Tyre Reviews Tyre Tests

In previous years Auto Express have been slow to publish their tyre tests online, but not this year - Auto Express have done such a great job on their website, there's nothing left for us to add!

Winter tyres can be a problem in the UK. Mainland Europe are very good at putting smaller wheels and tyres on, but in the UK where even the most modest town hatchback is being fitted with 17 or 18 inch wheels as standard, and performance car now being fitted with 19 or even 20 inch wheels, finding a test covering larger winter wheel sizes can be difficult.

Fortunately Auto Bild Sportscars is there to offer us some guidance for the 2014 season, and have tested 235/35 R19 winter tyres on a BMW M135i. Sadly, they only managed to find six patterns to test, compared to fifty in their 205/55 R16 tests, but it gives us a good indication of what winter tyres are like in larger sizes.

 In 2014 Auto Zeitung have tested eleven 205/55 R16 premium winter tyres. 

The 2014 Auto Motor Und Sport tyre test was carried out in Sweden and Germany, and covered ten winter tyres in 205/55 R16. 

The 2014 Auto Bild winter tyre test tested sixteen 225/50 R17 winter tyres across fifteen disciplines, covering snow grip, wet grip, dry grip, rolling resistance and comfort. 

Starting with fifty different tyre models, Auto Bild put every tyre through a winter tyres toughest test - wet braking. Auto Bild then took the top twenty winter tyres from wet braking through to snow braking, and once it had combined the wet and snow braking distances for the top twenty, it chose the top sixteen tyres  for this more thorough "full" test. 

The UK weather has proven itself to be unpredictable, and with the 2014 winter approaching quickly we don't yet know whether we're in for another 2011 level of snow induced chaos, or a repeat of last years mild and wet winter.

With this in mind, here at TyreReviews we've come to the conclusion the best winter tyre for the UK climate, is actually an all season tyre.

It's the test we look forward to all year, the Auto Bild winter tyre shootout. 

2014 sees Auto Bild testing fifty different winter tyres in 225/50 R17. As usual, they test all fifty tyres in wet braking from 50 mph, then take the top twenty through to a snow braking test from 31mph. The top fifteen from this test then go on to the full winter tyre test, where Auto Bild crown the best winter tyre of 2014. 

Here at TyreReviews we always get excited when EVO publish a tyre test. Normally tyre tests focus on raw numbers, dedicating pages to telling you which tyre has 0.1% more grip, but forgetting to mention how the tyres actually feel on the car.

Conversely EVO spend plenty of time, and dedicate 60% of the overall result, to subjective handling. With the difference in grip between the best tyres on the market ever shrinking, explaining how the tyres actually feel to use give people who enjoy driving a good reference point. This years test was carried out at the Bridgestone test track in Italy, on a VW Golf GTI wearing 225/45 R17 tyres.

The 2014 Auto Express Summer Tyre Test is here, and it is closer than ever! Testing 10 tyres in 205/55 R16, Auto Express put the tyres through the usual array of nine stringent tests in the dry and wet.

Unlike the average car driver, motorbike riders have an intimate relationship with their tyres, and fully understand the need to fit the right tyre for your riding style and intended use. Sometimes lasting less than 2,000 miles, the right tyre can literally mean the difference between a safe ride home in the wet, or a nasty highside resulting in a damaged bike, and potentially worse, a damaged body. 

Read on for the full results

Following on from the 255/40 R19 tyre test, the Russian magazine Auto Review have tested 16 tyres in the far more common 205/55 R16. The twist this year is the inclusion of what Auto Review call "second line tyres", which are mid range brands which are manufactured by the premium brands. 

A 444bhp Mustang Boss 302 might not be the last word in car dynamics, but it's what the Russian magazine Auto Review have chosen to use for their 2014 Max Performance tyre test. Wearing massive 255/40 R19 front tyres, and 285/35 R19 rears, this was never going to be an "ordinary" tyre test, and the inclusion of a drifting test only highlighted the testers were out to have fun driving while getting their data. 

11 set of tyres in the popular 205/55 R16, the standard VW Golf 7 and the usual array of thorough wet and dry tests summarises the 2014 Auto Motor Und Sport Summer Tyre Test.