Michelin Primacy 4 vs Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2: We know from our previous coverage of the touring segment, Michelin’s Primacy 4 is the undisputed best touring tire out there in the market. While it might have lost its King of wet braking title to Nokian Hakka Blue 2 it still has an overall good package. In this post we would like to compare the Michelin Primacy 4 vs Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2 which was launch in 2020. Compared to the Primacy 4, Cinturato P7 C2 is 3 years younger and comes with a with a strong focus on control in wet conditions, mileage, and rolling resistance.
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Michelin Primacy 4 vs Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2
Results below were taken from the 2020 Tyre Reviews Ultimate Summer Tyre Test results. 12 tires were tested in Goodyear’s test track in Mireval, France. The graph below shows the comparison between Primacy 4 vs Cinturato P7 C2 based on the relevant performance category. The 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 the 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 10. The tire size of interest is 205/55R16 which is a common tire size for by Volkswagen Golf (2018) and the Toyota Corolla Altis (2018). You can check out our latest tire size table for more information.
Wet
Adhering to Cinturato P7 C2 ‘s marketing claim, they do have excellent subjective wet handling results as they are ranked 10/10 in this test. While Primacy 4 only managed to rake in a 8.6/10 score. They were nothing between them in the wet handling lap times as both of them are only separable by 0.1 seconds. The same is valid for the wet braking performances as Cinturato P7 C2 was only 0.3% worse than Primacy 4. While in aquaplaning, Cinturato P7 C2 was slightly worse than Primacy 4 by 1%.
Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2
- -0.3% in wet braking
- +0.1% in wet handling (lap time)
- +7% in subjective wet handling
- -1% in aquaplaning
Dry
When it comes to dry, we see a total domination from Cinturato P7 C2 as it was better in all dry performance criteria. The biggest difference observed was the subjective dry handling results as the Cinturato P7 C2 managed to score a 9.4/10 while the Primacy 4 only managed a 8.6/10. While in dry braking Cinturato P7 C2 was able to brake earlier than Primacy 4 by a margin of 1.2%
Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2
- +1.2% in dry braking
- +0.2% in dry handling (lap time)
- +4% in subjective dry handling
Noise & Comfort
The interior noise of both tires were only separated by 0.1dB and we could effectively ranked them the same. However in comfort, Primacy 4 dominates ranking in 9.8/10 with a top 2 ranking compared to the competition. Cinturato P7 C2 only managed a subjective comfort rating of 8.2/10 being the joined last tire in the ranking.
Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2
- +0.2% in internal noise
- -8% in comfort
Rolling Resistance
As the importance of rolling resistance are getting more relevant these days due to electric cars & also CO2 emission reasons, you would expect the top premium tire manufacturers to be quite closely match. However it was really surprising to see a Cinturato P7 C2 has a -17% deficit against Primacy 4 in rolling resistance. This was the largest deficit recorded between these 2 tires.
Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2
- -17.2% in rolling resistance
Price
Being the undisputed technology leader, Michelin naturally commands one of the highest priced tire in the market. Primacy 4 cost 12% more compared to Cinturato P7 C2.
Tire size: 225/45R17
Primacy 4: : €66.75
Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2: €59.5
Difference: -12% more cheaper for Cinturato P7 C2.
Summary
Apart for the big drawback in rolling resistance & comfort, Pirelli’s Cinturato P7 C2 was clearly the stronger tire. Its strong performances in wet & dry handling has been pretty impressive. While it also cost much less than the Primacy 4. Overall it is clear to us that Cinturato P7 C2 is our clear winner !