Premium Touring Tire Tests

The 2023 TESTIRENKAAT Snow Tire Test tested eight tires designed for extreme winters in the popular 205/55 R16 size.

Interestingly the four premium tires are studless friction tires, and the four budget tires are studded, so it gives us an interesting data point to compare the best of the new studless friction soft compound tires against the cheaper end of the studded market.

Noteworthy performers from the 2023 16" ADAC winter tire test included the Falken EUROWINTER HS02 with good dry braking, Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 showcasing remarkable wet braking, and the Goodyear UltraGrip 9 Plus excelling in snow and ice braking. On the flip side, the Austone SP 901 displayed weaknesses in wet conditions and aquaplaning scenarios. The Fulda Kristall Control HP2 emerged as a durable option with the longest wear, while the Barum Polaris 5 stood out for fuel efficiency. 

The biggest surprise is probably the winner. The  now aging Dunlop Winter Sport 5 emerged as the overall victor in the 2023 ADAC 16 Inch Tire Test, exhibiting a balanced performance across various testing categories. Its well-rounded performance underscores its reliability and suitability for diverse road conditions, making it a commendable choice for motorists seeking a harmonized blend of safety, comfort, and efficiency

Following on from the 35 all season shootout, Autobild have placed the top 15 through the usual array of tests, including dry, wet and snow testing, plus they've tested wear!

Unlike the Tire Reviews test this year, they also managed to test the new Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6 and Continental AllSeasonContact 2! Can either of these new tires displace the Michelin CrossClimate 2 at the top of the results? Read on to find out!

Annually, the team at the German outlet Auto Bild conducts comprehensive tests on all-season tires, focusing on wet and dry braking performance, and this year is no different! 

Below are the braking results for 35 all-season tires in the 225/45 R17 size. The top 15 will proceed to the complete evaluation, which will be published on the site next week.

For the 2023/24 season, Tire Reviews has tested ten of the very best all season tires available. Following on from last years test in 17", this year we focused on the smaller 15" wheel size, and included summer and winter reference tires to highlight exactly what the best all season tire is for your driving, and where summer and winter tires fit into the overall performance.

As always, this is one of the most in depth all season tire tests on the internet, and each of the ten sets of tires are tested in the dry, wet and snow, plus the tires subjective noise and comfort and rolling resistance (energy use) is also tested.

As everyone's driving situation is a little different, you can also adjust the overall score weighting of the test below so you really can find the perfect tire for your own driving needs.

Last year the Michelin CrossClimate 2 won for the second year in a row. Can it make it three of three?

All season and winter tire testing season is upon us! The first test of the season is the excellent AutoBild AllRad SUV all season tire test, which tested ten of the latest all season tires in 235/65 R17, and included a reference summer and winter tire to see what the differences are between various tire options.

Autobild conducted the test using an Audi Q3, and are the first publication to test the new Bridgestone Turanza 6 All Season! Can the new Bridgestone take on the established king, the Michelin CrossClimate 2 SUV? Read on to find out!

For the launch of the new Bridgestone Turanza AllSeason 6, Bridgestone had the independent test body TÜV SÜD Automotive GmbH conduct a comprehensive test of the new all season tire, and compare it to the leaders in the all season category, the Continental AllSeasonContact, Goodyear Vector 4Seasons Gen-3, and Michelin CrossClimate 2.

While this isn't a traditional magazine test, it is interesting data, and as many of you have questions about the performance of the new Turanza AllSeason 6, we believe it's worth including on the site.

The Polish Motor Magazine recently conducted a premium touring tire test. The test included eight different tire brands, all in the popular size of 205/55 R16, which is commonly used in compact and some larger car models. The brands tested were Continental, Goodyear, Dunlop, Bridgestone, Hankook, Pirelli, Michelin, and Vredestein. The test was comprehensive, covering various aspects of tire performance including wet and dry handling, rolling resistance, noise, and comfort.

Times are hard, and now more so than ever people are asking me what the best budget tire they can buy is. As these have never been tested against each other properly, I usually don't have an answer, but all that is about to change!

Sadly I've not been able to test every budget available, there are literally hundreds of tire brands coming out of the far east, most of them from just a handful of factories. In fact, I've got over 300 tire brands on the tire reviews website, and as much as I love big tests, even that's too much for me.

Instead, I've bought eight of the most common and cheapest tires available I could find, and because I've never tested a retread tire, I bought one of those too. Naturally they'll all be going through a full tire reviews tire test to see which is best.

It's not often I'm completely shocked by a tire test, but this years AMS EV tire vs normal tire test has me stumped.

