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The following tyre tests news, provided
by courtesy of TyrePress, may be of interest to
consumers as well as to our fleet operator customers.
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Tests News
19Aug05:
Smaller Brands Lead the Way in Tyre Tests
Auto Express’ decision to make its recent tyre tests
their “biggest ever” goes some way towards demonstrating
the increasing interest surrounding these reports. And
with so many brands on the market all claiming to be the
best at something, who can blame consumers for wanting a
second opinion?
However, Auto Express is not alone when it comes to
testing. Other well-known magazines including Which?
Autocar and Evo also publish tyre test results. But in
terms of coverage and frequency Auto Express’ tyre tests
currently lead the way in the UK. And when you consider
that that this particular publication is Britain’s
biggest selling motoring weekly, it is clear that
winning or being recommended by such a report can have
very positive repercussions on the tyre business.
Relatively unknown brands particularly have a lot to
gain. By winning or being recommended in tests, these
companies stand to gain a leg up in the estimation the
country’s motoring millions, without investing in
publicity or marketing campaigns. The theory is that
product quality will speak for itself.
Auto Express’ 2005 tests scrutinised 20 of 185/60 R14 H
tyres produced by a variety of manufacturers. The tests
were mostly conducted at Continental’s Uvalde, Texas,
proving ground. Rolling resistance tests were carried
out at Continental’s Hanover, Germany, site. Tyres were
assessed across 10 categories, five of which measured
wet performance. According to the magazine’s consumer
editor, Kim Adams, this decision was taken in order to
stretch the tyres. “We have a bias towards testing in
the wet, because it is in this performance area where
drivers come closest to the limits of their tyre’s
performance,” he explained.
Apart from the five tests that assessed performance in
‘typically British’ wet conditions (wet braking,
straight aquaplaning, wet cornering, curved aquaplaning
and wet handling), the magazine also examined five
further non-wet factors - dry braking, dry handling,
rolling resistance, in-car noise and the all-important
price tag. The results were not as predictable as might
have been expected, with most premium brand products
upstaged by associate brand and budget alternatives (see
table).
This year’s results were dominated by Vredestein and
second brand Maloya, whose Hi-Trac and Futura Primato
scooped first and second place. Third place went to
Continental’s ContiEcoContact3 tyre, with Fulda and
Uniroyal products taking forth and fifth. Something that
was surprising as an observer was the mediocre to
disappointing performance of the premium brands.
Michelin, for example, is likely to be disappointed by
its 16th position. However, the French manufacturer can
always point to its outstanding performance in the
rolling resistance test as its main focus.
Another turnout for the books was Goodyear associate
brand Fulda out performing both Goodyear and Dunlop
branded tyres to earn 4th place and a recommended badge.
The Fulda Carat Attiro was particularly strong in wet
braking, straight aquaplaning, wet cornering and wet
handling, where it consistently finishing amongst the
top five performers. The tyre also finished top of the
dry handling test.
“I am extremely pleased with this latest accolade for
Fulda. This is the biggest tyre test in Britain and we
were being compared with the UK’s leading brands,” said
Fulda brand manager, Marcus White. “Fulda has a long
standing reputation for high-performance tyres in the
demanding German market so these results come as no
surprise and can only assist us in continuing to grow
the Fulda brand in the UK.”
Perhaps the most noticeable omission was the absence of
a score for Kumho. The report included a brief
explanation of what happened under the curious heading -
“Kumho: Missing in action.” Tyres & Accessories asked
Kumho UK managing director, Steve Tidmarsh to fill in
the gaps.
The Auto Express’ official line is: “There were
significant differences between the supplied Kumho Solus
rubber and the ones we bought. Kumho explained the
specification was being changed at the time we bought
the tyres, and the new version is on sale now.”
The tyres in question came from “a different
manufacturing batch” Mr Tidmarsh explained. However, the
Kumho MD reported that the company is taking away the
positive news that its tyre would have come 9th had it
have been officially included in the rankings.
Furthermore, according the MD, the version of the Solus
KH15 that did so well is the test is the tyre that is
now available on the market.
As far as Mr Tidmarsh is concerned, the official result
is nothing more than a stroke of bad luck, which Kumho
is not alone in experiencing as a tyre manufacturer.
Auto Express consumer editor, Kim Adams, told T&A much
the same thing, saying that almost every year there is
one make that experiences this kind of discrepancy.
Testing times
So what’s next for tyre testing? Speaking to the man
behind the magazine’s tyre tests, consumer editor, Kim
Adams, reveals that this year could be the last time the
publication will test 14 inch products. The team have
already started planning next year’s tests and say that
they are considering putting 16 or 17 sizes through
their paces. Their decision will guided by the magazines
inclusive ethos, and the belief that its tests should be
as representative as possible. Large and obscure sizes
are out of the question.
What about the range of tyres tested? “Other magazines
only test a handful of tyres whereas and we are the only
magazine to test this many every year,” said Kim Adams.
Having said that the 20 that the magazine chose this
time around represents the limit the magazine is likely
to do again in terms of quantity. According to the
consumer editor this is due to the limited time the
magazine has available for testing, not to mention the
logistics of managing the roughly 200 rims necessary to
keep all the tyres moving.
Some T&A readers have suggested they would like to see
tests compare the relative performance of say two
different sizes of the same product. “We have thought
about this, but we would rather test a range of brands
than a number of sizes. We want to make it accessible to
our readers, testing tyres that our readers actually
use,” Mr Adams added.
This approach appears to be working as the tests are
resulting in a “very strong response” from readers. And
this popularity amongst consumers, is understandably
good news for the participating manufacturers. There was
a consensus amongst the parties T&A spoke to that tests
are becoming more popular and more influential.
In the eight years that Kim Adams has been in charge of
the tyre testing at Auto Express, tests have taken place
at two key venues Conti’s Ulvade, Texas, site and
Goodyear’s Mireval proving ground. This is all down to
the consistent weather that can be achieved in these
places. And all this requires the cooperation of
manufacturers, whose assistance, according to Mr Adams,
is invaluable. The next set of Auto Express test results
are expected to be published in May/June 2006, with the
venue to be decided by the end of 2005. |
