Apollo Alnac 4G Tyres Long Term Review

Apollo Alnac 4G Tyres Review

Tyres Tested: Apollo Alnac 4G
Tyre Size: 195/60/15
Test Car: Maruti Swift ZDI
Original Size: 185/65/15
Original Tyre: MRF ZVTV
Test Started At: 20,584 kms
Test Ended At: 50,742 kms
Kilometres Tested: 30,158

The Apollo Alnac 4G tyres impressed us with excellent grip and stability

Agree or not but tyres are the most important part of a car as they are the point of contact between your car and the road. Most mass market cars come with tyres which are meant to last but are not great on grip and performance in the wet is questionable. While these tyres are good enough for the average customer, there is always something lacking for those who love to drive spiritedly. The primary reason being that manufacturers need to price the vehicle competitively and they are not going to spend extra on tyres which will appease only a handful of customers. The secondary reason being the quest for increased fuel efficiency.

Our test car, the Maruti Swift is one of the best selling cars in its segment since the time it was launched in the year 2005. Our Swift is the top-of-the-line variant and it came with MRF ZVTV 185/65/15 tyres. The lower variants are grossly under-tyred and are shod with 165-spec tyres. Our car had done about 20,000 kms and the tyres were past their prime. Key issues we faced were screeching on heavy braking, low grip under braking which led to increased braking distances and wet weather grip had dropped considerably. These were some of the reasons we decided to swap for Apollo Alnac 4G series of tyres.

It wasn’t the first time we were going to use this series of tyres. Our long term Fiat Punto had these and we were quite amazed by the overall performance of this tyre but this time our observations were going to be more conclusive. Usually when you upgrade your tyre size, you would normally expect the steering to get a bit heavier but we didn’t find the steering getting noticeably heavy. The Swift has one of the best steerings in its segment and it would be a shame if the way the steering behaves would have changed.

One of the first things to notice about these new tyres was the fact that it gave an enormous amount of confidence behind the wheel. While the MRF tyres were a handful under hard braking, the new Apollo rubber was predictably surefooted. These tyres made the car feel more grounded, especially at high speeds on the highway. Braking distances had reduced by around 17% compared to the stock tyres (when they were in mint condition). Also, ABS seemed to work better as well since the stock tyres would run out of grip before the car has come to a complete standstill.