Why? Let me run a few things past you. The Michelin e.Primacy was best in wet braking, beating both the Continental SportContact 7 and Bridgestone Potenza Sport, which usually ace that test. The Michelin e.Primacy also beat the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV overall, which has won every other test it's featured in, and Continental won the test twice!

The concept for the test seems relatively straightforward - get a bunch of the best performance tires on the market and test them against the newest ultra low rolling resistance / EV tires, the Michelin e.Primacy, the Falken eZiex and the Pirelli Scorpion Elect.

Sadly Tire Reviews isn't performing an SUV summer tire test this year, but luckily the German publication AutoBild once again have us covered if you want to know what the best tire is for your SUV!

This year AutoBild tested twelve SUV tires for the crossover SUV segment in the 225/65 R17 tire size.

As usual, all the tires were tested in the dry and wet, and had their rolling resistance and noise / comfort levels graded, but as this category of tire is also intended for some "light off-roading" they tested the twelve SUV tires in mud, sand, dirt and even on wet grass! This means this really is the best test this year you show you what the best tire is for your SUV!

It's the 50th anniversary of the ADAC tire test, and to celebrate the German automotive body have tested fifty summer tires in the popular 205/55 R16 tire size, and have included wear testing for every tire!

There's a lot to unpack in this test, so we'll dive straight in! Headline notes, there are two Michelin tires in this test, the Michelin Primacy 4+ and the energy saving Michelin e.Primacy, the Continental on test is not the new PremiumContact 7, it's the previous model, the Continental PremiumContact 6, and Continental also have the new Continental UltraContact in the test, which is meant to be a lower rolling resistance and higher mileage tire for those who drive a lot of distance!

In this test, we'll be finding out what the best premium touring summer tires on the market are!

I'm going to try and keep this as condensed as I possibly can as we have 13 sets of tires in this test including the newest and best from Continental, Michelin, Hankook, Pirelli, Bridgestone, Vredestein, Kumho, Toyo, Nankang and more! This should also be the world's first test of the Continental PremiumContact 7!

We're going to let the test do the talking for this one. The excellent Swedish testers at ViBilagare have tested eight SUV studless friction winter tires, included the new Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV and Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V3 using a Volvo V40 wearing 235/55 R18 tires. Fortunately, where the tire patterns match those in the Tire Reviews Nordic Winter Tire Test, the results are very similar!

Sadly here at Tire Reviews we've not had time to do a studded tire test for 2022, but fortunately the excellent testers at the Nordic publication Vibilagare have tested eight sets of studded winter tires to show us which of the studded tires on the market are the best! While the test size is an SUV size (235/55 R18) and the test vehicle a Volvo XC40, these results should give you an idea of the balance between the tires in all sizes.

As you would hope, the tires have been tested in the dry, wet, snow and ice. Which is of course the reason studded tires exist.

The data is interesting, and in full below, but as we saw in the Tire Reviews Studless Winter Tire Test there is a pretty clear inversion between the tires which priorities wet performance, and the tires which priorities ice performance.

Auto Bild tests are always amongst the best in the industry, and this year Auto Bild have taken things a step further. Not only did Auto Bild start with 25 all season tires in the popular 195/55 R16 size and test them in dry and wet braking to get the best 15 for the full test below, they've also tested things Tire Reviews was unable to test in the Tire Reviews 2022 all season tire test, including real world fuel use, the all important wear test, and new for this year, they tracked the abrasion of the tires to see which tire gives off the least particulates to the environment, which is separate from projected tire life!

Snow tires, studless friction tires, extreme winter tires, nordic winter tires. This category of tire goes by many names, and they have one design goal, to be the very best on snow and ice for harsh winter climates, where studded tires aren't appropriate, or for people who don't want studs.

To find out which is the best, Tire Reviews has taken 7 of the most popular tires available to both the North American and Nordic markets, and will be putting them through a full range of tests, including ice, snow, wet and dry testing to find out which is best at what. Also, to help you understand where these tires fit in the market, I'm also including the very best of the central european and studded winter tires, the Continental WinterContact TS870 and the studded Nokian Happapelliita 10.

For 2022, the excellent German test organisation ADAC have tested 15 winter tires in 185/65 R15 and 15 crossover SUV winter tires in 215/60 R16.

The results below are for the 185/65 R15 test, where we have no real surprises in the overall results. 

For 2022, the excellent German test organisation ADAC have tested 15 crossover SUV winter tires in 215/60 R16 and 15 winter tires in 185/65 R15.

The results below are for the 215/60 R16 test, where we have a few interesting quirks in the overall results. 

For this year's Tire Reviews winter tire test, we've got nine sets of the most popular winter tires, half of which are brand new tires for this year!

As always I'll be testing in the snow, wet and dry, and looking at rolling resistance, noise and comfort, to ensure you get the best overview of all the new winter tires!