djl@fisher.UUCP (Dan Levin N6BZA ) (02/07/85)
The Feb. 1985 Road and Track includes a comparison test of 7 50 series
hi-performance tires. The tires were tested, blindly (the driver does
not know which tire he is on), on a stock 944. The tires were all
225/50VR-16, front and back, mounted on identical Rial 16x7 mags.
The following information is reprinted without permission.
Tires Tested:
BFGoodrich Comp T/A
Bridgestone Potenza RE91
Dunlop SP Super Sport D4
Fulda Y2000
Goodyear Eagle VR50
Pirelli Cinturato P7
Yokohama A-008
Tests Conducted w/ winners(others in confidence interval):
Ride/Comfort Comp T/A (RE91)
Dry Braking from 60mph A-008 (none)
Wet Braking from 60mph P7 (RE91,Y2000)
Dry Skidpad Eagle (A-008,Comp T/A)
Wet Skidpad A-008 (none)
Slalom Comp T/A (A-008,RE91)
Lane Change D4 (Y2000,Eagle)
Autocross Eagle (Comp T/A)
Road Course Eagle (Comp T/A)
Seems to me that the Eagle, Comp T/A, and A-008 are the clear winners here,
with the Japanese tire doing better in the handling and braking tests,
and the Americans in speed. For more info (the article goes on for
some pages...) see R&T.
How about some real life comments from people with good tires? How
do these results compare with reality?
BTW: The A-008 did *very* well on the wear measurements they did, it seems
to lack the sticky but short lived characteristics of the A-001.
Yours for "I can't Drive 55",
--
***dan
{allegra,astrovax,princeton,twg}!fisher!djl
The misplaced (You call *that* a ski slope??) Californianchin@ucbvax.ARPA (David Chin) (02/08/85)
I recently put Goodyear VR50 "Gatorback" (205/50VR-15 size) mounted on Compomotive 3pc 15x6" TH (TurboHub) rims on my 1980 TR7 convertible. Needless to say I have noticed a very pronounced performance improvement over my stock 185/70R-13 Goodyears on 13x5.5" steel rims. Cornering ability is much better: I can now take corners at speeds which my old tires would begin to break away. In fact the body lean at these speeds is so pronounced that I reall need anti- sway bars. Even more impressive is the great improvement in stopping: stopping distances are much shorter because the new tires go into lock-up slide at MUCH higher g's. These improvements are even more pronounced when I compare performance in the wet. The tires do give a somewhat bumpier ride, but the difference is not very great, just noticable if you are looking for it. As for noise, I could not tell any difference, but then convertibles are not your quietest cars, so maybe the difference is just below the noise threshold for my car. Well it's time to relearn the limits of my car, preferably on CA Highway 1. Dave Chin chin@BERKELEY ucbvax!chin