UK consumer mag 'shocked' by wet braking discrepancy

ERJ staff report (BC)

London – Researchers for “Which” magazine tested 17 tire brands for braking performance under wet conditions, decelerating from 80 to 19 km/h. The tire size was 185/60 R15H, typical of the B class (supermini) segment including the Nissan Micra, Peugeot 208 and Volkswagen Polo.

Wet braking with Which’s best performing tire took 34.0m, and with the best performer 49.6m – a difference described in a news release as “shocking”, with “the disparity of 15.6m, or approximately 3.7 cars lengths, the sort of distance that could represent the difference between life and death in an emergency situation.”

Press officer Meera Khanna was unable to tell ERJ how small a disparity might not represent the difference between life and death, or to detail the “identical, controlled conditions” of the tests and whether these conformed to any recognised international standard.

On the basis of tire wear tests over 5000km, Which concluded that buying a cheap tire instead of a “Best Buy” could work out more expensive in the long run because of earlier replacement.

Khanna did not explain how Which? gave a “Best Buy” rating to a tire which would prove more expensive to run in normal service.

She added: “Winter tires are hardly ever necessary in the UK.”

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News release