Ranking first, in two critical areas: ‘traction and ‘aquaplaning,’ Fulda Progresso beat off strong competition from 10 other tyre brands achieving 20 out of 20 in aquaplaning and 10 out of 10 in traction.
The manufacturer reports that this success is down to the Progresso’s directional tread design – with wide circumferential grooves, water is evacuated on wet roads more efficiently than other patterns. The tyre reduces the risk of aquaplaning significantly indicated by the test team who honoured Fulda with top marks testing in 6mm of water and declaring Progresso the outright winner.
When it came to traction Fulda again came top of the pile, this time sharing the honour with Bridgestone and Pirelli who also got 10 out of 10. Progresso is equipped with a special high hysteresis contact compound, providing high levels of grip. This was evident with the test car accelerating from 0-50km/h in 3.60 seconds on Progresso – a full two tenths of a second quicker than the slowest tyre.
Auto Motor und Sport summarises: the Fulda Progresso "offers good retained aquaplaning, satisfying handling characteristics and good traction in the wet."
Auto Motor and Sport tested 11 tyres in the size 215/55R16. The test can be found in the latest issue 7/2006, published on Mar. 16.
