Just stumbled upon this review and thought some might be interested. Here is the link http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-t...best-tyres-2015

Apparently the much touted Michelin Pilot Sport 3 (PS3) are in 3rd spot whilst the Continental ContiSportContact 5 takes the top spot. Has anybody tried the Continental CSC5 tyres, and are they good?

1. Continental ContiSportContact 5
Dry handling_____100% 1st
Dry braking______100% 1st
Wet handling____ 100% 1st
Wet braking_____ 100% 1st
Wet cornering___99.70% 2nd
Straight aqua____97.20% 2nd
Curved aqua_____93.50% 2nd
Rolling resistance_73.10% 7th
Cabin noise______98.50% 4th
Overall__________100% 1st

2. Dunlop Sport BluResponse
Dry handling_____99.30% 2nd
Dry braking______98.90% 2nd
Wet handling____99.20% 2nd
Wet braking_____ 95.10% 3rd
Wet cornering___ 98.90% 3rd
Straight aqua____92.10% 7th
Curved aqua_____80.80% 7th
Rolling resistance_100% 1st
Cabin noise______98.90% 3rd
Overall__________98.80% 2nd

3. Michelin Pilot Sport 3
Dry handling_____97.70% 9th
Dry braking______93.90% 5th
Wet handling_____98.20% 5th
Wet braking______94.10% 4th
Wet cornering____97.30% 7th
Straight aqua____100% 1st
Curved aqua_____100% 1st
Rolling resistance_72.10% 8th
Cabin noise______95.80% 11th
Overall__________98.00% 3rd

4. Hankook Ventus evo 2
Dry handling_____98.00% 8th
Dry braking______93.50% 6th
Wet handling_____97.10% 7th
Wet braking______92.40% 7th
Wet cornering____97.70% 5th
Straight aqua_____96.10% 3rd
Curved aqua______87.50% 4th
Rolling resistance__77.90% 5th
Cabin noise_______100% 1st
Overall___________97.70% 4th

5. Pirelli P Zero
Dry handling______99.20% 3rd
Dry braking_______95.90% 3rd
Wet handling_____98.90% 3rd
Wet braking______98.30% 2nd
Wet cornering____100% 1st
Straight aqua____92.30% 5th
Curved aqua_____68.10% 11th
Rolling resistance_71.40% 9th
Cabin noise______99.80% 2nd
Overall__________97.30% 5th

6. Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2
Dry handling_____97.50% 10th
Dry braking______92.60% 8th
Wet handling____ 97.40% 6th
Wet braking_____93% 6th
Wet cornering___97.50% 6th
Straight aqua____92.30% 5th
Curved aqua_____81.20% 6th
Rolling resistance_89.40% 2nd
Cabin noise______97.80% 8th
Overall__________96.70% 6th

7. Yokohama Advan Sport V105
Dry handling_____98.70% 5th
Dry braking______94.60% 4th
Wet handling_____98.60% 4th
Wet braking______93.50% 5th
Wet cornering____98.10% 4th
Straight aqua____93.80% 4th
Curved aqua_____68.40% 9th
Rolling resistance_63.20% 11th
Cabin noise______98.20% 5th
Overall__________96.10% 7th

8. Falken FK453 Azenis
Dry handling_____99.00% 4th
Dry braking______88.80% 11th
Wet handling_____94.50% 8th
Wet braking______84.20% 9th
Wet cornering____94.90% 10th
Straight aqua_____91.50% 8th
Curved aqua______91.40% 3rd
Rolling resistance__66.20% 10th
Cabin noise_______97.90% 9th
Overall___________95.00% 8th

9. Bridgestone Turanza T001
Dry handling_______98.20% 7th
Dry braking________91.00% 9th
Wet handling______91.70% 11th
Wet braking_______80.50% 11th
Wet cornering_____94.30% 11th
Straight aqua______91.30% 9th
Curved aqua_______82.60% 5th
Rolling resistance___81.00% 3rd
Cabin noise________98.00% 6th
Overall____________94.30% 9th

