Summer Passenger Car Tyre Tests

It doesn't take much to make me happy, but a Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE at Nelson Ledges with five sets of tyres ranging from treadwear 300 to treadwear 100... well that's a very easy place to be happy.

The reason for this test was to see if a lower treadwear value, which is a number the American Uniform Tire Quality Grade (UTQG) standards body assign to a tyre based on a basic wear test, really does mean more grip, but it turned out to be a fascinating insight into some of the big hitting tyres used on track in North America.

Watch the video below for the full details.

Racing slick tyres are used by some of the fastest cars in the world, but just how much faster is a slick tyre when compared to a track day tyre, or even a normal ultra high performance road tyre on a regular road car?

To find out, we're putting the ultra high performance Pirelli P Zero PZ4 road tyre against the the Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R track day tyre and two different types of Pirelli slick race tyres to find out exactly how much faster a slick tyre can be!

Auto Express have asked Tyre Reviews not to cover too much of their test, so if you'd like to see the full results of this 225/45 R17 summer tyre test head over to the Auto Express website!

Here's a very basic overview of the results. One thing to keep in mind is there's a mix of tyre types in this test, with more performance bias patterns such as the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 and Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 up against touring bias tyres such as the Bridgestone Turanza T005 and Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2.

For the 2021 Tyre Reviews 200 treadwear Track Tyre Test we have selected eight of the the most popular 200tw track focused performance tyres and have access to Michelin's Laurens proving ground in South Carolina, which has a very fast, high grip, dry handling test track.

You can either watch the full test video for all the glorious shots of the beautiful E36 M3 test car, or click through to read the full results.

Michelin and BMW spent over 2.5 years making the perfect tyre for the new G80 BMW M3 and G82 BMW M4. Here's all the work and changes that went into the project!

Published a later than usual due to covid travel restrictions, the Polish magazine "Motor" have tested ten 225/55 R17 summer tyres in the usual array of wet and dry testing.

The 17 inch size tested can be found on a wide range of vehicles, such as the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series, and Mercedes E-Class, smaller vehicles like the BMW 3-Series and Mini Countryman, crossovers like the Honda CR-V, Nissan X-Trail and Skoda Karoq, and even minivans / people carriers like the Chrysler Voyager, Fiat Scudo and Opel Vivaro. 

We've taken 14 of the best ultra high performance summer tyres in the very popular 225/40 R18 tyre size, and we've tested the dry and wet handling, the dry and wet braking ability, aquaplaning resistance, the noise levels and the rolling resistance of these tyres, to work out exactly what tyre is best at what!

In an unexpected release, Auto Bild have just published their second ultra high performance tyre test of 2021, this time testing the popular 235/35 R19 tyre size and again putting the new Bridgestone Potenza Sport up against the best from Continental and Michelin. Strangely, Auto Bild have included the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 instead of the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport which would have been a more natural selection for this group, but it's still a really interesting test.

As always, things are close at the top, with Michelin taking a narrow victory, just ahead of Bridgestone and Continental in joint second place.

It seems like every year there's a tyre test that doesn't follow the norm, and this year it's the ACE / ARBÖ / GTÜ summer tyre test. 

The test starts out as a regular summer tyre test, there's nine tyre patterns in the popular 225/45 R17 size, and they tested using a VW Golf which is the standard test car. However, once you get into the results, things get a little confusing.

Firstly, no data is provided by the testers, just a points system which makes an accurate analysis of the results difficult. Secondly, the test gives weighting to the price of the tyres, but doesn't test wear, which means a tyre which is cheap to purchase scores well, even if it has a lower overall value due to high wear.

But strangest of all are the overall results. 

Good news, 2021 is shaping up to be a really a exciting year for tyres. We have a brand new UUHP contender taking the fight to Michelin, Goodyear and Continental, some extreme updates of existing patterns, and the promise of new tyres on the horizon later this year! 

Watch on for the full exciting details!

If like me you've been wondering exactly how low rolling resistance / eco / EV tyres differ from their regular counterparts, this is the test for you!

The wonderful people at the Swedish publication ViBilagare have tested ten sets of tyres in the popular 205/55 R16 size, and included "normal" AND "eco / EV" tyres from Continental, Michelin and Nokian. This means we have the Continental PremiumContact 6 vs EcoContact 6, Michelin Primacy 4 vs e.Primacy and Nokian Hakka Blue 3 vs Green 3 (these are the Nordic specific versions of the Nokian WetProof.)

