ACE have started the year off with their annual touring tire test, covering 15 tires in the popular 205/55 R16 size. The test covers a wide range of tires, including a yet unreleased tire and a number of budget options.
Results
In a rather strange twist, the tire which has won the test is not yet available for purchase in the UK. The Continental Premium Contact 5 replaces the Continental Premium Contact 2 as the companies flagship premium touring tire, and seems to pick up right where the PC2 left off by winning the test convincingly. The tire is officially being launched at the end of March and should be available for sale shortly after.Second place is taken by the excellent Dunlop SP Sport Fast Response with a convincing all round performance, but it’s 3rd to 6th places where things get far more interesting.
Finishing 3rd is the Nokian V. Nokian are a company well known for their winter tires, and have recently been making strides with their summer V, Z and Z G2 tires. The V in this test managed to combine and excellent dry result with a good rolling resistance score to round out the top 3.
4th place was secured by Fulda, with the new Eco Control HP. Fulda are widely regarded as a premium brand in Europe, but their relatively unknown status in the UK means they’re a bit of a performance bargain. The Eco Control HP had the lowest rolling resistance on the test, yet still managed good dry and noise scores.
5th and 6th were taken by Semperit and Hankook, both brands which are making real strides up the midrange table, and along with Fulda and Nokian, are almost defining a new “premium midrange†sector.
At the bottom end of the table are the budget tire, continuing the trend “you get what you pay forâ€. While a number of budget tires can offer good rolling resistance scores, the tire off in wet performance isn’t worth the small cost saving.
As always, the full results are below. Any questions please feel free to comment!
Continental Premium Contact 5
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 43 |
| Wet | 72 |
| Rolling Resistance | 14 |
| Noise | 6 |
Total: 135
Dunlop SP Sport Fast Response
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 44 |
| Wet | 71 |
| Rolling Resistance | 10 |
| Noise | 8 |
Total: 133
Nokian V
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 44 |
| Wet | 68 |
| Rolling Resistance | 12 |
| Noise | 9 |
Total: 133
Fulda EcoControl HP
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 44 |
| Wet | 59 |
| Rolling Resistance | 17 |
| Noise | 10 |
Total: 130
Semperit Speed Life
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 43 |
| Wet | 67 |
| Rolling Resistance | 10 |
| Noise | 9 |
Total: 129
Hankook K425 Kinergy Eco
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 43 |
| Wet | 63 |
| Rolling Resistance | 14 |
| Noise | 9 |
Total: 129
Goodyear EfficientGrip
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 41 |
| Wet | 67 |
| Rolling Resistance | 17 |
| Noise | 6 |
Total: 131
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 42 |
| Wet | 67 |
| Rolling Resistance | 12 |
| Noise | 6 |
Total: 127
Vredestein Sportrac 3
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 39 |
| Wet | 57 |
| Rolling Resistance | 12 |
| Noise | 6 |
Total: 114
Kumho Ecsta HM KH31
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 38 |
| Wet | 59 |
| Rolling Resistance | 7 |
| Noise | 8 |
Total: 112
Firestone TZ300A
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 36 |
| Wet | 67 |
| Rolling Resistance | 3 |
| Noise | 6 |
Total: 112
Sava intensa hp
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 27 |
| Wet | 59 |
| Rolling Resistance | 2 |
| Noise | 6 |
Total: 94
Goodride SA05
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 29 |
| Wet | 37 |
| Rolling Resistance | 10 |
| Noise | 1 |
Total: 77
Rotalla F108
205/55 R16
All discipline results (4)
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Dry | 22 |
| Wet | 17 |
| Rolling Resistance | 16 |
| Noise | 10 |
Total: 65
which tire is better dunlop sp sport fast response or continental premium contact 5 on 15 inch rims.
According to this test, the Contis, however the Dunlop has just been replaced so the new version might be the better tire:
http://www.tirereviews.co.u...
P7 done for rolling resistance but officially gets a "C" score on the tire label (which is unusually good - Efficientgrip officially an F)....??
I would like to understand why cinturato P7 both wins on several tests and then are put near the budget tires on this one..
Efficient Grip scores 131 which should position it as no4 not no7?
The results were weighted in favor of safety related scores which our automatic totalling sadly doesn't reflect. The overall order is as the magazine printed!
Efficient Grip better than Sportrac 3? I don't think so...!
Interesting comment, have you driven on both? Tire performance can vary from size to size, so you might find in a different size the scoring is slightly different.
No, I driven only Efficient Grip, but I was thinking of trying the Sportrac 3 next spring. I said "I don't think so" because I
had two of them on the front axle of my Grande Punto, mounted at the end of
October before putting the winter tires, instead of 2 Bridgestone Turanza
ER300 "eat" on the inside due to incorrect convergence of my car. After
about 1.500/2.000 kilometers traveled, I decided to give it back (fortunately the tire dealer has deducted the cost of them from my winter tires) because it didn't fit
my driving style too soft for my taste... Don't get me wrong, on normal
road tires it were great, potholes didn't feel close to it, but going on
the highway (and I go there every day) I had to make numerous
micro-corrections, even on straight road, but the "problem", if you can
call that,
was when it faced the high speed corners, instead of rigid feel, you felt the rubber deformed like a jelly... Oh
well, I have overdone it a bit, but this is to give you an idea of
the feelings I felt when I was driving... So, in my humble opinion the Efficient Grip are much recommended for those with a normal drive, but for those
like me who has a guide which is positioned midway between touring and
sport, are not very marked.As winter tires, I put the Goodyear Ultragrip 8 and I found that Efficient Grip were even more soft of the first!
The Guildford Tire Co. Fitted P C 5s to my 407 Sport xs 235x45x18 in the spring last year , I have run Conti for years and these are the best yet !
Premium Contact 5's aren't on the market yet! The Sport Contact and Eco Contact 5 were both released last year.
I stand corrected, Sport contact 5 they were , like driving on rails !
Not going to argue with that - they're very good tires!