10. GT Radial Champiro HPY
Dry handling_______98.40% 6th
Dry braking________92.70% 7th
Wet handling______94.10% 9th
Wet braking_______87.00% 8th
Wet cornering_____96.30% 8th
Straight aqua_____88.50% 11th
Curved aqua______88.20% 10th
Rolling resistance__78.80% 4th
Cabin noise_______96.10% 10th
Overall___________94.10% 10th

11. Toyo Proxes T1 Sport
Dry handling______97.50% 11th
Dry braking_______90.40% 10th
Wet handling______92.40% 10th
Wet braking_______80.60% 10th
Wet cornering_____95.40% 9th
Straight aqua_____90.30% 10th
Curved aqua______77.30% 8th
Rolling resistance__76.50% 6th
Cabin noise_______96.80% 9th
Overall___________93.60% 11th

Result by Category :-

Dry handling
1 Continental 100%
2 Dunlop 99.30%
3 Pirelli 99.20%
4 Falken 99.00%
5 Yokohama 98.70%
6 GT Radial 98.40%
7 Bridgestone 98.20%
8 Hankook 98.00%
9 Michelin 97.70%
10 Goodyear 97.50%
11 Toyo 97.50%

Dry braking
1 Continental 100%
2 Dunlop 98.90%
3 Pirelli 95.90%
4 Yokohama 94.60%
5 Michelin 93.90%
6 Hankook 93.50%
7 GT Radial 92.70%
8 Goodyear 92.60%
9 Bridgestone 91.00%
10 Toyo 90.40%
11 Falken 88.80%

Wet handling
1 Continental 100%
2 Dunlop 99.20%
3 Pirelli 98.90%
4 Yokohama 98.60%
5 Michelin 98.20%
6 Goodyear 97.40%
7 Hankook 97.10%
8 Falken 94.50%
9 GT Radial 94.10%
10 Toyo 92.40%
11 Bridgestone 91.70%

Wet braking
1 Continental 100%
2 Pirelli 98.30%
3 Dunlop 95.10%
4 Michelin 94.10%
5 Yokohama 93.50%
6 Goodyear 93.00%
7 Hankook 92.40%
8 GT Radial 87.00%
9 Falken 84.20%
10 Toyo 80.60%
11 Bridgestone 80.50%

Wet cornering
1 Pirelli 100%
2 Continental 99.70%
3 Dunlop 98.90%
4 Yokohama 98.10%
5 Hankook 97.70%
6 Goodyear 97.50%
7 Michelin 97.30%
8 GT Radial 96.30%
9 Toyo 95.40%
10 Falken 94.90%
11 Bridgestone 94.30%

Straight aqua
1 Michelin 100%
2 Continental 97.20%
3 Hankook 96.10%
4 Yokohama 93.80%
5= Goodyear 92.30%
5= Pirelli 92.30%
7 Dunlop 92.10%
8 Falken 91.50%
9 Bridgestone 91.30%
10 Toyo 90.30%
11 GT Radial 88.50%

Curved aqua
1 Michelin 100%
2 Continental 93.50%
3 Falken 91.40%
4 Hankook 87.50%
5 Bridgestone 82.60%
6 Goodyear 81.20%
7 Dunlop 80.80%
8 Toyo 77.30%
9 Yokohama 68.40%
10 GT Radial 68.20%
11 Pirelli 68.10%

Rolling resistance
1 Dunlop 100%
2 Goodyear 89.40%
3 Bridgestone 81.00%
4 GT Radial 78.80%
5 Hankook 77.90%
6 Toyo 76.50%
7 Continental 73.10%
8 Michelin 72.10%
9 Pirelli 71.40%
10 Falken 66.20%
11 Yokohama 63.20%

Cabin noise
1 Hankook 100%
2 Pirelli 99.80%
3 Dunlop 98.90%
4 Continental 98.50%
5 Yokohama 98.20%
6 Bridgestone 98.00%
7 Falken 97.90%
8 Goodyear 97.80%
9 Toyo 96.80%
10 GT Radial 96.10%
11 Michelin 95.80%

