Wet braking
Water increases braking distances, so how far will our tyres go?
The test
Our GPS-calibrated road test gear measured how far our Toyota took to stop from 50mph on the soaked braking strip.
We employed markers to ensure the same piece of tarmac was used for all the tyres and the brake and clutch were hit at the same point each time to trigger the anti-lock braking system.
The results are based on an average of at least six runs.
The clear winner here was the Continental CrossContact, which finished half a metre clear of the competition.
That may not sound like much, but the next best tyre was still doing 8mph when the Continental had stopped, and the worst performer was still travelling at 30mph!
Second was Pirelli, which made up for the disappointment on the wet handling track. It had nearly a metre advantage over the Goodyear, which was followed by Michelin.
The two Korean-made tyres brought up the tail, with Kumho needing nearly four metres more than the Continental to stop.
That was cause for concern, but nothing like the shocking results of Hankook’s Dynapro, which again showed its inability to get to grips with wet roads. It needed over 11 metres more to stop than our champion – easily the difference between having a crash and avoiding one.
Wet braking
Continental 100.0
Pirelli 98.1
Goodyear 95.6
Michelin 94.2
Kumho 87.4
Hankook 67.0
