2018 Wheels Tyre Test: Wet cornering

Even more so than the wet braking discipline, Wet Cornering proved a definitive differentiator between the greats and not-so-greats of the group. Measured by entering a consistently soaked double-apex left-hander at 60km/h, the Commodore revving hard in third gear, Renato would squeeze on power and build G-force during the first part of the corner before truly testing the wet threshold at the slippery second apex.

9

While the Momo achieved a higher limit than the Hifly and Vitora bottom-enders, it compounded a below-par wet braking performance by giving up when push came to shove. “At 0.92G it was fine and controllable; at 0.93G it massively understeered,” commented our testing ace. The GT Radial clearly telegraphed its limit of grip (with a 0.95G average), however “the transition from max grip to slip is a very small window,” said Renato.

9

In contrast, the last-placed Vitora offered “good slide warning on the limit”, however its limit was well below what the exercise-winning Falken could achieve.

RESULTS

9

Falken Azenis FK510 - Winner

Only three tyres managed 1G or greater in the wet-cornering exercise and, once again, the Falken proved its worth in challenging conditions. With the highest peak G (1.020, on its first and last runs) and an overall average of 1.007G, the Falken underscored why it’s such a superlative all-rounder – “incredible grip in wet cornering; almost no sliding at all doing 73km/h” commented Renato, even though it only needed to complete the exercise at 60km/h. Renato could keep adding power and the star wet-cornering tyres – Falken, Continental, Maxxis, and Hankook – could cop the greater load before transitioning predictably into the inevitable front tyre slip.