Price
1 Falken £75.05
2 Hankook £76.25
3 GT Radial £81.33
4 Bridgestone £82.44
5 Toyo £82.97
6 Goodyear £84.77
7 Yokohama £87.06
8 Dunlop £88.04
9 Pirelli £89.93
10 Continental £90.04
11 Michelin £93.46

Overall
1 Continental 100%
2 Dunlop 98.80%
3 Michelin 98.00%
4 Hankook 97.70%
5 Pirelli 97.30%
6 Goodyear 96.70%
7 Yokohama 96.10%
8 Falken 95.00%
9 Bridgestone 94.30%
10 GT Radial 94.10%
11 Toyo 93.60%

Hahaha, I've posted this reviews in response to some other treads already.

I'm using CSC5 now, just bought about a month ago. So far I'm very happy with it, dry grip is excellent, wet grip also very good as I can take fast sweepers at 110-125kph without problems in wet (but no puddles ya). Aquaplaning is good also (but haven't got a chance to really test it at higher speeds). Tire is comfortable and noise is reasonable. Sidewall seems a bit soft though but this is fine by me coz I want to retain comfort too. I haven't got a chance to push them hard for many sequences of corners though, but will be going Genting later next month so we'll see by then.

The CSC5 actually already won this tire test back in 2013 also.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-t...isportcontact-5

I read the AutoExpress review yesterday and posted this thread today. I didn't notice you have posted the same link in the other thread earlier (I only noticed that this morning after I clicked on the Neuton thread to have a look).

Good that you are using the Continental CSC5 now. It appears that the tyres are living to the good reviews. Too bad that the tyres only come in minimum 17" (All my tyres are in 16").

The issue of soft and hard sidewalls. I have limited experience in this. Not too sure which one would be ideal or preferable for hard cornering. I've tried reasonably fast corners with the Yokohama Bluearth AE50 tyres which have rather soft sidewalls. Perhaps not pushing them close to the limit, maybe 70 to 80%. Although I can feel the "softness" of the sidewalls, the car feels planted and in control. With tyres that have harder sidewalls I have tried that do not flex much, especially the GT Radial Champiro Bax 2, the tyres are screeching when tackling corners at higher speeds, and at some point I can feel the tyres sliding a bit, losing the line of curvature.

After seeing the damage on the front tyres of the Goodyear tyres on my Ford Focus, chunks of rubber pieces falling off, something that i have never seen before (usually the tread will just get smoother, not chunks of rubber peeling off or tearing away), I don't do much fast corners anymore these days.

I heard from a tire sifu in ZTH forum that the main concern with the Continental tires are the cracking on the sidewall. So we'll see how, hopefully mine will be ok.
Yeah, most high performance tires are only available from 17' upwards except a few like PS3, F1-D5, V12 Evo2, RE003 to name a few.

It's the compound also which is more important to maintain grip. Stiffer sidewalls give better response feeling.

If you corner fast and lean hard on the tires, then they might get chipped. I also experience the same no matter what tires I use, just some chipped less and some worse. The GY F1 I use before this CSC5 were chipped pretty bad.

Tires I've used, that I remember
Car is 308T

All UHP of course, I leave out the extreme type. No point comparing Extreme tires with UHP.


CSC5...the finess tires, BUT...It dun last and Malaysia road with full of pothole with make the sidewall Bengkak. No matter how good it is, no point in getting something that is not durable. Side thread are good and no chipping/cracking
Totally not my choice unless I have money to burn, and tis expensive.
CSC3 suffers worst fate and they tried to fix that with the cheaper Contimax making the sidewalls harder, and end up many of Contimax tires didn't give early warning when tire pressure was low.

