Tyre News

As part of the news that 2021 marks our inaugural WhatTyre Tyre of the Year awards, we have searched high and low through our database of over 250,000 tyre variations to find the best-performing all-season tyres out there.

The Maxxis Premitra HP5 has beaten summer tyres from Goodyear, Continental, Pirelli and Michelin to win a 2021 summer tyre test. Conducted by Swedish motoring magazine Vi Bilägare, testers compared eight tyres designed for everyday driving across brand tiers in the size 225/45 R17. Maxxis is the global flagship brand of Taiwanese manufacturer Cheng Shin. The result saw the tyre narrowly beat quality premium brand products like the Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2, the Continental PremiumContact 6, the Michelin Primacy 4, and the Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2.

When it comes to tyres the term ultra-high-performance has lost some of its cachet, but in doing so has grown in significance. No longer synonymous with the supercar posters found in many a teenaged bedroom in the 70s and 80s, chances are good that UHP tyres are available for the car you drive. Evidence of the UHP tyre segment’s evolution into the volume market can be seen in our long-list, which includes products ranging from strictly performance-oriented tyres to those with a greater emphasis on comfort and economy. Today’s super and hypercars run on UUHP (no prizes for guessing what the second ‘U’ stands for) rubber, and these products are also included in this category.

Winter tyres may be a small part of the UK market, but there is still an incredible array of quality products to choose from. We suggest that every tyre mentioned on our longlist is worth considering, especially since prices (which you can find on WhatTyre) can vary hugely even within this list of the top products. For the purposes of our ranking, we focus only on the tyres’ performance qualities. We will announce our top five recommended products and the winner of the WhatTyre Winter Tyre of the Year 2021 in around a week’s time, alongside our other five Tyre of the Year categories and the overall winner.

The market for classic car tyres is small but lucrative, with some vehicle owners prepared to pay up to four times the price of a regular tyre for a fitment that looks the part. A handful of major tyre brands now offer classic lines that are either past products brought up to date with modern compounds and/or construction or else newly-developed tyres featuring period treads. But how do these tyres compare with regular, current-generation tyres?

We’re creeping towards the end of lockdown and a year of minimal driving, and more than a few people will want a new set of tyres before hitting the road this summer. While the cheapest products out there may dazzle with their rock-bottom prices, it can be much more economical in the long term – not to mention safer – to look at your options. The inaugural WhatTyre awards search the market for the best-performing, safest and most efficient tyres to fit in spring and summer 2021.