Reading: Bridgestone Turanza ER300 RFT wins Run-Flat Tyre test

Auto Express Magazine has named the Bridgestone Turanza ER300 RFT tyre as “Best Buy 2006″. The run-flat tyre tests were conducted independently by Auto Express, as part of their annual tyre test which asseses a variety of the top-name brand tyres in areas such as handling and rolling resistance. The tests were conducted using a BMW 320i, a car renowned for durability and style.

The marketing manager with Bridgestone UK, expressed the company’s satisfaction with the results: “We have worked hard for many years to develop a run-flat tyre that offers consumers the best in performance, safety and comfort, and this test shows that we’re the best at doing just that.” In addition to the Auto Express award for “Best Buy 2006″, last year, Bridgestone UK was awarded the Product Innovation Award from NTDA for its run-flat tyres.

The Turanza ER300 RFT beat both Continental and Michelin run-flats, with Auto Express commenting that they were “the best performer in the wet”. The Turanza ER300 RFT exceeded all competition in the wet categories such as wet cornering, and matched competition in straight and curved aquaplaning. In addition to superb handling in diverse conditions, the Bridgestone Turanza tyre also proved to be the cheapest tyre as well as the outstanding participant for rolling resistance.

The final results showed the Bridgestone Turanza ER300 RFT as top of the rankings, with the Continental PremiumContact SSR coming in a close second, and the Michelin Primacy HP ZP in third. Despite its second place position, the Continental PremiumContact SSR performed outstandingly in the tests for wet braking, wet handling, dry braking and interior noise, surpassing even the Bridgestone Turanza. In the dry braking category, the Continental tyre stopped 2 metres ahead of the Michelin Primacy HP ZP, and a full 3.4 metres ahead of the overall winner, the Turanza ER300 RFT.

Securing third place, the Michelin Primacy HP ZP racked up points in the noise category, beating the noise level of the Bridgestone Turanza tyres by 5%. The Michelin tyre also performed well in the wet braking tests.

However, in the Auto Express report, the Michelin tyre failed to win a single test and scooped a low place of 15th in the standard tyre test. Although the Auto Express tests formed disappointing results for Michelin, a spokesman suggested that the company was not affected, believing the results to be inconsistent in light of other independent research. Research conducted by both Michelin at MIRA, and by the TUV in Germany and the Czech Republic, contradict the results found by Auto Express.

Tags: Bridgestone Turanza, ER300 RFT, run-on-flat

This entry was posted on Friday, October 13th, 2006 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Bridgestone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.