Premium Touring Passenger Car Tyre Tests

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.

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.

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.

Each year, the German automotive publication Autobild trump all the other European magazines by putting out a huge winter tyre test, and this year is no different.

Starting out with fifty winter tyre patterns, Autobild tested all the tyres wet braking performance. Once the wet braking order was set, Autobild took the twenty seven patterns which stopped the car within 20% of the best through to snow braking, then the top twenty wet and snow braking results combined this, the full tyre test.

With the 2016 winter season fast approaching, the AMS all season tyre test has been published, this time in the SUV / 4x4 size 215/60 R17.

Auto Motor Und Sport used a crossover Vauxhall Mokka to test four all season patterns, and compared them to a summer Continental Premium Contact 5 tyre, and a winter Continental WinterContact TS850 P SUV.

Most magazines look to test around ten different tyre patterns each test, with some pushing up to fifteen different tyres. Auto Bild like to go a step further and this year, have tested test fifty sets of 205/55 R16 winter tyres.

The 2016 Auto Bild All Season tyre test has tested ten of the latest all season tyres across the usual array of dry, wet, snow, comfort and economy tests using the industry standard VW Golf wearing 205/55 R16 sized tyres.

For the second time this year, the summer-bias Michelin CrossClimate won the test overall by dominating in the dry, having the shortest wet braking and being good enough in the snow.

Once again in 2016, the German Magazine Auto Zeitung have provided one of the most exciting winter tyre tests we've covered. Testing thirteen of the latest winter tyres in 205/55 R16, including the Continental WinterContact TS860, Dunlop Winter Sport 5, Goodyear UltraGrip 9 and Nokian WR D4, Auto Zeitung have also included the Michelin CrossClimate summer-bias all season tyre as a comparison.

The 2016 ACE magazine all season tyre test covers ten all season tyres in the popular 205/55 R16 tyre size using a VW Golf, and includes a summer and winter tyre as benchmarks.

Once again, the test highlights the fact that current all season tyres, with the exception of the Michelin CrossClimate, should be considered as slightly tweaked winter tyres and have all the drawbacks of the winter rubber in warm dry and wet conditions.

This year the German magazine "Gute Fahrt" have tested nine all season tyres in 205/55 R16 using a VW Golf, plus summer and winter tyre for comparison.

While the full results are summarised below, we thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at how the all season tyres compared to the summer Continental EcoContact 5 and winter Dunlop WinterSport 5 included in the test.

This year the German AutoBild magazine have taken the 15 best tyres from their 205/55 R16 50 tyre braking shootout through to the full test, and the result is another impressive win for Hankook!

One VW Golf wearing 205/55 R16 tyres, 50 different tyre patterns, and a lot of wet and dry braking tests gives us a good overview of the market in 2016. The dry test was braking from 62 mph, and the wet from 50 mph.

Much like the 225/45 R17 test ADAC published at the same time, the ADAC 185/65 R15 tyre test looks at sixteen premium and mid range tyres, but this time has selected tyres intended to be fitted to smaller town and city cars.

The biggest surprise of the test was this time delivered by Vredestein, with the Sportrac 5 dominating the test, and beating the wet weather master Continental Premium Contact 5 in the wet tests. The Vredestein must have gone through a life cycle update, as in 2015 the best result it could manage was fifth overall, and over placed near the bottom of the tests it took part in.

Continuing the year of all season tyre tests, French magazine L'Argus have released their first all season tyre test, which included both the new Michelin CrossClimate, the new Nokian Weatherproof, and the new Nokian WR D4 as the reference winter tyre.

Testing five of the latest all season tyres in 205/55 R16 on a VW Golf, L'Argus put the all the tyres through a full complement of winter and summer tests, in both an Austrian Autumn at a warm 15c, and a Finnish winter where the temperatures were as low as -15c.

The UK climate represents a difficult challenge for car tyres. Warm enough to require a tyre that works well at higher temperatures, but not warm enough to make a summer tyre the best choice year round.

Until recently, tyres have fallen into three distinct categories: summer, all season and winter tyres. Traditionally, all season tyres have been developed from a winter tyre origins, which give them excellent snow performance but can impact dry and wet performance, especially in the warmer months. This year, Michelin have released the CrossClimate, which if the marketing is to be believed, promises to be a second type of all season tyre, one which started life as a summer tyre and has been gifted winter capabilities.

Is a summer and winter tyre combination the only safe option? Has the second generation Goodyear all season moved the game on? Can the new Michelin CrossClimate live up to the marketing hype? That's what we're here to find out.