Car and Driver tests the low cost offering against the PS2

[Luke@tirerack]

This is a cut and paste from a C&D tire test from the summer of 2009. I have been asked it several times so, I thought I would post up the information here
Could any of these nine low cost offerings knock off the Pilot Sport PS2?

The Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 in the test size of 225/45-17 costs $192.00.

Here's where the challengers come in price wise:
BF Goodrich G-Force T/A KDW2 ($126)
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport ($132)
Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec ($137)
Falken Azenis RT-615 ($121)
Hankook Ventus V12 EVO ($106)
Kumho Ecsta XS ($120)
Ling Long L688 ($57)
Nitto Invo ($117)
Yokohama S-Drive ($115)

The test covered several different areas of performance. AutoX , skid pad , braking , price and ride quality. I am not going to reproduce the entire article but, here are some of the numbers

AutoX times wet/dry

Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 60.7 / 60.1

BF Goodrich G-Force T/A KDW2 61.3 / 59.6
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport 62.5 / 60.1
Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec 60.8 / 59.3
Falken Azenis RT-615 64.2 / 59.8
Hankook Ventus V12 EVO 61.0 / 59.8
Kumho Ecsta XS 65.4 / 59.0
Ling Long L688 65.8 / 61.1
Nitto Invo 61.9 / 60.5
Yokohama S-Drive 61.5 / 60.3

SKIDPAD, g's wet / dry

Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 0.88 / 0.92

BF Goodrich G-Force T/A KDW2 0.85 / 0.91
Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport 0.80 / 0.90
Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec 0.86 / 0.92
Falken Azenis RT-615 0.80 / 0.91
Hankook Ventus V12 EVO 0.87 / 0.93
Kumho Ecsta XS 0.77 / 0.94
Ling Long L688 0.73 / 0.88
Nitto Invo 0.82 / 0.91
Yokohama S-Drive 0.84 / 0.88

after the testing the Car and Driver test drivers and staffers still consider the Pilot Sport PS2 the top summer performance tire.

Final Results for the challengers

#1 Dunlop Star Spec
#2 Hankook V12 EVO
#3 Kumho Ecsta XS
#4 Bridgestone RE760
#5 BF Goodrich KDW2
#6 Yokohama S-Drive
#7 Falken Azenis
#8 Nitto Invo
#9 Ling Long L688

to see some of our in-house test results use this LINK

 

[CitySnake]

Thanks Luke.

From the numbers alone (I presume there were additional catagories for comparison), why wasn't the Kumo the highest rated ... especially in dry weather?

 

[JonB]

Lots of other criteria from tread-noise, to cost/value/mileage go into the C+D tests for overall. But in VIPER sizes, the C+D performance choice is pretty clear.

THANKS Luke for finding and posting this article......

 

[Luke@tirerack]

The Kumho finished second from last in the wet AutoX ... that hurt it's overall ranking ... as you can see it was best in the dry in both skid pad and autoX

 

[AFL in NJ]

Thank-you for this information; Great Post!

Regards,
Aaron