Premium Touring Tyre Tests

The 2020 Auto Motor und Sport summer tyre test tested eleven 225/45 R18 ultra high performance tyres using a BMW 3 Series.

While the group overall was extremely close, the winning Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 and second placed Michelin Pilot Sport 4 were almost inseparable overall, with the Goodyear narrowly taking the overall win.

The 2020 Auto Bild AllRad SUV / 4x4 tyre test has looked at the popular 255/55 R18 tyre size. While the tyre patterns included in the test are aimed at "soft roaders", which spend 99% of their time on normal roads, Auto Bild still went to the effort of testing the handling and traction on gravel of all ten tyres, along with traction on grass, mud and even sand!

Off-road performance is often an opposing quality to on-road grip, with dedicated off-road tyres performing well in loose surfaces such as gravel and mud, but poorly on-road in the dry and wet.  It's worth noting, as we found out with our off-road tyre test, repeatable off-road testing is extremely difficult, especially in mud, so these figures should only be used as a broad guide.

The 2020 Auto Zeitung summer tyre test has been published, and as usual they've tested a really interesting mix of twenty tyres in the popular 225/50 R17 size.

As 225/50 R17 tyres generally bias towards comfort rather than outright sporty performance, AZ tested with the new brand BMW 3 Series, and performed the usual array of  thirteen dry, wet, comfort and economy tests.

The talented guys at ACE Europe have just released their first summer tyre test for 2020, and interestingly they've tested nine 215/55 R17 summer tyres from the mid range sector of the market!

Having already looked at the 2020 ADAC 18" UHP summer tyre test, the SUV version in 235/55 R17 is more of the same.

Of the twelve tyres tested in this popular crossover SUV size, Michelin once again take the top spot with the Primacy 4, thanks to an excellent all round balanced performance.

The 2019 Auto Center winter tyre test is both good and bad. The positive is that out of ten 205/55 R16 patterns, it only includes two premium manufacturers. This means we get a much better look at the midrange bracket of winter tyres, which is great for those of us who want to save a little money, and all ten patterns on test have been tested for ice braking and traction which is now usually omitted from central European tyre testing.

Are cheap winter tyres safe? To find out, we travelled to Finland, twice, to do snow, ice, wet and dry testing.

All tests were done using two cars, a VW Golf wearing 205/55 R16 tyres, and a heavier, larger Volvo S90 fitted with 245/45 R18 tyres.

For the first time in 2020, Tyre Reviews will be performing its own all season tyre test, but until then, the Auto Bild all season tyre test is the best you can get! Testing ten sets of all season tyres in 225/45 R17 using a BMW 1 Series, and including a summer and winter tyre as reference, Auto Bild have done as thorough a job as ever for their 2019 all season tyre test.

The most notable performances follow the trends other tests have shown during 2019. The new Bridgestone WeatherControl A005 couldn't deliver on the foundations laid by the strong wet and dry braking performance in the shootout test, finishing ninth overall due to a very average snow performance, but more importantly for UK drivers, very high wear.

The 2019 Auto Express winter tyre test has tested ten 225/45 R17 winter tyres, and included a summer and all season product as a benchmark.

The newest winter tyre from Goodyear is shaping up to be an excellent winter product. Thanks to a near perfect all round performance, it wins another tyre test, narrowly beating the established king of winter motoring, the Continental WinterContact TS860.

The ACE / GTU tyre test is always a funny one, as they go to a lot of effort to test the tyres, but then provide no data at all, only the overview scores.

For this reason, we always keep the commentary low, but it's important to have the test results on Tyre Reviews, as the more tests published the better right?

The weekly UK publication Auto Express has just published their 2019 all season tyre test! This year Auto Express tested nine all season tyre patterns in 205/55 R16 using a VW Golf.

As in previous years, Auto Express have included a summer and winter tyre as reference. Shockingly, the summer Continental PremiumContact 5 was the best in dry overall, near the best in wet, and fell apart in snow. Things get more interesting when we compare the winter Continental WinterContact TS860 to the all season tyres on test.

While studded tyres don't have much use in the UK, for parts of the Nordic countries they are essential for safe mobility.

To find out which of the latest studded winter tyres are worth fitting, Swedish magazine Vi Bilagare have tested seven studded winter tyres in 225/50 R17, and included a studless nordic friction winter tyre as a comparison.

Winter tyre buying can be a confusing challenge, as there are now six types of tyre you can realistically fit to your car. But which is best? To find out, I test summer, all season, all weather, winter, extreme winter and studded tyres in dry, wet, snow and ice testing, covering handling, braking and grip.

Following on from the All Season tyre market overview, Auto Bild have published their winter version of the shootout style braking test.

For the winter test, Auto Bild have tested 53 winter tyres in 225/45 R17 in wet and snow braking. The two braking distances are combined, and the top twenty tyres go through to a full test covering all aspects of a tyres performance.

Warning, lots of data ahead! For the 2019 winter, Auto Motor und Sport have tested eleven of the best winter tyres in the 215/55 R17 crossover SUV size.

The biggest plus of this test is the sheer amount of data they've produced, as they've rated the tyres both objectively and subjectively in a lot of categories.

This year the German motoring organisation ADAC have tested sixteen winter tyres in the popular 185/65 R15.

With summer sadly coming to an end, now is a great time to start thinking about switching to all season or winter tyre options.

To help this purchase decision, the excellent German publication Auto Bild publish the results of their pre-tests, in order to select the best all season tyres to send through to their full all season tyre test.

This year Auto Bild have tested 31 all season tyres in 225/45 R17 in wet and dry braking, and the top ten will go through to the full test due next month.

For their 2019 summer tyre test, Auto Express have tested eight SUV tyres in the popular 235/50 R18 size.

It's never a bad thing when a magazine goes to the effort of testing summer AND all season tyres in the same test, as it gives the motorist a good idea of the different balance of performances each tyre type has, so it's great to see Auto Navigator doing exactly this for their 205/55 R16 summer tyre test.

Not satisfied with just summer and all season tyres, Auto Navigator have included a "test winning" winter tyre, as well as worn summer and worn winter tyres (tread depth unknown!)

The Norwegian AutoMobile Federation (NAF) has tested seven summer tyre patterns in 205/55 R16, and included a premium winter tyre for comparison.

The winter tyre performed surprisingly well during the wet braking testing, which was tested between 18 and 25c, beating the Dunlop and Bridgestone summer tyres. Wet handling showed a little more weakness, with the winter tyre finishing last, but it was still within a few percent of the summer tyres.