Dry cornering

SPECIFIC TYRE selection when tackling our two brisk 90-degree corners and a 50km/h constant-radius circle can make the difference between a wayward Tucson and a well-behaved one. Between the trio of bends that makes up our dry cornering assessment there’s 20 seconds of on-the-limit squealing to give us a great idea of tyre tenacity. That constant circle also allowed Renato to lean on the tyre persistently to better understand what it was doing and how it coped with repeated extremes. In the case of the Kumho, it couldn’t handle the punishment. “The grip would just disappear,” said Renato. Little wonder it finished dead last. But the Cooper CS5 Grand Touring surprised. It was quickest through one of the three disciplines – by just 0.02 seconds –something Renato puts down to a soft compound, although the high treadwear rating suggests they’ll go the distance. The Cooper is noisy, though. “Probably the noisiest tyre under load … with a deeper, low-frequency squeal,” said Renato. Reinforcing his summary that the Toyo was a solid all-rounder was some impressive dry cornering times. “That felt like a really high-performance tyre.” The Giti and Hankook logged the same 19.99sec time through our corner combo, although the Hankook maintained its peak for longer during our constant-radius circle. The Giti just missed out on a podium and was, according to Renato, very “playful”. Despite an excellent driver’s seat sensation and a tyre that “felt like it’d perform better with more pressure in it”, the Continental UltraContacts finished in the lower third for sheer dry cornering pace. Less of a surprise were the Hifly and Kumho rounding out the field. The data shows it’s tenths of a second, but in a tyre test it’s tenths that can make a big difference.