2022 Auto Express Summer Tire Test

Test Summary
Best tire for dry roads	Bridgestone Potenza Sport
Best tire for wet roads	Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6
The best tire overall	Bridgestone Potenza Sport
The quietest tire	Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3

The 2022 Auto Express summer tire test is here! For 2022 Auto Express tested seven ultra high performance summer tires in the popular 225/40 R18 tire size!

As always, we will steer you towards the Auto Express website to see the full details of the test, but we do have a few comments to make.

• At time of testing there were stock issues for some of the usual brands, meaning no Michelin and Continental are included in this test.
• The Asymmetric 6 placed a very close second to the Potenza Sport, just 0.5% off overall. The Bridgestone was the sharper handling tire in the dry and wet by a small margin, but the Goodyear was the best of the rest by a clear margin.
• The Pirelli Cinturato P7 seems out of place in this test as the only touring tire in the group, in this group we'd have prefered to see the P Zero PZ4.
• The budget Austone tire took 18 meters longer than the best on test to stop in wet braking, which is a huge difference. 
• Maxxis seems to continue its recent form with the Victra Sport 5 finishing impressively well with a rounded performance!

The overall results are below, and once again you can find the full details on www.autoexpress.com. The scores are weighed as 50% wet, 40% dry and fuel economy 10% with the emphasis on handling and braking in the dry and wet.

Results

1st: Bridgestone Potenza Sport
225/40 R18 Weight: D/A/72kgs	Total: 790.8 Dry: 200 Wet: 392.1 Noise: 98.7 Overall: 100 The Potenza Sport lead in the dry and wet with the sharpest handling and shortest braking distances. Read Reviews    Buy from £88.00
2nd: Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6
225/40 R18 Weight: C/A/70kgs	Total: 788.1 Dry: 196.4 Wet: 395 Noise: 97.2 Overall: 99.5 The Asymmetric 6 was only slightly behind the Potenza Sport in the dry and wet, but had a better rolling resistance and the best aquaplaning resistance on test. Read Reviews    Buy from £93.93
3rd: Maxxis Victra Sport 5
225/40 R18 Weight: C/A/72kgs	Total: 768 Dry: 193.5 Wet: 378.7 Noise: 98.3 Overall: 97.5 The VS5 had good handling and levels of grip in the dry and wet. Read Reviews
4th: Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3
225/40 R18 Weight: C/A/72kgs	Total: 749.7 Dry: 191.2 Wet: 361.1 Noise: 100 Overall: 97.4 The S1 Evo3 excelled in wet braking and had a good subjective handling result, but struggled a little in the deep water aquaplaning testing. Read Reviews    Buy from £75.54
5th: Falken Azenis FK520
225/40 R18 Weight: C/A/70kgs	Total: 750.3 Dry: 194.9 Wet: 360.7 Noise: 98.2 Overall: 96.5 The new Falken Azenis FK520 performed well in the dry and in the aquaplaning testing, but couldn't match the best in the wet grip tests of wet handling and braking. Read Reviews
6th: Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2
225/40 R18 Weight: B/A/70kgs	Total: 722.2 Dry: 187 Wet: 340.6 Noise: 99.4 Overall: 95.2 The Cinturato P7 C2 was the only touring tire in a group of UHP tires, and performed as you would expect. It couldn't match the outright grip of the performance tires but had the best rolling resistance on test. Read Reviews    Buy from £103.20
7th: Austone Athena SP 7
225/40 R18 Weight: C/A/72kgs	Total: 675.5 Dry: 181.5 Wet: 304.9 Noise: 99.4 Overall: 89.7 The Austone SP7 finished last in every grip test, and took 18 meters longer to stop the test car than the winner, which is a huge margin. As always, cheap tires are cheap for a reason. Read Reviews