Cars tested with these tires:
- Volvo V70 T5 (with higher compression, and dump valve)
Tests performed:
- Front wheels, with a lot of mountain and highway kms between Lisbon and Madrid (700km trips)..
Dry grip:
- I must say I wasn't expecting much from a Chinese tire. It was inexpensive, however not as inexpensive as some other tires. I honestly was surprised with the tires. Grip is good, but once they break grip (under turbo spool-up) they tend do struggle to regain. This is most likely to do with the design. It has a lot of large surfaces, so I would imagine they will have some difficulty "cleaning up" the patch before re-gripping. Not brilliant but soft enough to deliver
good road holding while hot.
- Lateral grip is good, but it could do better. I think the structure is not up to the task that the design and compound promise.
Wet grip:
- Decent. It is not brilliant. Feels a lot like older compound tires (less silica). This could also be caused by the large surfaces on the tire design, allowing for less flexibility.
- It doesn't make you feel like a Gecko as some others do. That's for sure. But not entirely bad... I'd call it honest. It will "warn you" that it slips... and it will then precede to do so.
Aquaplaning resistance:
- Surprisingly good. The Large surfaces that would mean trouble are well channeled and that does show. If the wheel spins loose, the drainage will pump water out and, assuming you are not driving too fast of on a river, drain enough to re-gain ground. The problem then becomes the lack of silica on the compound.
- However, and being quite fair, this HPT (not really but better then average sport tyre) is rated summer. We should expect good wet grip. I think that It would fit an open diff car with a delayed response traction control system quite nicely. The free spin wheel from the open diff would pull water, and then the delayed response form the traction control would help the tire re-gain the grip.
- Good for older generation cars. Just not too heavy
Progressiveness:
- Decent... not brilliant. You know it's about to slip, the problem becomes the regain of grip. A few groves on the large surfaces, and a bit more silica on the compound could solve this.
Integrity maintenance:
- This is the caveat on this tire. There is some sidewall, but it feels weak. The Volvo t5 was a bit too heavy for them. If cornering at over 180km/h you could feel the tire warping from IN on the the pressure area, and then out on the top area of the tire. This was later confirmed with a very high sidewall temperature. This tire could perform better with a lighter car. However the lack of high silica on the compound mean it needs pressure to work. It's a nonsense and ultimately why, in my opinion, it fails the HPT classification.
- Either add silica and rate it for lighter cars, or reinforce the sidewall and add some of cuts in the larger surfaces , then rate it for heavier cars. This seams a compromise that fails at both, rather than win.
Compound:
- It's a soft rubber compound with little wear resistance and designed for hot operation. Could do a bit more silica and get some better wet grip.
Longevity:
- Not brilliant. The T5 cleaned them slick in the normal time it does to any other soft tire. They where however surprising consistent to any other sports tire... to the "Chinese stuff doesn't last" doesn't apply here.
Coherence:
- Lack structure and that makes it weird to use, however the compound was consistent all the way to the metal wires. Pirelli and some Falkens could take a lesson from these.
Balance:
- Well... weird. They are normally balanced tires (not HPT rating for sure), BUT the warping under extreme loads seam to hurt them someway. Then they get out of balance!!! So, do not use these on heavy cars... or if you are going to, then drive like an old lady on her way to the grocery shop.
Load Behaviour:
- If I had to fit these again on the T5, they would probably find their way in the back ad the car normally runs back-empty.
- This seams like a good tire for an old hothatch car that doesn't weight too much. A ford escort, an opel astra, Peugeot 306 that sort of stuff.
