They achieved 54 % of the speed of the Uniroyal Rain sports before braking traction. The next nearest tyre managed 75 % of the speed, so a massive 25 % off the pace.

Its that very poor wet weather performance that relegates them to 6th overall. Heres the verdict

"the lightly grooved tread pattern says this is a dry weather biased tyre and it was poor on the wet track and the curved aquaplane test. However it wasnt too bad in other wet tests and it starred on the dry track and road route, where it made the MX5 much more capable and composed. Not good in the rain, but transforms the MX-5s feel and behaviour in the dry. The trackday tyre choice."

 

[Fr0dders]

Seems like a pretty comprehensive win.

the two tyres that beat it last year werent included for some reason.

http://www.liam27.com/stuff/EVO_TyreTest_2007_GTI.pdf

The vredstein tyre submitted this year was the ultrac cento. They describe this tyre as being second in the heirarchy, as being a tyre for the premium sector and highlights include it being "Very comfortable and quiet to drive" whereas the ultrac sessanta is "The newest ace in the Ultra High Performance (UHP) segment"

so quite clearly not the best tyre they offer. Goodyear didnt submit one at all, for whatever reason.

 

[Fr0dders]

It appears to be the same issue as the Pilot Sport 3s that Vredstein don't produce the Ultrac Sessanta and Goodyear don't do the F1s in the tyre size of the test car. Evo really should have picked a better test car !

thats a very good point actually

i wondered why they tested the michelin pilot exalto as opposed to the pilot sports (thats what i meant by crap tyres, crap as in not their performance top of the range tyre)

Would also explain the reason the Ultrac Cento was tested as well.

 

[Fr0dders]

Very confusing choice of tyre size, they normally do a larger size.

What tyres do you have on the Volvo MrLOL?

Contisport 3s. Ive got a wad of receipts with it being an ex company car and its been through quite a lot of sets of them Contisport 3 every time.

Never really driven the volvo hard enough to tell what its like when the car's being pushed, but so far they've been great in the wet. Certainly felt no worse than the vredsteins i had.

What confuses me is how much they go on about the CS3 being a 'new' tyre when its been out for a few years now?

they were in the last test in 2007 lol

 

[Fr0dders]

seems they've had a lot of complaint letters about this tyre test. They've published one or two in this months mag. Heres their comment :

we invited entries from pirelli, avon, goodyear and dunlop. pirelli declined as its tyre was due for replacemnt. avon simply declined. goodyear only had an economy biased design in this size and the dunlop was a very late no show.

... (comments relating to the writer aledging the contisport won because it was specially developed for the mx5)

we are planning a big front drive later this year and expect all the big brands to attend.

so another tyre test.

Given their last one was in 2007, it would seem they've been a bit burnt by this