Tire Reviews Tire Tests

For the 2021 ADAC summer tire tests, the German organisation selected the popular 205/55 R16 and 225/50 R17 summer tire sizes.

As usual with ADAC tests there is little raw data provided, instead the testers grading each tire with a score, but this year we do get wear data (below) and even some of the testers subjective thoughts on the tires, which is an excellent addition.

Without fail, each year German publication Auto Bild provides the most comprehensive overview of the summer tire market by testing a huge amount of tires ability in the dry and wet, in order to work out which twenty tires deserve to be tested in their full summer tire test.

For 2021, Auto Bild have tested 53 tires in the most popular tire size in Europe, 205/55 R16.

All 53 sets of tires have their wet and dry braking results below, with the shortest 20 combined braking distances progressing to the full test, which will be on the website shortly.

The 2021 summer tire test season is kicking off early, with the excellent team at Auto Zeitung publishing their 10 set 225/40 R18 summer tire test during February!

As this test is out so early in the season, it means the testing would have been completed in late 2020, which means it's missing the new Bridgestone Potenza Sport, but it's still an excellent start to the year as AZ always dig into the subjectiveness of the tires, covering dry handling, wet handling and comfort!

All testing was carried out using a Seat Leon FR, and the popular 225/40 R18 UHP tire size should cover many mid-sized sporty cars, including the ever popular VW Golf, the front of a BMW 1 Series, the Audi TT and many other vehicles.

All season VS winter tires is a hotly discussed topic, and while we've done our own test at various temperatures, it sadly didn't include any ice testing, or things like wet handling and rolling resistance testing.

Fortunately, our friends at Vi Bilagare once again have us covered. During their Nordic winter testing in 2020, the magazine included an all season and "european" winter tire alongside their usual selection of Nordic friction and studded winter tires.

As the all-season and European winter tire were being tested from a Nordic perspective, they had a significant testing on ice, which is a rarity for an all-season tire.

The results... well, I’m sure you can guess how each of the four tire types performed on each surface, but it's really cool to see all this data from one source.

Sadly there are very few professional tire tests conducted in North America, however the magazine Consumer Reports does an excellent job of educating the market with a number of huge tire tests every year.

While the public data is limited, you have to be a member to see the full results, we thought it would be important to database the information we have to help our American audience pick the right winter tire.

The 2020 Consumer Reports Winter Tire Test has tested seventeen of the best winter tires on the market in the popular 215/60 R16 size.

Every year, the British publication EVO Magazine conduct a UHP summer tire test, with this years test covering the hugely popular 235/35 R19 tire size, on a VW Golf GTI. This year, due to travel restrictions, the handling testing was conducted at MIRA in the UK, rather than the Continental facility in Germany.

The EVO summer tire tests are particularly interesting as they're one of the few publications to really dig into the subjective handling of each tire on test, as what good is a fast tire if it's no fun to drive? This means, much like our own tests, the EVO test can help you understand which tire will give you not just the best grip, but the most driving enjoyment too.

For the 2020 Auto Express all season tire test, Auto Express tested six 225/45 R17 all season tires using a VW Golf.

For their second winter test of 2020, the excellent Vi Bilagare have tested eight Nordic friction (studless) winter tires.

As with the studded version, Vi Bilagare have performed a thorough test covering dry, wet, snow and ice, and should be considered one of the benchmarks for extreme winter testing in Europe. 

This test is particularly interesting as it has the new Michelin X-Ice Snow, Bridgestone Blizzak Ice, Pirelli Ice Zero FR and Nexen Winguard Ice Plus WH43 placed up against the established Nordic winter tires from Continental, Goodyear and Nokian.

What's the best ultra high performance all season tire on the market? To find out, I test 7 of the most popular ultra high performance all season tires, and test them in dry handling, dry braking, wet handling, wet braking, noise and comfort tire tests, to see which is the top UHP AS tire.

For the 2020 Vi Bilägare Winter studded tire test, the Swedish magazine has tested 8 of the most extreme studded winter tires in 205/60 R16.

As this is a studded winter tire test, the testers placed much more emphasis on snow and ice performance, so if you're in a region that sees a lot of compacted snow and ice on the road during normal winters, this is a very useful test.

Here are the Tire Reviews best winter tires for the 2020 winter tire season.

As usual, all these tires have been picked based on data from Tire Reviews testing, other tests from around the world, and user reviews - think of this as one big meta-analysis of the best winter / snow / studded tires on the market. This video covers European, Nordic and North American winter tires / tires, and covers cars, SUV's and Electric vehicles (EVs.)

The 2020 Auto Zeitung has tested fourteen winter tires in 205/55 R16, including new winter tires from Bridgestone, Goodyear and Maxxis, as well as a low cost retreaded tire.

While all the tires were tested in the dry, wet and snow, sadly Auto Zeitung didn't include any handling data, instead just providing subjective feel scoring.

The 2020 Sport Auto all season tire test has covered seven of the best all season tires in 225/45 18, using a new BMW 3 Series.

Most of the tires on test were also included in the 2020 Tire Reviews all season tire test, however as Sport Auto used a different size and vehicle, this test still makes for interesting reading!

If you're planning on undertaking a massive Nordic friction and studded winter tire test, having the right facilities to conduct the test in is key. Fortunately for Test World, they own one of the best independent arctic testing facilities in the world which is why we're super excited to see this 21 tire test, covering all the key friction studless and studded winter tires on the market.

All tires are in the popular 205/55 R16, and were tested using a VW Golf. There were some interesting new tires in the test, including the first test of the studless Michelin X-Ice Snow.

For the 2020 Auto Express winter tire test, Auto Express tested nine 205/55 R16 winter tires using a VW Golf.

The 2020 ACE / ARBÖ / GTÜ winter tire test has tested nine winter tires in the popular 225/50 R17 size using a BMW 3 Series.

The 2020 Auto Bild SUV Tire test has tested ten crossover SUV / 4x4 winter tires in the popular 225/55 R17 size, with a summer tire included as a reference.

Of the ten tires on test, the top four tires were given the "Exemplary" award, which included the new Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+, the much improved Bridgestone Blizzak LM005, the new Michelin Alpin 6 and the Vredestein Wintrac Pro.

The test winning Goodyear had a good all round performance, with the testers noting the winter tire felt precise and dynamic in all conditions. The Bridgestone LM005 performed well in the dry and wet to secure second place, while the joint third Michelin and Vredestein pair performed well in all tests, but either cost more to buy (Michelin) or used more fuel (Vredestein.)

ADAC tire tests are some of the most influential in the world, and for the 2020 winter season ADAC have chosen to test fifteen 205/55 R16 of the best winter tires for cars, and thirteen 235/55 R17 winter tires for SUV / 4x4.

ADAC tire tests are some of the most influential in the world, and for the 2020 winter season ADAC have chosen to test thirteen 235/55 R17 winter tires for SUV / 4x4 and fifteen 205/55 R16 of the best winter tires for cars.

Following on from the 52 winter tire braking test, the top 20 winter tires in 245/45 R18 have been put through the usual Auto Bild winter tire tests, to discover the best performance winter tire for the 2020 season.