Tyre manufacturer news - Goodyear Dunlop beats the
competition in Australian tyre test
18 Apr 07
By Emily Henry
Contributing Writer
An independent tyre test has found the Goodyear Eagle
F1 GS-D3 to be Australia’s top choice tyre for large
cars. Goodyear Dunlop’s Australian and New Zealand
operation, South Pacific Tyres, also received merit for
the Dunlop Sport Maxx as the best tyre for medium to
small cars.
The tyre tests were conducted by Wheels Magazine, a
leading Australian motoring publication that was the
first of its kind for the country when it hit newsagents
in 1953. Wheels Magazine released its Tyre Test 2007
issue in March, promising readers that its research was
“exhaustive”. The six brands that were represented at
the Wheels Magazine tyre test were Bridgestone,
Goodyear, Pirelli, Dunlop, Hankook and Falken. The
magazine claims that other leading brands were “invited
to take part, but declined”.
The Wheels’ Tyre Test was adapted in 2007 from the
previous year in order to create two separate categories
for tyre testing. While in 2006 the tests were conducted
on 17-inch tyres alone, this year’s tests were run on
245/45R 18 tyres and 205/55R 16 tyres. The tyres were
mounted on a 6 litre V8 Holden Commodore SS and a turbo
diesel VW Golf respectively, which were driven by
professional rally and race drivers who tested
cornering, braking and hot laps on wet and dry roads.
The Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tyre beat the Bridgestone
Potenza to win the 18-inch category, leaving testers
particularly impressed with the Eagle F1’s wet breaking
and wet hot lap abilities. In the 16-inch category, the
Dunlop Sport Maxx on the VW Golf made an impression in
the categories of dry breaking and wet hot lap, beating
the Pirelli Zero Nero OE tyre.
South Pacific Tyres New Zealand’s General Manager of
Sales and Marketing, Frank Hughes, stated: “Tyre design
and construction involves trade-offs in different
performance factors. For example, handling, cornering
and braking in the wet or the dry can all be altered by
the design and construction of the tyre, the tread
pattern and the rubber compounds used.”
“These tests show that the Eagle F1 in the large size
and the Dunlop Sport Maxx in the smaller size offer the
best package for the average driver in a wide range of
conditions,” added Mr Hughes, going on to announce on
behalf of the company that he was “especially pleased
with the critical wet braking performance which was over
three percent better for the Eagle F1 GS-D3 than the
Bridgestone Potenza which is the original equipment
fitment on the Commodore.” Mr Hughes went on to state
that “the Eagle F1 is a massive seven percent better
than the worst tyre in the class. At the point when the
Goodyear tyre had stopped the car, when fitted with the
worst tyre, it would still be travelling and potentially
crashing at 16 km/h,” he eagerly concluded.
http://wheelsmag.com.au
http://www.reifenpresse.de/CDML007/en/gast/fs_kurzmeldungen.html
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