PS3...good all rounder, side thread tends to chip/crack a bit, but overall my choice. I used a few sets of these.
Quite silent if compared to the Previous tire it replaced, the PP2.
Yes, PS3 replaced the PP2, not PS2. The legendary PS2 is replaced by PSS but still continue to be selling well.
But Ppl who use PS2 will know there are grades to it, but that's another story
One really good thing about PS3 it also comes in 15inch sizes. I've used 3 sets of these on my godcar.
Only thing about Michelin is the people there. Those customers to Michelin can be a bit "stuck-up" ppl
Just because they are using 'Michelin' makes them 'above average' ppl
Anyway its good to see ppl who are proud and loyal to the Michelin brand.

Advan V105, similar to PS3 but way better in the dry and comfort, but these dun last, tends to chip/crack at the side threads too from extreme cornering.
What I like about these tires is the sidewalls, nice 3D designs after you polish it.
Not much significant advantage over the previous V103

Goodyear Asy2, Dem comfort, dry grips slightly below PS3, but the Wet is where it really fails. Funny, the GYGSD3 was the rain king, this GYF1Asy2 is shameful. Side threads also tends to chip/crack. And finish faster than PS3. I heard like the PS3 there are Lot to this. But frankly speaking with any Goodyear tire, is like regularly hearing what lot is good and thing like that. Simply cant get the quality right. Unless you buy the German one lol

Evo1, compare to PS3, its down a few notch, but its durable and no side thread chip/crack, its a very crude tire unlike CSC5.
After 50% life, the roar becomes unbearable. I'm sure the Evo2 should be better and more finess

N'Fera SU1, Budget UHP tires, Quite a popular tire now, great in the wets but fails in dry cornering.
Although it fails in dry cornering, it will still beats all family type tires. Only thing is its well below UHP level.
Comfort not bad. I'm using this now as my GYF1Asy2 is totally damaged.
Looks like the side threads are holding on but maybe due to I dun corner hard because not confident with this screaming tires lol
For those who don't know, Nexen has 2 line up of tires. N'Fera and N series.

RE050A, for me its very good overalls, comparable to PS3, quite expensive, but prone to tramlining, not for uneven roads and highways, you might even lose control of the steering if you are not holding it firmly. no side thread chip/cracks.

Ecsta SPT, tends to lose grip when you are hard in corners, super critical on tires pressures, wet soso OK, no side thread chip/crack.

My choice is CSC5, all rounder, above average in everything (even price ) and very fine tune.
But too bad the tires are totally not durable for Malaysia roads.

Still, PS3 wins for me, the above average dry grip, super wet grips is what I looking for.

If you are more into comfort, GYAsy2 is the right choice.

So my judgement

Dry Grip (Cornering)
V105...no surprises, Yokohama has always been on top when it comes to getting the best laps with a long line of SDrive, AD07, AD08
PS3 CSC5 RE050A almost same

Wet Grip (Straight line)
PS3
CSC5,RE050A
N'Fera SU1

Most Comfort
GYF1Asy2
CSC5
V105

Sexy sidewall
V105..winner by miles (after you polish it to get the 3D effect)
I also like the V103A which I also used briefly

Boring sidewall
GYF1Asy2 loser by miles..and Retro looking, if I had white paint, I would paint the "Goodyear" wordings and ppl will think its a Goodyear GA

Tires that require Attention when driving
N'Fera SU1 Dry grip is a total mess, it screams in hard corners and you feel the car is going to lose control anytime.
RE050A Tramlining of the uneaven roads, but I'm sure they cured it on the latest S001

This is just my opinion, I'm not working or getting sponsored by any of the tire manufacturers lol

This post has been edited by azbro: Nov 27 2015, 05:39 PM

Good feedback.

Quite odd though that you find the F1A2 not good in the wet coz in many reviews it was pretty good. I used the F1-D5 which is the directional version of the F1 (supposedly replacement for the F1 GSD3), and IMO pretty good in the wet even though aquaplaning resistance not as good as Michelin or even this CSC5.

