Tire Reviews Tire Tests

The excellent Swedish publication ViBilagare has just released their 2020 summer SUV tire test. Testing seven of the most popular on-road 225/60 R18 tires, ViBilagare also included the the mild all-terrain Continental CrossContact LX2 tire as a very useful benchmark as to how much on-road performance you lose out on by fitting one of the very best mild off-road tires on the market.

If you like detailed and confusing tire tests, you're in for a treat! The 2020 Sport Auto tire test has tested ten 245/35 R19 tires, using a Mercedes AMG A45 S, and is confusingly amazing!

Why is this confusing? Well, they've tested three different types of tires in the single test! The first group is the more "regular" ultra high performance tires, which includes the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5, Nokian PowerProof, Vredestein Ultrac Vorti, Toyo Proxes Sport, and strangely, the Continental SportContact 6. They've also tested two "UUHP" tires, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S and the new Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport (which is the group we believe the Continental SportContact 6 should be included in as the PremiumContact 6 is the rival to the Asymmetric 5), and three track day tires, the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2, the unreleased Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS, and the Giti GitiSport GTR3.

Each year, the wonderful Swedish publication Teknikens Värld performs a summer tire test in Sweden. Their 2020 test covers ten 225/50 R17 summer tires, including the first test of the brand new Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2!

The unique Swedishness of the test means they don't perform dry handling, but instead the "moose test" which involves a sharp lane change at speed. Sadly, we can't database this, but you can see the results of the test in the commentary at the bottom of the page.

For 2020, the German publication Gute Fahrt has tested eight 215/50 R18 SUV tires using a VW T-Roc.

As with the 18" test in 2019, Gute Fahrt have chosen not to publish their handling data, instead grading each tires handling subjectively as "very good", "good" or "satisfying". Sadly as this doesn't really work with how the Tire Reviews database system is set up, we're representing each of the ratings as a number, with 3 being "very good", 2 "good" and 1 as "satisfying".

The 2020 Auto Motor und Sport summer tire test tested eleven 225/45 R18 ultra high performance tires using a BMW 3 Series.

While the group overall was extremely close, the winning Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 and second placed Michelin Pilot Sport 4 were almost inseparable overall, with the Goodyear narrowly taking the overall win.

Ultra high performance tire tests always make us happy, and Auto Bild do some of the best. For 2020, AutoBild have tested nine sports tires in the staggered 245/35 R19 and 265/35 R19 sizes using a Mercedes Benz C63 AMG.

Like our UHP tire test in 2019, Auto Bild have tested the very three best UHP tires on the market, the Continental SportContact 6, Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport, and Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, along with some of the other well know UHP tires from Hankook, Vredestein, Falken and other brands.

The 2020 Auto Bild AllRad SUV / 4x4 tire test has looked at the popular 255/55 R18 tire size. While the tire patterns included in the test are aimed at "soft roaders", which spend 99% of their time on normal roads, Auto Bild still went to the effort of testing the handling and traction on gravel of all ten tires, along with traction on grass, mud and even sand!

Off-road performance is often an opposing quality to on-road grip, with dedicated off-road tires performing well in loose surfaces such as gravel and mud, but poorly on-road in the dry and wet.  It's worth noting, as we found out with our off-road tire test, repeatable off-road testing is extremely difficult, especially in mud, so these figures should only be used as a broad guide.

Following on from the fifty tire braking shootout, Auto Bild have more thoroughly tested the best twenty 245/45 R18 summer tires using a RWD BMW 5 Series.

The top three tires should come as no surprise, with Continental, Goodyear and Michelin proving to be the most rounded tires on test. 

The Continental Premium Contact 6 and Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 drew for first place. As we found with our video comparison, both the Continental and Goodyear tires offer sporty handling, good levels of comfort, and short wet braking. Both tires also topped the Wear testing, and thanks to a reasonable purchase price, offered some of the best value on test.

The 2020 Auto Zeitung summer tire test has been published, and as usual they've tested a really interesting mix of twenty tires in the popular 225/50 R17 size.

As 225/50 R17 tires generally bias towards comfort rather than outright sporty performance, AZ tested with the new brand BMW 3 Series, and performed the usual array of  thirteen dry, wet, comfort and economy tests.

The talented guys at ACE Europe have just released their first summer tire test for 2020, and interestingly they've tested nine 215/55 R17 summer tires from the mid range sector of the market!

Having already looked at the 2020 ADAC 18" UHP summer tire test, the SUV version in 235/55 R17 is more of the same.

Of the twelve tires tested in this popular crossover SUV size, Michelin once again take the top spot with the Primacy 4, thanks to an excellent all round balanced performance.

While ADAC doesn't provide its readers with raw data from their testing, their yearly tire tests are some of the most influential in the world. This year they've tested sixteen 225/40 R18 car tires, and twelve 235/55 R17 crossover SUV sizes. For the 225/40 R18 test, there are few surprises.

Continental and Michelin tie for first place with the PremiumContact 6 and Pilot Sport 4, two tires we've seen perform extremely well in all testing. It's worth noting that the Continental and Michelin both scored the same in the wear testing, once again showing Continental have got on top of wear.

Every year the German publication Auto Bild performs the industries most comprehensive tire test by putting a huge number of tires through wet and dry braking, to find the best twenty tires to progress through to a full tire test.

For the 2020 summer season, Auto Bild have tested fifty tires in 245/45 R18, which gives us an excellent overview of the UHP market for 2020.

The excellent UK automotive magazine EVO always seems to publish their summer tire test late in the season, but it shouldn't be ignored as it's one of the best in Europe if you care as much about steering feel and feedback as you do ultimate grip.

This year, EVO have tested seven 225/40 R18 UHP tires using a VW Golf GTI at the Pirelli test facility in Vizzola, Italy, and while the volume of tires is surprisingly small for such a common size, the breath of testing was as vast as any European tire test.

For their 2019 summer tire test, Auto Express have tested eight SUV tires in the popular 235/50 R18 size.

Track day tire tests are always a welcome read, as those of us who use our cars on track are often super switched on to the differences the tires can make. This year AutoMail.Ru have tested four track day tires in 225/45 R17 using a Mazda MX5 Cup car, and included the Continental PremiumContact 6 as a reference "normal" tire.

It's worth remembering the MX5 is a light, relatively low powered car, so the results from this test might be different on something heavier.

It's never a bad thing when a magazine goes to the effort of testing summer AND all season tires in the same test, as it gives the motorist a good idea of the different balance of performances each tire type has, so it's great to see Auto Navigator doing exactly this for their 205/55 R16 summer tire test.

Not satisfied with just summer and all season tires, Auto Navigator have included a "test winning" winter tire, as well as worn summer and worn winter tires (tread depth unknown!)

The Norwegian AutoMobile Federation (NAF) has tested seven summer tire patterns in 205/55 R16, and included a premium winter tire for comparison.

The winter tire performed surprisingly well during the wet braking testing, which was tested between 18 and 25c, beating the Dunlop and Bridgestone summer tires. Wet handling showed a little more weakness, with the winter tire finishing last, but it was still within a few percent of the summer tires.