2010 Auto Bild Eco Tire Test
With fuel prices sky high, "Eco Tires" (or ultra low rolling resistance tires) are a hot topic. Traditionally eco tires have been just like normal tires only with a harder rubber compound. While this is an effective way to save fuel, the harder the tires compound the less grip it produces meaning people were having to consider whether the risk of low grip tires was worth the savings in fuel.
This month Autobild have tested 5 of the latest eco tires to see if the new breed of fuel saving tires were any better. Unfortunately their conclusion isn't good, summarising with "the greater the fuel saving, the worse the wet weather performance."
To rate the tires Autobild looked at the tires wet grip, dry grip and potential fuel savings over 35,000kms. To confirm the "the more fuel saved the worse the wet grip is" rule the Michelin Energy Saver offered the highest fuel savings (217euros) but the worst wet grip. The only tire to buck the trend was the Pirelli Cinturato P7 which managed to balance grip and economy, winning the test overall.
Here are the full results:
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
205/55 r16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 5 |
| Wet | 4 |
Total: 9
Bridgestone Turanza ER300 Ecopia
205/55 r16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 4 |
| Wet | 4 |
Total: 8
Nokian V
205/55 r16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 4 |
| Wet | 3 |
Total: 7
Goodyear EfficientGrip
205/55 r16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 2 |
| Wet | 4 |
Total: 6
Michelin Energy Saver
205/55 r16
All discipline results (2)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 1 |
| Wet | 5 |
Total: 6
Discussion