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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.

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.

With the launch of two new products, Nokian Tyres is refreshing its summer tyre range. The Nokian Tyres Powerproof 1 and Wetproof 1 will debut in time for summer 2024 in a range of 99 car, CUV and SUV fitments for 15” to 20” rim diameters and T, H, V, W and Y speed ratings.

Deliveries of the latest BMW 5 Series will begin any time now. UK-spec M Sport versions of the eighth-generation G60/G61/G68 model come with 19” alloy wheels as standard equipment, while the M Sport Pro receives 20” alloys. BMW UK says the enlarged diameter over its predecessor’s rims gives the new 5 Series an “even more sporty presence.” Buyers can choose optional 20” & 21” alloy wheels for all versions, and the BMW list of approved rims and tyres for the G60 also includes an 18” fitment.

Although the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) predicts that battery electric vehicles will capture a 17.8% share of the new car market by the close of 2023, they remain a topic of fervent discussion and sensational headlines. Tyres aren’t exempt from this discourse, as the Daily Mail made clear in July when calling them the “dirty secret behind your electric vehicles.” To bring some common sense back into the EV tyre conversation, Michelin recently shared its views on the subject.

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.

Auto Bild has shared the results achieved by the 20 finalists in its 2023 winter tyre test. While the motoring publication’s test team found that most of these size 225/45 R18 tyres offered “really good performance” when snow and ice were present, the situation changed somewhat in conditions that motorists more typically encounter. After experiencing “surprisingly large differences in performance potential” on wet and dry roads they awarded only three tyres their top ‘exemplary’ rating. One of the 20 receives a non-recommendation.

As promised, Auto Bild has subjected the 16 remaining tyres in its 2023 all-season test to further and more intensive scrutiny after booting out 19 products that didn’t make the grade in a preliminary round of wet and dry braking tests. The motoring publication’s expert testers gave five of these size 225/45 R17 tyres their highest recommendation – an ‘exemplary’ rating – and declared a further three ‘good’ tyres. The remaining eight finished testing with ‘satisfactory’ or ‘conditionally recommended’ ratings.

Auto Bild is limbering up to publish its 2023 all-season tyre test, which includes a total of 35 premium, mid-range and budget products in size 225/45 R17. As in other years, the German motoring publication has whittled down this broad field of contenders by evaluating the wet and dry braking of each and every tyre in a preliminary test round. This leaves just 16 finalists to slug it out.