Michelin Alpin 5 was launched to replace the award winning Michelin Alpin 4. Michelin Alpin 5 itself proceeded to won the best performance award in the ADAC 2015 winter tyre test and Exemplary award for AutoBild winter tyre test 2017 (placed 2nd out of 21 tyres), making it one of the most popular premium touring winter tyres.
During the launch of Michelin Alpin 5, the new tyres were tested on a range of vehicles from small hatchbacks like Volvo V40 to larger premium touring BMW 3 Series GT. The tyre performed perfectly on warm dry and wet roads, giving it a summer tyre feel. When testing the tyres on wet conditions, it gives you the confidence to steer with no worries over slipping or aquaplaning.
The Michelin Alpin 5 shows extraordinary performance on the 16-inch tyres, but a bit lacking on larger tyres. In the snow, it beats Bridgestone and Pirelli by a huge margin. Despite having great performance, you are not advised to drive around the corners like the summers, as you will meet with slower yet more stable entries. Same is experience on wet and aquaplaning tests, it gives you extra confidence to go around the corner without crashing.
However, during a sharp turn in the dry, the car tend to wash wide as the lock increased. As on overall, Michelin Alpin 5 is an excellent tyre to have in snow and wet conditions, but do change to summer tyre like the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 for better driving experience.
By investing heavily into studying real world accidents, Michelin found that during winter months, the percentage of road accidents occurs on different road conditions are 58% on dry, 35% on wet, and only 8% on snow, but you are 5 times more likely to have an accident on snow based road conditions. This concluded that dry and wet grips are equally important for winter tyres as well because 92% of accidents occurs on dry and wet conditions even during winter months.
Two main new technology introduced in the Michelin Alpin 5, giving it a significant improvement in every aspects with only dry braking remaining equal with the outgoing Michelin Alpin 4. The two new technologies being:
1. New tread pattern
A new trade pattern offers Michelin Alpin 5 greater traction on snow, greater resistance to aquaplaning and also enhanced steering precision on both dry and wet conditions. The Michelin Alpin 5's tread patterns are siped to full thread depth, giving it equal winter performance through the tyre's lifespan.
Greater traction on snow
12% more tread blocks for greater traction on snow
16% more sipes
17% increase in void ratio
Greater resistance to aquaplaning
New orientation of lateral grooves
Enhanced steering precision
Self-locking tread blocks thanks to 3D sipes
2. Innovative tread compound technology
The new Michelin Hello Compound 4G technology used in Michelin Alpin 5 contains sunflower oil, helps to optimized tyre performance in low temperatures while giving good level of energy efficiency. The new functional elastomers also ensures excellent rubber consistency with larger proportions of Silica.
What do you think about the Michelin Alpin 5? Let us know what you think about this product in the comments below.
Michelin Alpin 5 comes in 27 different sizes from 195/65 R15 to 225/55 R17 to cover the larger and high performance sizes.
Comments