Autocar magazine has published its tyre test today in which it tested a range
of tyres on a 15k Mondeo and a 40k BMW M3.
The wet handling test produced the most surprising result, the humble Ford
Mondeo 1.8 on Pirelli P7's took 1.5 seconds off the lap time of the BMW M3 – a
car with double the power output. The price of the tyres - a relatively cheap
£76 each.
Pirelli's P- Zero Rosso also came out with a glowing review: "At a
stroke it turns the BMW into a faster, safer car; if you need further proof of
its abilities, imagine how much extra horsepower you'd have to amass to slive
five seconds from a lap time."
During the testing at the Michelin Ladoux facility just outside Clermont-Ferrand
in Central France Autocar’s testers conducted dry handling, wet handling,
straight aquaplaning, aquaplaning in a curve, wet braking and rolling resistance
tests. Tyres from Pirelli, Goodyear, Michelin, Dunlop, Continental and Avon were
put through their paces under the most rigorous of conditions.
Autocar editor, Steve Fowler, commented: "Tyres are hardly the
sexiest subject when you’re talking about cars, but we’ve proved that
choosing the right tyre for your car can dramatically improve its safety and
performance, while shopping around for tyres can net you a huge saving."
The Autocar team achieved a huge saving of £350.26 against a retail price of
£1020.00 for a set of Michelin Pilot Sport tyres, from the renowned Micheldever
Tyres based in Salisbury, just off the M3.
Links: [links]Tyre|tyres[/links]