For the CSC5, that's my worry also now after hearing similar story from another tire sifu in ZTH but too late I've bought the CSC5 already, hope it will last for me.

No probs

The trouble with GYF1Asy2 is when its prime rubber finish, yes, the one that last for 10K~25K km
After that the performance just goes down hill. Although it might look 75% left. But its not the same tire when you bought it new.
When I drove same road and raining situation with puddles on the road fast, the Goodyear makes the ESP work overtime unlike PS3 or CSC5.

If you already bought the CSC5, just be more particular on tire pressure and holes on the road.
Dun worry so much about the smaller potholes, I talking about those rim bending potholes that will damage the sidewalls.

The worst ever tire I used were the Goodyear F1 GSD3! Sidewalls bengkak and tramlining like hell, and its so difficult to make the car go on a straight line even after monthly alignments, although I will say the tires makes you go faster when it rains. Super rain grip but totally lousy in the maintenance.

This post has been edited by azbro: Nov 27 2015, 05:09 PM

Yeah, the F1A2 has very shallow sipes if you notice, so after about 30% use than the sipes are gone already. Probably that's why the aquaplaning resistance not as good anymore and triggered your ESP.

Yup, I'm using 260kpa/36psi now for my CSC5. I'm a very careful driver when comes to potholes and I memorize potholes location to the exact, even minor ones. I came from Jakarta where potholes and uneven roads are way much worse than here so I'm very much trained to memorize and avoid those, and have never hit a single medium-major size pothole for as long as I remember.

Never used the GSD3 but I used the F1-D5 which to me is very good and durable apart from the chipping (which happens anyway to all my tires).

Wow, looks like you have tested a lot of tyres for your Peugeot 308T, altogether 8 tyres? Surely very impressive indeed. Good to know that the Michelin PS3 is the best tyre for you, thought I noticed that dry handling on the PS3 is relatively poor compared to the other tyres with average wet handling and cornering. However, when it comes to aquaplanning both straight and curved, the PS3 is the best scoring 100%. But the PS3 is also the noisiest tyre out of the lot sitting at the bottom of all other tyres.

From the AutoExpress review, not sure what is the difference between Wet handling, Wet cornering, Curved Aqua and Straight Aqua. I presume all these aspects are the performance on wet roads. Although the PS3 does well in Curved Aqua and Straight Aqua (assuming the tyres provide very good grip when going over puddles of water in both straight and curved roads), the Wet handling and cornering are just average. Maybe wet handling(and wet cornering) refers to the vehicle being driven on curvy wet roads, just wet but no puddles of water. The higher the score the better traction the tyre provides without the vehicle or tyres losing traction ie. good grip on wet roads.

As for potholes, although it is true that some tyres will be more susceptible to having a swollen sidewall such as the Continental CSC5, I think not only any tyre will have the potential go bust but the rims or suspension may be damaged if the pothole is big or deep enough. It is a better bet to pay more attention on the roads that have potholes, or choose roads which do not have potholes. However, I can understand that sometimes we don't have control over these things and will have to drive through the potholes.

Maybe the tyres on my vehicle are more resilient when going over potholes - 205/60 R16 and 205/55 R16 on another car. Tyres with lower profile 45 or 40 will have higher potential to get swollen or damaged when driven over (larger) potholes. Still, if I am familiar with a road with potholes, I will try to avoid them at all cost by driving slower, especially at night.

Very detailed assessment. There is even a review on the appearance of the sidewalls. Good job! I'll take note on the V105.

Well, I change tires quite often

Anyway, for Wet handling, other than the GyF1GSD3, I wouldn't want to drive fast in the wet...cos I'm also been using Extreme Tires on my Godcar, so I disciplined myself.
So if anyone ask me to review wet handling, I fear for my life lol

Regarding the Test, what I understand is, it has to be measureable with a equipment and not based on human feel.
Wethandling is using those cones on the road to test the fastest timing
Wet Cornering is measured in "G"s on a particular corner
Curved aqua is measured in Speed and breakaway when the car is going on a round (Donut) track
Straight Aqua is could be Aquaplannng test using a type of equipment that measures water displacement
I might be wrong

All the Michelin tires I've used (XM2, PP2, PS3) have that Michelin 'Roar'. Its like like a trademark sound lol. But I've to say PS3 kept that 'roar' ( or 'hum') to a minimum. But the roar is still there and ppl who are not used to it will need a bit of time.

