This year the Hungarian publication Auto Navigator have tested fourteen 205/55 R16 summer tyres, but also included an all season tyre (the Michelin CrossClimate), a full winter tyre, and most interestingly worn summer and winter tyres.

It's important to note that the worn winter tyre used was from last years test, whereas the worn summer tyre was 7 years old and had been stored in "sub optimal conditions" which put the tyre at a huge disadvantage. While the tread depth of each of the worn tyres wasn't listed, the magazine article indicated the tyres still had good tread depth, rather than at the legal limit of 1.6mm.

All tests were performed around 15c air temperature. Sadly aquaplaning wasn't tested by the magazine.

Dry

During the dry braking testing, the new Bridgestone Turanza T005 narrowly beat the Michelin pairing of the Primacy 4 and CrossClimate.

The gap between the new winter tyre and worn winter tyre was huge, and also quite difficult to understand as winter tyres often have improvements to dry braking as they wear, due to less block movement. The aged, worn summer tyre showed clear signs of the rubber hardening up over time, and was only able to beat a single budget tyre.

Dry handling had a similar overall result, only with the Michelin CrossClimate dropping out of the top three.

Wet

During the wet braking testing the Michelin Primacy 4 proved to be the class of the test, stopping the car a full 0.6m ahead of the second placed Hankook. Again, the aged summer tyre had no answer to the test, finishing second to last.

The Michelin also performed the best during wet handling, with the Bridgestone in a close second place, both tyres having a good lead over the rivals. The worn tyres again struggled, finishing last by quite a margin.

Environment

The Michelin all season and winter tyres proved to be the quietest on test, with the Primacy 4 once again being the best of the summer tyres.

Results

Overall results below.

1st: Michelin Primacy 4
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 96 Overall: 96 Read Reviews    Buy from £86.67
2nd: Bridgestone Turanza T005
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 92.8 Overall: 92.8 Read Reviews    Buy from £67.94
3rd: Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 92.4 Overall: 92.4 Read Reviews    Buy from £71.19
4th: Pirelli Cinturato P7 Blue
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 91.2 Overall: 91.2 Read Reviews
5th: Hankook Kinergy Eco 2
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 89.8 Overall: 89.8 Read Reviews    Buy from £72.68
6th: BFGoodrich gGrip
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 89 Overall: 89 Read Reviews
7th: Continental Premium Contact 5
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 88.1 Overall: 88.1 Read Reviews    Buy from £84.99
8th: Firestone RoadHawk
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 87.2 Overall: 87.2 Read Reviews    Buy from £67.99
9th: Michelin CrossClimate
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 85.9 Overall: 85.9 Read Reviews
10th: Infinity Ecosis
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 85.5 Overall: 85.5 Read Reviews    Buy from £62.88
11th: Taurus 401 HighPerformance
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 83.5 Overall: 83.5 Read Reviews
12th: Semperit SpeedLife 2
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 81.8 Overall: 81.8 Read Reviews
14th: Laufenn S fit EQ
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 75.5 Overall: 75.5 Read Reviews
16th: Dayton Touring 2
205/55 R16 3PMSF: no	Total: 73.9 Overall: 73.9 Read Reviews