Michelin Primacy 4 vs Bridgestone Turanza T005: One of the best touring tire ever, Michelin Primacy 4 will have one last dance in this 2022 press test before being graciously replaced by Primacy 4+. This time around we will pair the Primacy 4 with another strong contender in the form of Bridgestone Turanza T005. It has quite a good start to the 2022 season by winning the Auto Zeitung 17 inch summer test. Primacy 4 was launched in 2017 while Turanza T005 was launched in 2018. Let’s see how well these old guards perform when they duke it out for one last fight.
Table of Contents
Results
Results below were taken from the 2022 ViBilagare Summer Tyre Test. A total of 10 tires were tested this year. The graph below shows the comparison between Michelin Primacy 4 vs Bridgestone Turanza T005 based on the relevant performance category. The Michelin Primacy 4 was set as a reference hence at the 100% mark.
Note that for subjective comfort evaluation, we equate 1 point as 5%. Hence for example if tire A is graded 7 while tire B is graded 6, A is better than B by 5%. The natural scaling does not really make sense in evaluation whereby the max number is 5. The tire size of interest is 205/55R16 which is a common tire size for Volkswagen Golf (2018) and the Toyota Corolla Altis (2018). You can check out our latest tire size table for more information.
Wet
Safety has always been the main theme when it comes to the need for wet performances and this holds true for any kind of tire segment. In objective wet braking, Primacy 4 took first blood by out braking Turanza T005 by 0.7m. Primacy 4’s wet braking edge did not transfer into wet handling as it was 0.9 seconds slower than Turanza T005. The same holds true for wet circle as the lateral grip limit favors Turanza T005 by being 0.3 seconds faster after 8 laps.
Things are different in aquaplaning as Primacy 4 was the best straight aquaplaning tire in the whole test with a slipping speed of 84.9 km/h compared to the 81.8 km/h of Turanza T005. They were much closer in curved aquaplaning as Turanza T005 took back the initiative by having a +0.9 km/h edge. The Turanza T005 was the best ranked tire in lateral aquaplaning in the test while Primacy 4 finished second. Overall both tires are neck to neck in wet performances and there is no clear winner.
Turanza T005:
- -2.2% in wet braking
- +1.3% in wet handling (lap time)
- +1.4% in wet circle
- -3.6% in straight aquaplaning
- +1.3% in curved aquaplaning
Dry
Similar to wet, dry performances of both tires were extremely close. Turanza 005 had a shorter braking distance of 0.2m compared to Primacy 4. While in dry handling, they were also really close as 0.2 seconds separated them apart with Turanza 005 being slightly faster. Both tires are almost inseparable with Turanza T005 having a razor thin edge.
Turanza T005:
- +0.6% in dry braking
- +0.2% in dry handling (lap time)
Noise & Comfort
Both tires are again equally matched in subjective noise with a ranking of 2/5. However when it comes to comfort, Primacy 4 did better with a score of 3/5 compared to the 2/5 of Turanza T005.
Turanza T005:
- 0% in subjective noise
- -5% in comfort
Rolling Resistance
With an B label rating of Turanza T005 vs the C label rating of Primacy 4, we do expect a big differences when it comes to rolling resistance. This was proven true as the Turanza T005 has a -0.75 kg/ton advantage in the rolling resistance coefficient relative to Primacy 4. Apart from the dedicated eco tirelines, Turanza T005 has the lowest rolling resistance among the competition.
Even though Turanza T005 had an outstanding rolling resistance, this did not translate effectively into fuel savings as the rolling resistance from tires only attributes 20% of the car’s overall resistance. The Turanza T005 ended up with a fuel consumption of 5.24 liter/100km (highest ranked in the test) while the Primacy 4 has a 5.29 liter/100km fuel consumption value. The absolute differences were not huge considering a 10% advantage in rolling resistance values for Turanza T005.
Turanza T005:
- +10.5% in rolling resistance
- +1% in fuel economy
Price
Taking the price from Sweden as this was the relevant market for the publisher, Primacy 4 was €16 more expensive than Turanza T005. This was not surprising as the undisputed technology leader, Michelin commands the highest price in the market.
Tire size: 205/55 R16
Primacy 4: €100
Difference: -20% more cheaper for Turanza T005.
Summary
Overall both tires showed similar strengths in wet & dry performances. What really separates them was in rolling resistance and price with Turanza T005 taking the lead on both occasions. Taking this into account, our pick for the winner of this dual goes to Turanza T005 !