Tyre Reviews Tyre Tests

The excellent 2017 Auto Express summer tyre test has just been published! This year Auto Express tested eleven 205/55 R16 tyre sizes, ranging from the premium end of the market to the budget end.

This year's winner is the Continental Premium Contact 5. This tyre has always tested well, but with the newer Premium Contact 6 having already been on the market for 6 months at time of test, it would have been interesting to see just how well the latest version of the Premium Contact range would have done!

The German publication Auto Bild have just tested five 235/35 R19 track day tyres using a Ford Focus ST, and included a "normal" maximum performance road tyre as comparison.

Given the location of the test (Continentals proving grounds in Texas), and the performance of the included road tyre, we're going to assuming the tyre was the Continental Sport Contact 6, and it demonstrates just how good road tyres have become!

With the SUV sector booming, tyre manufacturers are starting to merge their car and SUV lines into one product. The latest, and according to this test by the Swedish magazine Vi Bilägare, greatest example of this, is the new Continental Premium Contact 6.

The first test featuring the new Bridgestone DriveGuard runflat tyre has been published!

Testing ten 205/55 R16 touring tyres on a VW Golf, Polish Motor magazine included the new generation Bridgestone DriveGuard runflat tyre against the traditional non-runflat competition. 

We've currently very few details about this years ACE / GTU SUV Summer tyre test, but we do know some things.

The testers tested eleven 215/60 R17 tyres using a the crossover SUV Vauxhall Mokka. No offroad tests were done, as crossover SUVs spend most of their lives on the black stuff.

The German publication Auto Bild have published their third tyre test of 2017, this time testing nine UHP tyres in 245/40 R18 using an Audi TT. Without a budget tyre included in the test, this is one of the closest tyre tests we've seen in years, and highlight just how close the latest generation of tyres have become in terms of raw performance.

How much faster are track day tyres compared to the best road tyres? The German publication Sport Auto have produced the answer by taking seven of the best maximum performance road tyres and three of the best track day tyres, and placing them all through the same testing on a Toyota GT86 (225/40 R18).

For 2017, Auto Motor und Sport have tested ten 245/45 R18 ultra high performance tyres using a BMW 3 Series Estate.

This test is the first time the new Michelin Pilot Sport 4 and Continental Premium Contact 6 have appeared in the same test, which should give us some interesting data about the two big rivals.

Following on from the 52 tyre shootout, Auto Bild have taken the twenty best tyres through a full array of wet, dry, NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) and wear tests.

As a change from the usual FWD hatchback used for testing, Auto Bild tested the 225/50 R17 size using a RWD BMW 3 Series.

The Auto Bild sports cars test is usually one of our favourite tests of the year, and this year looks to be no different.

Testing nine 235/35 R19 maximum performance tyres using a Focus ST, Auto Bild have focused on the raw performance of these tyres, weighting the score heavily in favour of wet and dry handling.

For 2017 AutoBild have chosen to test the large 235/50 R18 tyre size, fitted to vehicles such as the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and as tested, the VW Tiguan.

Auto Bild put the ten tyre patterns through the usual wet, dry, comfort and economy tests, and also tested the tyres on grass, gravel, sand and mud, should you wish to take your crossover SUV for some light offroading.

For 2017 the German publication Auto Zeitung have chosen to test ten summer tyres in 215/55 R17 using a VW Touran.

Like Auto Express, AZ buy their tyres on the open market, meaning the Continental Premium Contact 6 and the Bridgestone Turenza T001 Evo are sadly excluded from the test, and are instead represented by their predecessors. To further highlight the complexity of tyre testing, Hankook noted the version of the Ventus Prime 3 purchased for the test were an early manufacturer date and intended for OE fitment. The aftermarket fitment of the Ventus Prime 3 Hankook would have preferred to be tested would have had better wet performance.

The crossover SUV tyre segment is quickly becoming the most important tyre range for tyre manufacturers. Thanks to the exponential growth in popularity of cars such as the VW Tiguan, Audi Q3 and BMW X3, the 16" and 17" SUV sizes are the quickest growing in terms of volume, and why this year ADAC has tested fifteen 215/65 R16 tyres using a VW Tiguan.

After testing the unusually large size of 225/45 R17 in 2016, normal service has been resumed for the 2017 ADAC Summer tyre test, this time testing sixteen tyre patterns in 195/65 R15.

ADAC tests are no toriously data driven and they write very little commentry of their own, so here's our take on the test.

This year Auto Bild have taken 52 summer tyres in 225/50 R17, put them through wet and dry braking, and taken the top 20 through to a full tyre test.

This year Auto Express have tested six all season tyres in the rather large (by all season tyres standards) 225/45 R17.

Winter tyres aren't exclusively reserved for two wheel drive vehicles, four wheel drive cars benefit too. This year AMS have tested ten winter tyres in the popular 4x4 / SUV / Crossover size of 215/60 R17, which covers cars such as the Opel Mokka, Skoda Yeti, and the Volkswagen Tiguan.

This year Sport Auto magazine have tested six performance winter tyres in 235/40 R18.

Due to the limited number of patterns in the test, and no all season or summer comparison, we'll forgo the usual commentry and just present the results below.

While the four wheel drive systems and extra weight of large SUVs can give you a traction advantage in snow and ice over "normal" cars, you have roughly the same braking and turning ability as any other car on the road, which makes winter tyres a sensible option for anyone with an SUV requiring safe, year round motoring.

This year, Auto Bild have tested eight winter tyre patterns in 255/55 R18 using a BMW X5 in Northern Finland, across the usual array of dry, wet and snow tests, all while looking at the tyres comfort, rolling resistance and noise levels.

Issue 1,443 of the weekly UK publication Auto Express contains their excellent 2016 winter tyre test! This year Auto Express have tested eight winter tyre patterns in 205/55 R16 using a VW Golf, and like other publications have included an all season and summer tyre for comparison.