Tire Reviews Tire Tests

In previous years Auto Express have been slow to publish their tire tests online, but not this year - Auto Express have done such a great job on their website, there's nothing left for us to add!

Winter tires can be a problem in the UK. Mainland Europe are very good at putting smaller wheels and tires on, but in the UK where even the most modest town hatchback is being fitted with 17 or 18 inch wheels as standard, and performance car now being fitted with 19 or even 20 inch wheels, finding a test covering larger winter wheel sizes can be difficult.

Fortunately Auto Bild Sportscars is there to offer us some guidance for the 2014 season, and have tested 235/35 R19 winter tires on a BMW M135i. Sadly, they only managed to find six patterns to test, compared to fifty in their 205/55 R16 tests, but it gives us a good indication of what winter tires are like in larger sizes.

 In 2014 Auto Zeitung have tested eleven 205/55 R16 premium winter tires. 

The 2014 Auto Motor Und Sport tire test was carried out in Sweden and Germany, and covered ten winter tires in 205/55 R16. 

The 2014 Auto Bild winter tire test tested sixteen 225/50 R17 winter tires across fifteen disciplines, covering snow grip, wet grip, dry grip, rolling resistance and comfort. 

Starting with fifty different tire models, Auto Bild put every tire through a winter tires toughest test - wet braking. Auto Bild then took the top twenty winter tires from wet braking through to snow braking, and once it had combined the wet and snow braking distances for the top twenty, it chose the top sixteen tires  for this more thorough "full" test. 

The UK weather has proven itself to be unpredictable, and with the 2014 winter approaching quickly we don't yet know whether we're in for another 2011 level of snow induced chaos, or a repeat of last years mild and wet winter.

With this in mind, here at TireReviews we've come to the conclusion the best winter tire for the UK climate, is actually an all season tire.

It's the test we look forward to all year, the Auto Bild winter tire shootout. 

2014 sees Auto Bild testing fifty different winter tires in 225/50 R17. As usual, they test all fifty tires in wet braking from 50 mph, then take the top twenty through to a snow braking test from 31mph. The top fifteen from this test then go on to the full winter tire test, where Auto Bild crown the best winter tire of 2014. 

Here at TireReviews we always get excited when EVO publish a tire test. Normally tire tests focus on raw numbers, dedicating pages to telling you which tire has 0.1% more grip, but forgetting to mention how the tires actually feel on the car.

Conversely EVO spend plenty of time, and dedicate 60% of the overall result, to subjective handling. With the difference in grip between the best tires on the market ever shrinking, explaining how the tires actually feel to use give people who enjoy driving a good reference point. This years test was carried out at the Bridgestone test track in Italy, on a VW Golf GTI wearing 225/45 R17 tires.

The 2014 Auto Express Summer Tire Test is here, and it is closer than ever! Testing 10 tires in 205/55 R16, Auto Express put the tires through the usual array of nine stringent tests in the dry and wet.

Unlike the average car driver, motorbike riders have an intimate relationship with their tires, and fully understand the need to fit the right tire for your riding style and intended use. Sometimes lasting less than 2,000 miles, the right tire can literally mean the difference between a safe ride home in the wet, or a nasty highside resulting in a damaged bike, and potentially worse, a damaged body. 

Read on for the full results

Following on from the 255/40 R19 tire test, the Russian magazine Auto Review have tested 16 tires in the far more common 205/55 R16. The twist this year is the inclusion of what Auto Review call "second line tires", which are mid range brands which are manufactured by the premium brands. 

A 444bhp Mustang Boss 302 might not be the last word in car dynamics, but it's what the Russian magazine Auto Review have chosen to use for their 2014 Max Performance tire test. Wearing massive 255/40 R19 front tires, and 285/35 R19 rears, this was never going to be an "ordinary" tire test, and the inclusion of a drifting test only highlighted the testers were out to have fun driving while getting their data. 

11 set of tires in the popular 205/55 R16, the standard VW Golf 7 and the usual array of thorough wet and dry tests summarises the 2014 Auto Motor Und Sport Summer Tire Test.

205/55 R16, a Ford Focus and the usual wide array of wet and dry tests summarises the 2014 Test World summer tire test.