Tire Reviews Tire Tests

The 2016 Auto Bild SUV and 4x4 tire test looks at seven of the latest tires for the quickly growing "softroad" vehicle segment. These latest softroaders have sporty driving characteristics, and spend most of their time on road, yet should still retain some performance on grass or gravel.

One VW Golf wearing 205/55 R16 tires, 50 different tire 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.

The test we've all been waiting for is here, and it's round one to Continental.

The 2016 Auto Bild Sports Cars tire test placed six maximum performance tires through their paces on a Jaguar F-Type, in 255/35 R20 front and 295/30 R20 rear sizes.

The new Continental Sport Contact 6 was tested against the reigning performance tire king, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport, and the result was surprising.

Testing in 225/45 R17, the GTU test is the first test to include the new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3, Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2, Falken Azenis FK510, Toyo Proxes T1 Sport+ and GT Radial SportActive amongst the fourteen tires tested! Sadly, the new Michelin Pilot Sport 4 was absent from the test, but we can't have everything at once.

Much like the 225/45 R17 test ADAC published at the same time, the ADAC 185/65 R15 tire test looks at sixteen premium and mid range tires, but this time has selected tires 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.

The 2016 ADAC 225/45 R17 summer tire test is a classic ADAC by-the-numbers tire test, with the results driven from data rather than subjective scoring.

Of the sixteen tires tested, at least three patterns have already been replaced, with the Michelin Pilot Sport 3, Toyo Proxes T1 Sport and GT Radial Champiro HPY already superseded by the Michelin Pilot Sport 4, Toyo Proxes T1 Sport+ and GT Radial Sport Active in late 2015.

Goodyear and Dunlop are also noticeably absent from this test, with the newly released Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 and Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 missing.

The first summer tire test of 2016 is a curious one. ACE, the Automobile Club Europa, are often first to publish their regular summer tire tests, but this year their first tire test exclusively features midrange tires.

Testing ten 195/65 R15 tires on a VW Golf, ACE argue that the most important consideration for 90% of motorists is price, which is why they've chosen to tests tires as cheap as 35/euros per tire.

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

Testing five of the latest all season tires in 205/55 R16 on a VW Golf, L'Argus put the all the tires 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.

Testing 10 premium UHP winter tires in 225/50 R17, including three patterns released in 2015, Auto Motor und Sport put the tires through the usual range of dry, wet, snow and environmental tests across Finland and Germany.

Our copy of the 2015 ACE winter tire test is a little thin on details, but we thought it was important to include as it tests many of the new winter tires for 2015, in the popular 225/50 R17 tire size.

This year, Sport Auto have tested seven different UHP winter tires in 235/35 R19, on a VW Golf R.

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

Until recently, tires have fallen into three distinct categories: summer, all season and winter tires. Traditionally, all season tires have been developed from a winter tire 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 tire, one which started life as a summer tire and has been gifted winter capabilities.

Is a summer and winter tire 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.

There's not much we can say about the excellent 2015 Auto Express Winter Tire Test, other than head over to the Auto Express site and check out the full review!

Based on a combined snow and wet braking performance, this year Auto Bild have taken the best eightteen 185/60 R15 winter tires through from their 2015 Winter Tire Shootout, and one all season tire, the Pirelli Cinturato All Season.

From the fifty tires tested, there were some surprise drop outs. The Vredestein Snowtrac 5, Yokohama W.Drive, Toyo Snowprox S943 and Avon Ice Touring were a few of the 32 tires which failed to make the grade. Equally, tires like the Semperit Speed Grip 2, Barum Polaris 3, Gislavel Euro Frost 5 and Viking Snow Tech II were are few surprise inclusions, it will be interesting to find out if they can live up to the established competition in the full winter tire test.

Most winter tire tests cover sizes up to 16 inch wheels, as these are by far the most common winter tire sizes fitted across Europe. Unfortunately, if you're looking to keep your performance car mobile over winter, these tests are largely useless as a reference, as tire patterns and performances can drastically change as the sizes increase.

Luckily Auto Bild Sportscars have us covered with their latest ultra high performance winter tire test. Auto Bild have taken eight UHP winter tires in 225/40 R18 and tested them on a RWD Mercedes C Class across the usual range of snow, wet and dry tests and have included a summer tire as reference.

The 2015 Auto Bild all season tire test is here, and it's the first test to include the new Michelin CrossClimate and Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-2.