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Dry Braking
The heat is on as we put rubber through punishing emergency stops
The clear winner here – with an impressive stopping distance of 38.2
metres – was Continental. And the PremiumContact 2 enjoyed a half-metre
advantage over Michelin. This meant the French company made its first appearance
near the top of the result sheet, snatching second from Dunlop’s Fastresponse.
Dry track victor Bridgestone was a further metre behind. There
was little to choose between wet road specialist Vredestein, Hankook, Fulda and
Kumho, which were separated by only centimetres.
Pirelli had another result it would probably like to forget,
and those big water-pumping channels did the Goodyear no favours, either. In
this test, the emphasis is on having a stiff tread pattern and rubber on the road
– that counted against the
OptiGrip, and bosses won’t be pleased to be nearly four metres off the winner.
The Goodyear’s problems were nothing compared to the Wanli,
though, which yet again brought up the rear, a long way off the standard set by
the rest. It took more than five metres longer to stop – a car’s length. That
means when a vehicle with the Conti rubber has come to a halt, one wearing the
Wanlis will still be doing 20mph-plus.
The new Maxxis showed its dry handling performance was not a
one-off, stopping in just under 40 metres. That would have been enough for fourth.
