Tire Reviews Tire Tests

This year Auto Bild have covered both 19 and 20" UHP tires, and while we've covered the 20" test already, we delayed covering the 19" test for a few weeks.

In those few weeks, Sport Auto Magazine released their 19" tire test, and it uses exactly the same 245/35 R19 and 265/35 R19 tires, on the same BMW M2, and tests the same six UHP tires at the same location.

The logical question would be why publish this version of the test, as the results should be exactly the same? Well, they're not. Whether it be down to driving style, test parameters or just the weather on the day, Sport Auto and Auto Bild have managed to come up with two different test results using the same vehicle and tires, proving just how close the very best tires on the market are.

There's a lot of tires in the 2018 Auto Bild 195/65 R15 test, so we'll keep the intro as short as possible and let the data do the talking.

It's worth keeping in mind, the twenty tires chosen for this test have been through a 51 tire wet and dry braking pretest. This means the tires included in this test are some of the best tires available on the market, had Auto Bild included some of the worst tires in the pretest, the gap between the best and the worst tires overall would have been much larger.

The latest trend of combining two tire tests into a single result seems to be continuing, with the brilliant German publication Sport Auto combining six ultra high performance tires and three track day tires into a single test!

Using a BMW M2, Sport Auto used the M2 OE sizes of 245/35 R19 front and 265/35 R19 rear, and objectively tested wet and dry performances while also scoring the subjective handling and feel of a tire.

As you would expect, the track day tires dominated in the dry, were the weakest in the wet, and generally had the highest rolling resistance and were the nosiest. Some of the road tires were surprisingly close to the track day rubber during dry testing, and they were leagues ahead in the wet testing.

Read on for the full results!

2018 is setting up to be an excellent year for tire testing, with the epic German publication Auto Bild already delivering three excellent tests. Of the three, this 20" tire test is perhaps the most interesting of the trio.

For this investigation, Auto Bild have bought eight 245/30 R20 tire patterns and placed them through the usual array of wet and dry tests using a Mercedes E Class.

While the internet favourite Michelin Pilot Sport 4S takes its traditional top spot, there is a strange result for the Continental Sport Contact 6, a great result for the ten year old Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 (not 3!), and Bridgestone make a return to tests with the old Potenza S001.

Read on for the full results!

Every year Auto Bild test over fifty tires in wet and dry braking test to decide which twenty tires make it through to the full summer tire test. In 2018 they have used the popular 195/65 R15 summer touring tire size.

The spread of dry braking results was higher than usual this year. The best dry braking tire on test, the Hankook, stopped the car from 62mph in 34.5 metres, and the worse 42.4 metres. This 7.9 metre difference might not sound like a huge amount, but it is the difference of stopping or hitting an object at around 26 mph!

The spread in the wet was even larger. The Bridgestone was best in the wet, stopping the car from 50 mph in 34.3 metres, where as the worst tire on test took a massive 17.6 metres further, totaling 51.9 metres. That's over 4 car lengths further and a huge residual speed at time of accident.

In 2018, German test body ADAC have tested fourteen 175/65 R14 summer tires, and sixteen in the larger 205/55 R16 size.

In this 175/65 R14 test, the mid range brands dominate! Falken impressively win the test and continue their run of recently form with the SN832 Ecorun having a very balanced overall performance. The Continental owned brand Semperit finishes in second place, owing to an excellent wet performance, and third place was the best result a premium manufacturer could manage with the Dunlop proving to be a well balanced tire.

In 2018, German test body ADAC have tested sixteen 205/55 R16 summer tires, and fourteen tires in the smaller 175/65 R14 size.

In this 205/55 R16 test, premium manufacturers take the top three places. Michelin lead the way, having the lowest wear on test and proving to be excellent in the dry, Bridgestone have a surprisingly strong performance in the wet to score second place overall, and Continental have a very balanced showing for the last of the podium spots.

The first tire test of 2018 is rather unique. German publication Auto Zeitung have tested six summer tires and three all season tires all in the same test, and while it's going to make the Tire Reviews version of the result at the bottom of this page read slightly wonky, it's a really interesting way of comparing the dry and wet performances of the two tire types.

Keep in mind, the nine tires were only tested in the dry and wet, there was no snow or ice testing to highlight the all season tires year-round abilities. This means this test should just be looked at to see how the all season tires compare to the summer tires in summer conditions, rather than making a purchase decision for year-round motoring.

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.

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 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!

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. 

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 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.