SUV tyres

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.

Porsche has approved several bespoke versions of Pirelli's ultra-high performance tyres as original fitments for the new Porsche Cayenne. The latest facelift of the sports SUV extends the collaboration between Pirelli and Porsche: Pirelli has equipped tyres to every generation of the Cayenne since the original model's launch in 2002. The Pirelli P Zero, P Zero Corsa, and Scorpion Winter 2 tyres have received the approval, covering the entire range of wheel sizes from 20 to 22 inches. Scorpion Zero All Season tyres are also available for some markets, in every size.

The Bridgestone Dueler All-Terrain A/T002 premium all-terrain tyre is available now. Designed to handle off-road challenges while offering good on-road performance, the Bridgestone Dueler All-Terrain A/T002 offers improved adaptation and reaction over different types of terrain; excellent wet and dry grip; and improved mileage over the Bridgestone Dueler A/T001. The manufacturer said the tyre meets drivers’ needs for safety and all-terrain performance, while offering the feeling of freedom and adventure.

Yokohama has introduced the Geolandar CV 4S all-season tyre for crossover SUVs. Tyres for SUVs need to be able to take on all road types and all weather conditions, like arid dryness, rainy spells and challenging snow. Yokohama says the new tyre recognises this demand for versatility and practicality. Following the launch of the “innovative” Geolandar CV 4S in October, the tyre will make its debut in the UK and Europe with a range of 32 sizes, for rim sizes between 17” and 20”.

Goodyear has launched the new Wrangler Duratec RT in Europe, continuing a global rollout that saw the tyre released in Australia earlier this year. The tyre is billed as the manufacturer’s premium 4x4 tyre, engineered for a 50/50 split between on and off-road applications. Launching the tyre in Europe, Goodyear tells the market the Wrangler Duratrac RT is offers a significant step forward in technology and performance compared to its predecessor, which was named the Wrangler Duratrac. Having made the tyre available in “many demanding global markets,” Goodyear adds that the tyre’s original run of European sizes will be joined by more in the fourth quarter of 2023, with dimensions for rim 15-19” rims, making a total of 15 sizes by the end of the year.

300,000 tyres, 700 brands and 9 categories later it is virtually impossible to choose and outright winner. But the 2023 WhatTyre Tyre of the Year awards wouldn’t be what it is without, well, a flagship Tyre of the Year. So, a decision must be made, and this year Michelin’s CrossClimate 2 SUV is the worthy winner of our overall accolade. Before we get into the detail of why the Michelin CrossClimate 2 SUV has won, it is also worth setting that particular tyre’s victory in some overall context.

Motorists continue to choose the space and high visibility seating position offered by SUVs. In fact, they are so popular that many new cars have adopted looks leaning in the direction of SUVs. That inclination has created the CUV (crossover utility vehicles) and impacts the 2023 WhatTyre Tyre of the Year rankings because we have to define what an SUV is for the purposes of this category. Building on the platform formed by the previous two years of WhatTyre Tyre of the Year awards, this year we have tightened up our judging criteria to create a more robust and competitive 2023 award. We began by filtering our database of around 300,000 tyres based on the three leading SUV tyre sizes according to market research specialists GfK. From here we filtered products according to their Tyrescore – our market-leading bespoke tyre comparison system – requiring all short-listed tyres to score above seven out of 10 or above in both one of the three key sizes and across its range as a whole on average. We then interrogated the results according to the following further criteria: category appropriateness; specialist category tests and require relatively recent third-party magazine tyre test results.

Drivers want mobility all year round. In the past, that meant changing tyres for the winter months or compromising on noise and comfort with an old-school all-season tyre. Not so anymore. As we have seen in previous years, the latest generation of all-season tyres offer impressive year-round performance without the downsides. But does that description apply in the all-season SUV tyre niche? In order to find out, we started with the bespoke Tyrepedia database that powers WhatTyre.com. Tyrepedia features data relating to more than 700 brands and 340,000-odd different tyres. We filtered our database according to three top SUV tyre sizes, which this year were: 235/60/18, 215/60/17 and 235/55/19. Accreditation such as the three-peaks-mountain-snowflake (3PMSF) marking helped show winter performance too.

Tyres have been targeted in retaliation for a collision that killed two children. Tyre Extinguishers, the movement aiming to make it “impossible to own an SUV” by deflating these vehicles’ tyres, has drawn this tragedy into its campaign and “takes responsibility” for destroying all the tyres on at least 60 vehicles at a dealership.