August 1, 2023
Grand Touring All-Season tires are built to deliver a smooth, quiet ride from the first day of installation to the last. Not only do customers expect them to be comfortable and have minimal road noise, but they need a measure of sporty handling and traction for dry, wet, and wintry roads. Beyond that, Grand Touring All-Season tires developed to focus on electric vehicles (EVs), are expected to further minimize road noise that might be more evident with the near silent drivetrains, as well as reduce rolling resistance to maintain range. Needless to say: it's a tall order, but with the rise in popularity and practicality of EVs, tire manufacturers are eager to leverage their engineering technologies to meet the rising demand.
Bridgestone's Turanza EV is the company's latest Grand Touring All-Season tire, and it's aimed squarely at the EV driver's specific wants and needs. Bridgestone employed their ENLITEN technology which was created to deliver the "complete EV package" of enhanced tread life in high torque applications, canceling airborne and tread pattern noise as well as increased sustainability. On top of that, they claim the requisite handling and traction still meets the demands of drivers on dry, wet, and wintry roads. To see if those claims hold true, we fitted new, full tread depth 235/40R19 tires mounted on 19x8.5 wheels and chose Continental's ProContact RX (T1) as the competitor tire. It serves as a solid benchmark since it was carefully designed to suit the exacting needs of our 2023 Tesla Model 3 Performance test vehicles and is one of the original equipment tire options fitted from the factory.
Our 6.0-mile loop of expressway, state highway and county roads provides a great variety of road conditions that include city and highway speeds, smooth and coarse concrete, as well as new and patched asphalt. This route allows our team to experience noise comfort, ride quality and everyday handling, just as you would during your drive to school or work.
In our on-road testing, the ProContact RX (T1) impressed our team with consistent tones from the tire. On smooth pavement, wind noise was a larger source of sound, by far and at speeds under forty miles per hour it delivered the quintessential EV moment of smooth, silent speed that makes even "EV skeptics" smile. On coarser surfaces the ProContact RX (T1) created slightly higher volume pattern noise, but it was again notably stable in pitch which helped it blend into the wind noise. The Turanza EV was equally impressive with marginally lower volume noise, but with a bit more cyclical frequency variation that drew attention to itself on fresh pavement. The Turanza EV had a slight edge in ride quality with an ultimately more cushioned ride over larger impacts where the ProContact RX (T1) was missing a minor amount of damping but absorbed the smaller cracks slightly better than the Bridgestone. Steering and road handling between the two was again an extremely close match with both satisfying our drivers. The ProContact RX (T1) had a somewhat quicker response with initial input into the steering wheel, but once loaded mid-turn, each felt nicely precise with good feedback and accuracy.
To evaluate the efficiency of each tire and its corresponding impact on vehicle range, our team drove both tires on a defined, 200-mile route on the highways near Tire Rack's South Bend, IN headquarters. We used two identical vehicles, driven in tandem, and efforts were taken to ensure identical conditions for each tire. Even so, our reported findings are the results of our specific test parameters, and your range may vary.
| Tire | Vehicle Reported Watts Hours/Mile | Estimated Range at 100% Charge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgestone Turanza EV | 282 | 250 miles | |
| Continental ProContact RX (T1) | 249 | 294 miles | |
| *Vehicle Reported Watt Hours/Mile is the average reported by the vehicle's trip display and was reset before each trip. | |||
| *Estimated Range at 100% Charge is determined by comparing the consumed range as reported by the vehicle to the consumed battery as reported by the vehicle to determine miles per 1% of battery charge. This number was multiplied by 100 to determine the theoretical range at 100% battery charge. | |||
Our 1/3-mile per lap test track course includes 90-degree street corners, a five-cone slalom and simulated expressway ramps. Run in both dry and wet conditions, the test track allows our team to experience the traction, responsiveness, handling, and drivability normally only encountered during abrupt emergency avoidance maneuvers or competition events.
Wet traction can be a metric that suffers when engineers focus on longer tread life and lower rolling resistance for the sake of gaining efficiency. So naturally, our team was interested to see how, and if, each tire managed that tradeoff. In our wet track evaluation, the ProContact RX (T1) had a clear advantage. Braking distances from fifty miles per hour came in almost fourteen feet shorter and lateral traction figures were three hundredths of a g higher around the skidpad. Once on the handling track, our drivers found the objective differences translated to noticeable subjective differences as well. Our team could rely on the front-end grip of the ProContact RX (T1) through the tighter corners and slalom. In the Bridgestone, braking zones required a substantial, conscious effort to move further back due to the longer distances required to slow the car and the lower speeds necessary to navigate the turn. The Turanza EV seemed to ride that line of just enough traction and felt nicely balanced at the limit which allowed the driver to rotate the chassis around corners easily. It helped to make up some time but ended up being far more work and ultimately, slower.
On the dry track, the ProContact RX (T1) maintained its objective advantage, with the Bridgestone only closing the distance in braking to a twelve-foot gap and losing some ground in lateral traction, ending up with four hundredths of a g deficit. Around the handling course, the ProContact RX (T1) continued to maintain its accurate and precise steering with inputs being followed up with the expected change in direction. The Turanza EV's inputs were met with more hesitation which made it more difficult to time turns perfectly.
Winter performance can be an accepted tradeoff when EV design priorities are held above all else. While EV focused, both tires are Grand Touring All-Season products at their core. So naturally our team, along with consumers, still expect them to handle winter weather with the requisite poise the category typically delivers. To see how these two tires coped with those lofty expectations, our team put them to task in the same manner we test every other all-season tire in the winter.
The all-wheel drive (AWD) system and instant torque on our Model 3 Performance did their job rocketing each tire to twelve miles per hour with urgency. Our team found, on average, that the Turanza EV made it to speed in 17.3 feet, just over two feet sooner than the ProContact RX. This close result was no doubt masked by the AWD system, but braking revealed a larger divergence, where stopping completely from twenty-five miles per hour the Bridgestone averaged a commanding 64 feet. In contrast, twenty-two feet later the ProContact RX came to rest in 86 feet. Light handling exercises to simulate avoidance maneuvers on snow packed streets found the Turanza EV's steering quick to respond, which overall was good, but did have the tendency to overwhelm the rear tire traction with all stability control disabled. The ProContact RX's steering wasn't as urgent to respond to inputs and resulted in a slower feel and a longer recovery, but consequently, it seemed a little less likely to induce a slide in the first place and felt controllable when it did.
On the ice, the Turanza EV maintained its braking advantage, coming to a stop on the ultra-slick surface from twelve miles per hour in 56.6 feet. The ProContact RX was a little over four feet longer, stopping the Tesla in 61 feet flat.
Both of these EV Grand Touring All-Season tires excel on the road and easily meet our team's high expectations for ride and noise comfort, as well as light road handling. Range testing indicates the original equipment ProContact RX (T1) has an efficiency advantage, at least on our cars, on that day, and in those conditions. Regardless, the range at higher states of charge can be an important metric for drivers who stretch the limits of their battery packs on long trips or don't have guaranteed access to reliable charging. The larger differences in the traction and handling in our minds are important, and ProContact RX (T1) delivers far more in dry and wet. The advantage flips when winter hits though, and the Turanza EV provides a solid increase in traction on snow and ice where drivers have a much higher propensity to find the limit. As we watch the EV tire market grow and as manufacturers become tasked with delivering more performance, while simultaneously maintaining, or even improving, efficiency and sustainability, we can't help but be astonished by the enormity of the request and are excited for the inevitable progress.
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