2021 Sport Auto Summer Tire Test

For the 2021 Sport Auto summer tire test, the German publication have tested eleven tires in the relatively small 195/55 R16 tire size. As this tire size is intended for smaller vehicles such as the Audi A1, Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 208 and other similar sized cars, Sport Auto used a Seat Ibiza for testing, and placed all eleven sets of tires through the usual dry, wet and environment based tests.

The first and second placed tires will be no surprise. The Michelin Primacy 4, which always seems to work well in the smaller sizes, dominated both braking tests, was the fastest in wet handling and was the quietest on test. Second placed Bridgestone Turanza T005 had the lowest rolling resistance, and scored well in every other key test, other than a slightly average dry braking result, while the third placed Nokian WetProof lived up to its name and was the fastest around the wet handling lap, but struggled during the dry handling lap.

One other issue with this lower volume tire size is not all patterns are the most up to date, with the testers having to test the Continental PremiumContact 5 rather than the 6.

Dry

During dry braking, the Michelin Primacy 4 had a large advantage, beating the second placed Maxxis Premitra 5 by nearly a full meter. The next ten tires were only separated by another 1.9 meters!

The new Toyo Proxes Comfort was the fastest around the dry handling lap, with the BFGoodrich Advantage struggling to set a quick time.

Wet

The Primacy 4 continued its braking advantage in the wet, with the sister brand BFGoodrich placing second.

The Primacy 4 was also the fastest around the wet handling lap, but this time tying first place with the Nokian WetProof.

Falken and Nokian led the way in the straight aquaplaning test.

Environment

The difference in external noise between the eleven sets was relatively low, with Goodyear, Michelin and Nokian all tying for the quietest tires on test.

The two most expensive tires on test offered the lowest rolling resistance, but with the group relatively close it's unlikely they would recover that higher purchase price. As we've seen before, the Falken ZE310 struggled with high rolling resistance.

Surprisingly, Michelin wasn't the most expensive tire on test, with the Bridgestone 4 euros per tire more expensive. There is a 184 euro price difference between a full set of the Maxxis and Bridgestone tires.

Results