But for me driver preference also matters, feels too heavy, too light. Slow response, wears fast, difficult to alignment, too expensive, half life performance, uneaven wear, chips. Cracks, design, friends input, tireman recommendation, advertisements and past experience does make a big factor in choosing a tire.

This post has been edited by azbro: Nov 27 2015, 07:58 PM

Wet handling is going thru sequences of corners (can be slalom cones or going thru a track) in the wet but no puddles or very minimal, measured by lap times.
Wet cornering is going thru a consistent round corner (like a round about) then measure the max G force until it skids, again no puddles.
Curved aqua means going thru a corner where there is a puddle of water (not sure how many mm though).
Straight aqua means going thru a puddle in a straight line.

It seems the wet handling and cornering indicate more about how the tire compound grips in wet surface while the aquaplaning test maybe reflects more of how the tire pattern able to displace water faster. So a tire can be very good at aquaplaning resistance but not necessarily the best in wet grip if got no puddles, which is the case with the PS3 in that test. However aquaplaning resistance is the most obvious/easiest to detect for most common drivers and therefore PS3 is very popular because of that trait. Most people who never push their cars in the dry not to mention in the wet will never be able to tell the difference on dry and wet handling. The CSC5 seems to fare more balanced/well rounded though with excellent wet handling and also almost matching PS3 in aquaplaning, plus much better too in the dry (where the PS3 is mid pack).

It doesn't pay to experiment by driving fast in the rain or on wet roads. You would never know the limit of the tyres and when they will lose traction and skid during high speed maneuvering. Life is at stake here. The highest speed I have driven in the rain/on wet roads is 130 km/h, about 100 km/h on average (only on the straights / highways). Around corners or bends in the rain, speeds are considerably reduced.

Similarly I think the test results are somewhat measured since the results are presented in numbers (percentage).

Yes, good point on driver's preference. Interesting point that you brought up on the tyres feeling to heavy/light, fast/slow response etc. Currently with my new tyres the Yokohama Bluearth AE50, I feel the response with steering wheel input is a tad slow when compared to the Goodyear Assurance Fuelmax. A very subtle difference but the difference can be felt. The steering feels (slightly) less sharper. Maybe this aspect is judged in "Dry Handling" when the car is evaluated by the sharpness of the steering response. With certain tyres, the dry handling can be better due to the sharper and more precise control of the steering wheel.

Yes, that is what I thought about wet handling/cornering and curved/straight aqua. Looked up on wikipedia and Aqua = Aquaplanning. Hence my guess that aqua is referring to the car being subjected to aquaplanning ie. driving through puddles of water. Curved is around the bends, straight is on straight road.

Certainly good observation you have there on the test results of the PS3. If you look at the results, the PS3 scored the highest marks 100% for both curved and straight aqua. Meaning it has excellent aquaplanning performance, mainly due to the large main groove running on the circumference of the tyre. But when it comes to wet handling and wet corner, it is somewhere in the middle losing to other tyres. In summary, with the PS3, you can drive through puddles of water like a king. But when there are no puddles of water on the road, and the road is just wet or when it is raining, might be a better idea not to drive too fast.

Yup but even so, mid pack in the company of top class UHP tires like that is still already very good, still better than most tires on the market today.

If per tire set he changed say at just 40k km, he still already traveled 320k km with that car! Really drives a lot.

Currently using Goodyear Asymmetric 2 225/40/18 and Conti CSC5 235/40/18

The goodyear one only lasts around 20k KM, conti ones 60k KM and still alot of threads left..

However the CSC5 is so expensive at 1.2k a piece.