Premium Touring Tyre Tests

Do you want to know what all season tyre is best for year round driving whatever the weather? In this test we take nine of the very best 205/55 R16 all season tyres on the market, plus a well regarded summer and winter tyre as references, to see exactly what tyre performs best in the dry, wet, snow, comfort, noise and rolling resistance tests!

The German SUV specialist publication Auto Bild Allrad have become the second magazine in 2021 to publish their all season tyre test, and the first to include the new Michelin CrossClimate 2 (much to our disappointment, we wanted to be first!)

While the Allrad tests aren't quite as in depth as the industry leading Auto Bild tests, they're still an excellent reference point for the market, and especially useful if you drive an SUV, or are interested in how an all season tyre compares to a summer and winter tyre, as both are included as references.

The tested size is 215/65 R17, which fits many popular SUVs such as the VW Tiguan test vehicle, the Audi Q5, Mercedes GLA, Nissan Qashqai and many others. It's worth remembering that sometimes SUV tyre sizes have different constructions to their regular cousins, meaning that surprising results can be a feature in this sort of test!

The 2021 Auto Zeitung all season tyre test tested nine all season tyres in the popular 205/55 R16 size.

While this test doesn't have the new Michelin CrossClimate 2 or Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF2, it does have the new Vredestein Quatrac, and even more interestingly, it tested at multiple temperatures. We didn't get precise temperature data, but the magazine did detail that the cooler temperature was under 10c, and the warmer temperature over 20c.

The Michelin CrossClimate 2 has finally been launched in Europe, and Tyre Reviews has the exclusive first test comparing the new Michelin CrossClimate 2 to the outgoing Michelin CrossClimate+.

In this test we look at the improvements made in dry grip, including dry braking which was already very impressive, the step forward in wet grip and aquaplaning resistance, the huge improvement in rolling resistance meaning lower fuel consumption / better MPG for your car, and the serious step forward Michelin have made in the snow performance of the new tyre.

Watch the video to see how the new Michelin CrossClimate 2 is better than the Michelin CrossClimate+ in nearly every way!

It's the first Tyre Reviews SUV tyre test, and as usual, we're trying to do this as properly as possible!

We have 8 of the most popular SUV tyres in 235/55 R18, including the Michelin Primacy 4, the brand new Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV, the extremely popular Uniroyal RainSport 5, the new Hankook Ventus S1 Evo3 SUV, the Nokian WetProof SUV, the Vredestein Ultrac Satin, the Avon ZX7, the BFGoodrich Advantage SUV, and a budget tyre.

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. 

Following on from the massive 53 tyre braking test, Auto Bild have taken the best twenty 205/55 R16 tyres through to further testing, which includes wet and dry handling, aquaplaning, rolling resistance, noise, and a rarity in tyre testing, wear!

As the 2021 Tyre Reviews summer test is covering UHP and SUV sizes, this will be the most complete reference we have this year for the 16" summer tyre market, however if you'd like to watch a 16" summer tyre test, you can check out ours from last year here.

For the 2021 Sport Auto summer tyre test, the German publication have tested eleven tyres in the relatively small 195/55 R16 tyre size. As this tyre size is intended for smaller vehicles such as the Audi A1, Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 208 and other similar sized cars, Sport Auto used a Seat Ibiza for testing, and placed all eleven sets of tyres through the usual dry, wet and environment based tests.

The 2021 Auto Bild All Rad SUV test has tested ten SUV tyres in the popular 215/60 R17 size. While the German publication used a Jeep Renegade for testing, this size is also fitted to vehicles like the Nissan Qashqai, VW Transporter, Renault Kadjar, Toyota C HR and many other popular crossover SUVs.

As always Auto Bild have done a great job testing, as not only have they tested in the dry and wet, they've also conducted FIVE off-road tests. Given these sort of vehicles rarely see any activity outside of the school run, the tests have a low weighting in the overall results, but it's certainly excellent data if you ever plan to take your crossover SUV on grass, gravel, sand or mud!

For the 2021 ADAC summer tyre tests, the German organisation selected the popular 205/55 R16 and 225/50 R17 summer tyre sizes.

As usual with ADAC tests there is little raw data provided, instead the testers grading each tyre with a score, but this year we do get wear data (below) and even some of the testers subjective thoughts on the tyres, which is an excellent addition.

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 2021, Auto Bild have tested 53 tyres in the most popular tyre size in Europe, 205/55 R16.

All 53 sets of tyres have their wet and dry braking results below, with the shortest 20 combined braking distances progressing to the full test, which will be on the website shortly.

All season VS winter tires is a hotly discussed topic, and while we've done our own test at various temperatures, it sadly didn't include any ice testing, or things like wet handling and rolling resistance testing.

Fortunately, our friends at Vi Bilagare once again have us covered. During their Nordic winter testing in 2020, the magazine included an all season and "european" winter tire alongside their usual selection of Nordic friction and studded winter tires.

As the all-season and European winter tire were being tested from a Nordic perspective, they had a significant testing on ice, which is a rarity for an all-season tire.

The results... well, I’m sure you can guess how each of the four tire types performed on each surface, but it's really cool to see all this data from one source.

Sadly there are very few professional tire tests conducted in North America, however the magazine Consumer Reports does an excellent job of educating the market with a number of huge tire tests every year.

While the public data is limited, you have to be a member to see the full results, we thought it would be important to database the information we have to help our American audience pick the right winter tire.

The 2020 Consumer Reports Winter Tire Test has tested seventeen of the best winter tires on the market in the popular 215/60 R16 size.

If you need to keep your van mobile year round, all season tyres are an increasingly popular solution, which is why German publication Pro Mobile have tested seven commercial all season tyres in the popular 225/70 R15C tyre size.

On test they have all the manufactures you'd expect from a car all season tyre test, with Continental, Falken, Goodyear, Maxxis, Michelin, Pirelli and Vredestein included in the test.

For the 2020 Auto Express all season tyre test, Auto Express tested six 225/45 R17 all season tyres using a VW Golf.

For their second winter test of 2020, the excellent Vi Bilagare have tested eight Nordic friction (studless) winter tyres.

As with the studded version, Vi Bilagare have performed a thorough test covering dry, wet, snow and ice, and should be considered one of the benchmarks for extreme winter testing in Europe. 

This test is particularly interesting as it has the new Michelin X-Ice Snow, Bridgestone Blizzak Ice, Pirelli Ice Zero FR and Nexen Winguard Ice Plus WH43 placed up against the established Nordic winter tyres from Continental, Goodyear and Nokian.

For the 2020 Vi Bilägare Winter studded tire test, the Swedish magazine has tested 8 of the most extreme studded winter tyres in 205/60 R16.

As this is a studded winter tyre test, the testers placed much more emphasis on snow and ice performance, so if you're in a region that sees a lot of compacted snow and ice on the road during normal winters, this is a very useful test.

The 2020 Auto Bild crossover SUV all season tyre test has tested 11 of the best all season tyres in the rather small 215/60 R16 tyre size, using a VW T-Roc. 

Auto Bild have also included a reference summer and winter tyre, so we can see the difference performances between the three tyre types, but sadly haven't shared which tyres were used as the reference tyres.

Here are the Tyre Reviews best winter tyres for the 2020 winter tyre season.

As usual, all these tyres have been picked based on data from Tyre Reviews testing, other tests from around the world, and user reviews - think of this as one big meta-analysis of the best winter / snow / studded tyres on the market. This video covers European, Nordic and North American winter tyres / tyres, and covers cars, SUV's and Electric vehicles (EVs.)