Tyre Tests

To avoid surprises, best stick to the brands and products you know. This may well have been the auto motor und sport (AMS) approach to tyre testing recently, as the German publication selected products from the “eight most popular tyre brands” in its local market for its 2024 summer test. These are the Bridgestone Turanza 6, Continental PremiumContact 7, Falken Azenis FK 520, Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 SUV, Hankook Ventus S1 Evo³ SUV, Maxxis Victra Sport 5 SUV, Michelin Primacy 4+ and Vredestein Ultrac.

Anyone searching for 205/55 R16 tyres online will be spoiled for choice. This tyre size has been a bestseller for many years, with popular compact cars such as the VW Golf, Audi A3, Vauxhall Astra and Seat Leon wearing 205/55 R16 tyres as standard equipment. The broad range of brands and models for this dimension can complicate the process of buying replacement tyres, but Auto Bild helps here with its 2024 summer tyre test.

The 2024 summer tyre test conducted by European motoring organisations ADAC, ÖAMTC, and TCS has spotlighted the 215/55 R17 dimension, ideal for mid-size cars and smaller SUVs. Testing 16 tyre brands, the team expressed overall satisfaction with the results, despite noting “minor weaknesses” in some tyres.

The 205/55 R16 tyre size reigns as the top choice across Europe, especially popular among compact car owners like those driving VW Golf, Audi A3, and similar models. Recognising this trend, Auto Bild has opted for this size in its extensive 2024 summer tyre test. With 55 tyres under scrutiny, Auto Bild hasn't concluded testing yet but has given readers a taste of things to come with “noteworthy data” from initial wet and dry braking tests.

All-season tyres make a lot of sense for drivers of smaller cars who spend most of their time on urban roads, so it’s surprising that few tyre tests focus on tyre sizes suited to these vehicles. Tyre Reviews has addressed this in its 2023 all-season test by looking at ten tyres in the dimension 195/65 R15. Site founder and resident tester Jonathan Benson fitted the tyres to a VW Golf 7 and evaluated their performance in dry, wet and snowy conditions, and also appraised their comfort and value.

Hankook has achieved several top results in the latest round of independent tyre tests of winter and all-season tyres. Hankook’s Winter i*cept and Kinergy 4S tyre lines gained several podium finishes in tests by such leading independent testers as ADAC, Auto Bild and Auto Express, scoring particularly highly in the dry and wet as well as in snow.

The Goodyear UltraGrip Ice 3 non-studded winter tyre got two wins and two second-place finishes in four Nordic winter tyre tests. The tyre, made for Nordic conditions, won two Finnish tests from magazines Moottori and Tekniikan Maailma, and claimed second place in the tests conducted by Swedish magazines Vi Bilägare and Teknikens Värld. In the latter title, Goodyear’s studded UltraGrip Arctic 2 and non-studded UltraGrip Performance 3 were also crowned Best in Test in the studded and Middle European friction tyre categories.

European motoring clubs ADAC, TCS and ÖAMTC have evaluated 16 winter tyres in size 205/60 R16, a dimension primarily worn by smaller SUVs. The test team fitted the tyres to a VW T-Roc and appraised their performance in dry, wet and wintry conditions as well as for environmental and sustainability-related factors such as noise, wear and rolling resistance.

Continental WinterContact TS 870’s strength in wet and dry conditions was enough to win its second Auto Express Winter Tyre Test in a row. Competing against six other global manufacturers’ products, the Conti tyre narrowly finished ahead of the Bridgestone Blizzak LM-005 – WhatTyre’s Winter Tyre of the Year – by only 0.3 points overall. All seven tyres tested showed a good level of winter performance, with the last-placed Vredestein Wintrac Pro only 3.2 points out of 100 behind the Conti tyre. The performance differences between the top four winter tyres in the test especially were minimal, and the winner was selected as a particularly good tyre for UK winter driving conditions. The tyres were tested in size 225/45R17 in northern Sweden and in Germany.