Why no eco / low rolling resistance / EV tyres from Goodyear and Bridgestone? This test highlights the different approaches of certain tyre manufacturers, and while Tyre Reviews isn't sure on Bridgestones philosophy, Goodyear firmly believe that EV specific tyres aren't needed if you make all your tyres EV Ready, by focusing on low fuel consumption and excellent grip in all conditions for every tyre.

For AutoBild's third summer tyre test for 2022, the German publication tested ten sets of 245/40 R19 tyres using a BMW 5 Series.

As this is the first test with both the new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 AND Continental SportContact 7, it makes for a very interesting test!

The new Goodyear wins overall thanks to excelling in nearly every test, other than aquaplaning (though strangely Auto Bild still said the tyre has good aquaplaning reserves, we're not sure why.)

The SportContact 7 was the fastest tyre in the dry and had the best dry braking, however it couldn't match the stellar wet performance we found in the Tyre Reviews 2022 UUHP Tyre Test.

The Michelin Pilot Sport 5 is new to market, but so is its main rival, the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6! 

To find out which of these new ultra high performance tyres are best, I use a VW Golf GTI wearing 225/45 R17 tires and test the dry, wet, comfort, noise and rolling resistance of nine sets of performance tyres, to see if the new PS5 or Asym 6 can retain their crowns, or whether another brand of tyre will prove to be best!

The 2022 Autobild Sportscars summer tyre test has tested eleven 225/45 R18 sizes using a BMW 3 Series, but has also tested four of the SAME sets in a staggered 225/45 R18 front and 255/4 R18 rear size to compare the two different options.

First up, the main test. Sadly the test was missing Goodyear and Pirelli, and interestingly the testers found the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 not only to be the best, but also to have the sportiest handling, something we're don't see often.

Even more surprising was that the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti+ finished joint first, beating every tyre in the wet handling test and ending up with enough points to match the Pilot Sport 4.

It was the test of ties, with the Falken FK510 and Toyo Proxes Sport A finishing joint third and the Bridgestone Potenza Sport and Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3 finishing joint fifth.

It's the first test of the new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6, and it's the first test win for the new tyre!

For 2022, the excellent publication Auto Motor und Sport have tested ten ultra high performance tyres in 245/45 R19 using an Audi A6 Quattro. The new Goodyear was essentially the best in nearly all the grip tests, and had the best subjective handling on test, but did drop some points in aquaplaning.

The 2022 AutoBild summer tyre is here! As usual, the test started out as a wet and dry braking test of fifty sets of tyres in the popular 215/55 R17 size, with the best twenty one moving through to this full test. Not only have AutoBild managed to test the new Hankook Ventus Prime 4 and Kumho Ecsta HS52, they've also put all twenty one sets of tyres through a wear test, and included an (unnamed) all season tyre as a reference in the grip tests!

The Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 won the test by combining good grip in the dry and wet, very low rolling resistance and the best wear on test. Even though it wasn't the cheapest tyre, when AutoBild divided the purchase price by the projected mileage it also proved to be the best value tyre on test, a very impressive showing from Goodyear.

For summer 2022, Sport Auto tested four sets of UHP tyres, three sets of UUHP and three semi set of slick track day tyres, all in the popular 235/35 R19 size! This is of course very interesting, and in parts a little confusing! 

As the Tyre Reviews database doesn't yet have the ability to deal with different types of tyres in the same test gracefully, we'll run over the results below before presenting all the data.

For the 2022 ADAC tyre test, the German publication have chosen the small 185/65 R15 tyre size usually fitted to city cars and hatchback vehicles.

Sadly, as usual there's no actual data provided behind the scores, but ADAC have graded and commented on all the tyres in detail which you can read below.

Without fail, each year German publication Auto Bild provides the most comprehensive overview of the summer tyre market by testing a huge amount of tyres ability in the dry and wet, in order to work out which twenty tyres deserve to be tested in their full summer tyre test.

For 2022, Auto Bild have tested 50 tyres in the most popular tyre size in Europe, 215/55 R17.

It's the 2022 Tyre Reviews Ultra-Ultra High Performance Summer Tyre Test! You can watch the video here, or scroll down for the full write up and data!

In this tyre test, I'll be testing ten of the most popular ultra-ultra high performance tyres on the market to find out exactly what tyre is best at what.