Auto Bild Sportscars

Season-specific winter tyres may be niche products in the UK but make a lot of sense in certain situations. For example, high-powered performance cars may benefit from the added grip they offer when temperatures drop. Auto Bild Sportscars has evaluated 11 brands of tyre in size 225/40 R18 to gauge performance in snowy, wet and dry conditions. Four tyres gain the motoring publication’s highest recommendation, but Auto Bild Sportscars also warns that some winter products aren’t up to the job.

For its summer 2023 test, Auto Bild Sportscars lined up 13 size 225/40 R18 tyres and fitted them to a Toyota GR Yaris, a car that highlighted “both the sporting qualities and the weak points” of each and every candidate after “just a few bends” of track. When the dust & water spray had settled, five tyres proudly wore Auto Bild Sportscars’ top ‘exemplary’ rating.

Sharing the results of both its main summer 2022 test of 50 tyres and the performance-oriented Auto Bild Sportscars tyre test, European publication Auto Bild wrote that the days of Chinese-made tyres failing such tests due to outdated technology are well and truly behind us. The magazine’s tyre testers were particularly impressed about one product from China and look forward to pitting it against the competition at a later date.

Auto Bild Sportscars has marked the arrival of spring driving weather by testing 15 tyre combinations. The publication examined 11 brands in the all-round size 225/45 R18 and four as a mixed 225/45 (front) and 255/40 R18 (rear) fitment, taking each set “to the limit and a bit beyond” with a series of performance tests on wet and dry surfaces. The goal was to identify the “tops and flops” available for purchase this season.

After carrying out no less than five comparative tyre tests for various Auto Bild titles, specialists Dierk Möller and Henning Klipp have a solid understanding of which all-season and winter tyres they’d gladly recommend, and which they wouldn’t. Auto Bild summarises Möller and Klipp’s findings for the current season in its 42/2021 issue and at the same time names its leading manufacturers in the all-season and winter categories. Three brands occupy the podium’s upper step.

Performance car magazine Auto Bild Sportscars has evaluated a dozen brands in its 2021 winter tyre test and also looked at an all-season tyre and a summer tyre for comparative purposes. It chose the front axle size 225/45 R18 and rear size 245/40 R18, testing these on a Mercedes C-Class for performance in dry, wet and snowy conditions.

More than a year after its counterpart for conventional saloons came to market, Goodyear is introducing the UltraGrip Performance+ SUV. This addition to the range covers the growing SUV and crossover market by offering consumers a “technology-packed winter tyre that increases the versatility and contributes to the safety of their vehicles.”

A set of UHP tyres can cost more than a grand or less than half that, but you get what you pay for. This is what Auto Bild Sportscars found in its latest tyre test – the pricier tyres nudged the top end of the results table, while the two cheapest brands were also by far the worst performers.

Drivers who like to push their cars may benefit from winter tyres during the colder months. But which tyre is right for the job? In order to find out, Auto Bild Sportscars fitted a dozen brands of winter rubber to a VW Golf GTI.