CEAT SecuraDrive SUV
We equip our long-term test Creta with CEAT’s new SecuraDrive SUV tyres to find out if they drive as good as they look
A STUNNING CAR WITH BORING TYRES IS LIKE WEARING SLIPPERS WITH YOUR TUXEDO
DESIGN IS IMPORTANT. EVERY YEAR, when a new iPhone comes out, the first thing people talk about is design. Even though it may not have changed drastically in the last few years, that’s a rant for another day. Design is also what helps most of us choose our cars. Car manufacturers such as Hyundai and Kia have built their legacy in India primarily with design, which is why the Creta and Seltos have been immensely successful. But a style factor we rarely consider on our cars are the tyres. A stunning car with boring tyres is like wearing slippers with your tuxedo. To combat this wardrobe malfunction, CEAT is introducing a new range of SecuraDrive SUV tyres that not only aim to perform better than your OE tyres but also promise to match the swanky looks of your mid-size or compact-SUV.
The CEAT SecuraDrive SUV tyres are available in five sizes — 205/60 R16, 215/65 R16, 215/55 R17, 215/60 R17 and 235/65 R17 — which means that they will fit SUVs such as the Kia Sonet and Seltos, the Hyundai Venue and Creta, the Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Nissan Magnite, Renault Kiger and even larger SUVs such as the Tata Harrier and the MG Hector. On our long-term test Creta we will be benchmarking these tyres against the OE tyres in terms of performance with an acceleration test, a braking test, hot laps around the Circuit 77 go-kart track in our home base of Pune and finally a monsoon drive in the pouring rain to gauge wet grip. But first let’s take a closer look at the design of the CEAT SecuraDrive SUV tyres.
The CEAT SecuraDrive SUV tyres feature a tread pattern that has been styled by Italdesign. Yep, the very same design house that penned the original Volkswagen Golf, the Lamborghini Gallardo and the Delorean DMC-12! The result is a cool tread pattern that sets itself apart from ordinary tyres which usually feature functional but simple treads. Instead of the regular symmetrical pattern, the SecuraDrive SUV tyre features asymmetrical cuts and grooves which not only catch your eye but also improve performance, though we’ll talk about the latter in a bit. Even the sidewall has just enough of a pattern on it so as not to command attention, but tip a hat to enthusiasts.
To find out how they perform, we’ll be putting both the OE tyres and the CEAT SecuraDrive SUV tyres through a series of four tests. The first test is a simple 0-100kmph acceleration test while the second is a 100-0kmph braking test. In the third test we set lap times at the Circuit 77 go-kart track and for our final test, we head to one of our favourite driving roads to find out which tyre provides a better experience when the going gets slippery in the real world.
For all the performance tests, we’ve made sure to keep the tyre pressures to the recommended levels and will be validating our test results with the Racelogic Performance Box Touch datalogger. For the acceleration and braking tests, as well as the Circuit 77 lap times, we will be doing two runs for each tyre, with the same driver in similar weather conditions and then taking average times to level the playing field as far as possible.