Tire Tests

There's one more summer tire test left to cover in 2017, and this time it's the American publication Car and Driver testing five 245/40 R18 maximum performance summer tires using a BMW 430i.

The first winter tire test of 2017 has been published! The German publication Auto Motor und Sport [AMS] have tested ten ultra high performance winter tires in 225/40 R18. This extremely popular 18" tire sizes is fitted to performance saloons such as the Audi A4, Skoda Octavia VRS, and the 232 bhp BMW 430i Grand Coupe used for this testing.

We'll keep the words low and data high for this Australian ultra high performance tire test. All tires tested were 235/35 R19, and the magazine used a Ford Focus RS.

The 2017 Auto Bild All Season Tire Test puts eight 225/50 R17 all season tires through the usual dry, wet and snow testing, and includes a reference summer and winter tire for benchmarks.

The two all season heavyweights of the industry, the Michelin CrossClimate and the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-2, trade results to tie overall in first place. As each of these all season tires approaches year round motoring in different ways, we'll concentrate on the top two places for this write up.

The 2017 EVO magazine summer tire test tested nine 225/40 R18 ultra high performance tires using a VW Golf GTI.

As with previous years, the overall result is 60% subjective and 40% objective, making it quite a different test from the traditional tire tests which rate objective data above subjective. This means that while the raw objective figures from the wet and dry tests are still important, how the tire feels subjectively with regards to steering speed and car balance has an even more importance on the overall result.

The excellent 2017 Auto Express summer tire test has just been published! This year Auto Express tested eleven 205/55 R16 tire sizes, ranging from the premium end of the market to the budget end.

This year's winner is the Continental Premium Contact 5. This tire has always tested well, but with the newer Premium Contact 6 having already been on the market for 6 months at time of test, it would have been interesting to see just how well the latest version of the Premium Contact range would have done!

The German publication Auto Bild have just tested five 235/35 R19 track day tires using a Ford Focus ST, and included a "normal" maximum performance road tire as comparison.

Given the location of the test (Continentals proving grounds in Texas), and the performance of the included road tire, we're going to assuming the tire was the Continental Sport Contact 6, and it demonstrates just how good road tires have become!

With the SUV sector booming, tire manufacturers are starting to merge their car and SUV lines into one product. The latest, and according to this test by the Swedish magazine Vi Bilägare, greatest example of this, is the new Continental Premium Contact 6.

The first test featuring the new Bridgestone DriveGuard runflat tire has been published!

Testing ten 205/55 R16 touring tires on a VW Golf, Polish Motor magazine included the new generation Bridgestone DriveGuard runflat tire against the traditional non-runflat competition. 

We've currently very few details about this years ACE / GTU SUV Summer tire test, but we do know some things.

The testers tested eleven 215/60 R17 tires using a the crossover SUV Vauxhall Mokka. No offroad tests were done, as crossover SUVs spend most of their lives on the black stuff.

The German publication Auto Bild have published their third tire test of 2017, this time testing nine UHP tires in 245/40 R18 using an Audi TT. Without a budget tire included in the test, this is one of the closest tire tests we've seen in years, and highlight just how close the latest generation of tires have become in terms of raw performance.

How much faster are track day tires compared to the best road tires? The German publication Sport Auto have produced the answer by taking seven of the best maximum performance road tires and three of the best track day tires, and placing them all through the same testing on a Toyota GT86 (225/40 R18).

For 2017, Auto Motor und Sport have tested ten 245/45 R18 ultra high performance tires using a BMW 3 Series Estate.

This test is the first time the new Michelin Pilot Sport 4 and Continental Premium Contact 6 have appeared in the same test, which should give us some interesting data about the two big rivals.

Following on from the 52 tire shootout, Auto Bild have taken the twenty best tires through a full array of wet, dry, NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) and wear tests.

As a change from the usual FWD hatchback used for testing, Auto Bild tested the 225/50 R17 size using a RWD BMW 3 Series.

The Auto Bild sports cars test is usually one of our favourite tests of the year, and this year looks to be no different.

Testing nine 235/35 R19 maximum performance tires using a Focus ST, Auto Bild have focused on the raw performance of these tires, weighting the score heavily in favour of wet and dry handling.

For 2017 AutoBild have chosen to test the large 235/50 R18 tire size, fitted to vehicles such as the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and as tested, the VW Tiguan.

Auto Bild put the ten tire patterns through the usual wet, dry, comfort and economy tests, and also tested the tires on grass, gravel, sand and mud, should you wish to take your crossover SUV for some light offroading.

For 2017 the German publication Auto Zeitung have chosen to test ten summer tires in 215/55 R17 using a VW Touran.

Like Auto Express, AZ buy their tires 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 tire 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.

The crossover SUV tire segment is quickly becoming the most important tire range for tire manufacturers. Thanks to the exponential growth in popularity of cars such as the VW Tiguan, Audi Q3 and BMW X3, the 16" and 17" SUV sizes are the quickest growing in terms of volume, and why this year ADAC has tested fifteen 215/65 R16 tires using a VW Tiguan.

After testing the unusually large size of 225/45 R17 in 2016, normal service has been resumed for the 2017 ADAC Summer tire test, this time testing sixteen tire 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 tires in 225/50 R17, put them through wet and dry braking, and taken the top 20 through to a full tire test.