Accident statistics suggest that most accidents in European countries occur in rainy weather, and it is no coincidence that when developing the new product, special attention was paid to high adhesion properties on wet surfaces, and throughout the entire tire service life. Simply put, an increase in wear resistance should be supported by the stability of those qualities on which safety depends - otherwise it makes no sense to increase the life of a tire.
According to the developers, the tire that fully meets these requirements is the Michelin Primacy HP premium segment. It is designed for prestigious sedans and provides a resource of at least 25% more than its competitors. At the same time, the high coupling properties of the tire are maintained throughout the entire service life. For example, after a run of 10 thousand km Primacy HP on wet asphalt brakes 1.2 meters earlier than the average competitors. While rolling resistance is the lowest!
A successful combination of such contradictory qualities was made possible thanks to the tire development method called SPK (structure-tread-components).
The tread uses the original ElastoSPORT and Full Silicon components, which disperse the braking energy well. The structure of the tire is distinguished by the “flexibility-stiffness” balance, which allows the rubber, on the one hand, to easily change its shape for the best contact with the road, and on the other hand, due to its high stiffness, to ensure maximum efficiency in the contact patch.
New tires are produced both in the usual version, and in the now popular version, which is not afraid of punctures. The latter, with the prefix ZP (Zero Pressure - zero pressure), due to the rigid sidewalls allow a car with a punctured tire to move at speeds up to 80 km / h for 80 km. It is believed that this is enough to reach the nearest tire shop.
The smallest dimension of the new tires is 205 / 55R16, the largest is 245 / 45R18. Speed indices - from V (240 km / h) to Y (300 km / h). Tires that are not afraid of punctures are produced in only two dimensions - 205 / 55R16 and 225 / 45R17.
A test drive of the new tires was carried out on the famous Italian track Valilunga near Rome. The weather, as per the order, was rainy, therefore both the road part of the test and track passed on wet surfaces. The wide track of the autodrome allowed accelerating, braking and registering curves of any steepness, and front-wheel drive Audi and rear-wheel BMW to compare new tires with the previous model.
