Test Summary
Wet Braking	Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2
Dry Braking	Falken Azenis FK510
Wear	Nexen N Fera Sport SU2

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

The test starts out as a regular summer tire test, there's nine tire 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 tires, but doesn't test wear, which means a tire 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. 

First to third place was the Nexen N'Fera Sport SU2, Nokian WetProof, and the Falken Azenis FK510 and Maxxis Premitra HP5 tied for third. These brands performing well is not unusual, they've been quickly improving for years, however these brands all finishing ahead of Michelin, Continental and Goodyear is very unusual, and Goodyear finishing dead last with the new EfficientGrip Performance 2, which won the Tire Reviews summer tire test, is so far unheard of!

Is this a sign of things to come, or a unique set of variables and score weightings working in favour of the second tier brands? The only thing we can be sure of is that the gap between the best premium tires and best mid range tires is getting closer every year, and brands such as Nexen, Nokian, Falken and Maxxis really do make excellent products at their price point.

One final point, both ADAC and Auto Bild have tested a number of these tires in wear in 2021, and in the ADAC test the Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 had nearly twice the tread life of the Maxxis and over double the tread life of the Nokian.

Update:

ACE published a little data on their website, which further adds to the confusion. To quote (translated) "It starts with braking: this is where the test Golf presses itself most decisively into the asphalt when Michelin tires are fitted. It comes to a stop, fully decelerated from 100 km / h, after just 48 meters. With this he collects the 30 maximum points in the results table, but even the second best from Continental needs two meters longer. This is followed by a large midfield with braking distances between 52.1 and 53.9 meters. And a clear loser: with the Maxxis, the Golf only stops after 56.9 meters. Or to put it another way: if the Golf with the Michelin tires is already stationary, it is still almost 40 km / h with the Maxxis."

In most tests, wet braking is usually one of the highest weighted scores in the overall results.

Update 2:

Having now seen a further breakdown of the points system, it seems the testers put a lot of weight on the aquaplaning performance of the tires. For example, in wet braking the Michelin Primacy 4 received 30 points while the Maxxis, which stopped the car nearly 10 meters behind the Michelin, still received 23 points, a 7 point difference.

While the aquaplaning data isn't published, we can see in this test the Maxxis received 38 points and the Michelin 16, a 22 point difference, which plays a HUGE part in the overall order of the tires.

If nothing else, this is a good lesson in why you should use data from multiple sources, not just a single test to help you make your tire purchase decision. As always, you can find all the other tire tests from 2021 here at Tire Reviews!

Results

1st: Nexen N Fera Sport SU2
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 277 Dry: 54 Wet: 66 Overall: 157 Short braking distances and good handling on dry and wet surfaces, high resistance to aquaplaning, good value for money. High rolling resistance. Highly Recommended. Read Reviews
2nd: Nokian WetProof
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 269 Dry: 50 Wet: 66 Overall: 153 Short braking distances and good handling on dry and wet roads, high resistance to aquaplaning. Increased noise level. Highly recommended. Read Reviews
3rd: Falken Azenis FK510
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 270 Dry: 50 Wet: 68 Overall: 152 Short braking distances on wet surfaces. Increased noise level. Highly recommended. Read Reviews
3rd: Maxxis Premitra HP5
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 268 Dry: 49 Wet: 67 Overall: 152 Good handling on wet roads, Excellent aquaplaning resistance, good value for money. Long braking distances on wet roads, high noise level. Highly recommended. Read Reviews
5th: Michelin Primacy 4
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 267 Dry: 53 Wet: 63 Overall: 151 Short braking distances and good handling on dry and wet surfaces, low rolling resistance. Poor resistance to lateral aquaplaning, high price. Highly recommended. Read Reviews    Buy from £100.93
6th: Continental Premium Contact 6
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 263 Dry: 51 Wet: 66 Overall: 146 Short braking distances and good handling on dry and wet roads. High noise level, low resistance to lateral aquaplaning, high price. Recommended. Read Reviews    Buy from £89.17
6th: Laufenn S Fit EQ+
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 253 Dry: 55 Wet: 52 Overall: 146 Short braking distances on dry and wet roads, low price. Tendency to understeer and low lateral stability in the wet, increased noise level. Recommended. Read Reviews
8th: BFGoodrich Advantage
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 252 Dry: 50 Wet: 58 Overall: 144 Short braking distances in the wet. Low resistance to aquaplaning, tendency to understeer and low lateral stability on wet surfaces, increased noise level. Recommended. Read Reviews    Buy from £98.56
9th: Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2
225/45 R17 3PMSF: no	Total: 261 Dry: 60 Wet: 58 Overall: 143 Good handling on wet surfaces, low noise level, low rolling resistance. Low resistance to aquaplaning. Recommended. Read Reviews    Buy from £81.30