Every year the German publication Auto Bild performs the industries most comprehensive tire test by putting a huge number of tires through wet and dry braking, to find the best twenty tires to progress through to a full tire test.
For the 2020 summer season, Auto Bild have tested fifty tires in 245/45 R18, which gives us an excellent overview of the UHP market for 2020.
While the results are mostly as expected, there are a few small surprises below worth noting. Nokian performs very well in wet and dry braking, finishing second overall, but more surprisingly the Bridgestone Potenza S001 wins the wet braking test, which is an area the Bridgestone has struggled with in the past. This indicates Bridgestone have put through a pretty major update to the tire, it will be interesting to see how it performs in the full test.
It's also nice to see Kumho back near the top after struggling for a number of years, and the budget brand Zeetex upsets some of the more premium rivals, including Pirelli, to finish in eighteenth place.
Full results below, come back to the site in about a month when there will be the more in depth test of the top twenty tires available.
Firstly, not my test so I can't answer. Autobild do an all season test every year with a summer and winter tire as reference, which should answer your point.
So Auto Bild want us to believe that Michelin PS4 are the only tires that brake better in WET conditions (29.8 m) than dry (32.1 m)? Am I missing something, or is this against the laws of physics? Or did someone make a typo when entering the data?
All the other tires in this list behave normally, that is, brake better in dry conditions.
Hi, really confused about the mixed reviews of the PS 4s. Seems to be getting great reviews at the technical level but mixed by the community. Are there quality issues compared to the competitors? Looking for tires for my S63 Coupe and just so confused as to what would be ‘best’. I just want something that is safe, quiet and reasonably durable. That’s not too much to ask is it? :)
Michelin probably make the most consistent tires in the market, so I doubt it's due to quality issues!
The only negatives I really see against the PS4 is that they can be a little noisy in some fitments, and they don't wear as well as previous Michelins.
I'm not sure what sizes you have, but the Asymmetric 5 would be an alternative.
Thanks for the reply! I’m currently running 255 45 19 and 285 40 19 which aren’t available in PS 4s from what I can tell. I think I can get the PS2 or SS in that size but they seem like old technology. I’m thinking of moving to 20” rims as tires seem to be more available and cheaper in that size. So it would be 255 40 20 and 285 35 20 if I went with the Mercedes size recommendations. Cheers.
Are there different iterations of the same tire? If so is there any way to find out what you've got? Asking as we bought a used car with S001's and was thinking of changing them but this has confused me.
No way of telling unless Bridgestone will tell you. They will need a combination of the DOT code andthe factory it was produced, but I wouldn't be hopeful getting that data from them
Another strange thing for me is how far the falken 510 has slipped down the list this year it was really good the last few years. Strange how they are testing the toyo t1 sport instead of the newer TR1 and the rainsport 3 instead of the rainsport 5.
Am I the only one that is disappointed by Michelin Pilot Sport 4? 225/45R17 (94Y) XL. I find them less grippy than the Kenda Vezda AST. They're spinning very easy and abs kicks in constantly.
That is what worries me. If it wasn't consistent and if there were bad reviews I could understand that it was a bad choice. I chose what is considered the best without budget restrictions. I'm now playing with tire pressure as they were overinflated by installer. I'm gonna wait a little more for weather to get hotter but I'm not hoping much. Could be the months stored be an issue? Greece hot summer etc. Installer is official Michelin trader-installer.
Depending on how they were stored, hopefully not on direct Greek sun. They should not be too much old either (DOT max. 4 years). You can try to change front & rear set, sometimes it can help, together with different air pressure. If one only tire is problematic, use it just as for the reserve wheel. P.S. You can also just start slower when no launch control available :-)
If one is problematic then I will change a pair under warranty. Spare wheel is 16", so not fitting! I believe they were protected by sun and extreme temperatures, I bought from main supplier of North Greece and they have a big warehouse. Dot1619 I'll also try front-rear interchange after some testing with pressures. They feel solid in feedback and response comparing to my previous tires. If we were talking about turning I would say that the safety feeling makes me getting in with higher speed. But it is difficult to start without spinning.
Thats only on the surface.....less then 1mm deep. The rest including the material is all the same. This test is useless. There are more weird tires used like the old Bridgestone S001. And what about the whole specs off the used tires....96 or 100 loadindex???
I can see what you're saying but these small differences could make a difference. The gum could also be "almost" the same. Can't say for sure. Yeah, for Pirelli also the old P zero.
They bought it under known title "P Zero" in the shop anonymously like all others. They simulated purchase of a normal consumer (not a professional client).
What do you mean? Couldn't they ask for the new pz4? It's a different tire. I'm not a pirelli fan but I think it's not fair. It's like asking for the Conti premium contact and getting the 5 no questions asked.
I don't get it either. When looking for tires I have no idea if it's an updated version or not. That's the problem with the p zero there is nothing to indicate if it's the pz4 or not. In any case a tire shouldn't get worse but some how they do vary a lot. Not sure if tire size makes a big difference or not.
It's perhaps more likely that in this size, at the time of test (last summer!) the PZ4 might not have been available, so they chose to test the older pattern instead rather than exclude it
But it´s still strange. I bought the old P Zero in 2015, in that year it dominated in wet braking in two magazines, different size. In one test it the 2nd tire needed over 3m more, in other test around 2m more.
Can´t believe other tires now are so much better now, so it means the P Zero is more worse now?
Sometimes tire manufacturers have variable quality between factories, but I doubt this is the case with Pirelli. Unless in this size they've made a compound update to improve wear, at the expense of wet grip, I'm a bit stumped!
Braking distance at what car speed?
Firstly, not my test so I can't answer. Autobild do an all season test every year with a summer and winter tire as reference, which should answer your point.
Also, my own all season test https://www.tyrereviews.com... has summer and winter references
So Auto Bild want us to believe that Michelin PS4 are the only tires that brake better in WET conditions (29.8 m) than dry (32.1 m)? Am I missing something, or is this against the laws of physics? Or did someone make a typo when entering the data?
All the other tires in this list behave normally, that is, brake better in dry conditions.
Initial speed will be different, likely 100 for dry and 80 for wet
Hi, really confused about the mixed reviews of the PS 4s. Seems to be getting great reviews at the technical level but mixed by the community. Are there quality issues compared to the competitors? Looking for tires for my S63 Coupe and just so confused as to what would be ‘best’. I just want something that is safe, quiet and reasonably durable. That’s not too much to ask is it? :)
Michelin probably make the most consistent tires in the market, so I doubt it's due to quality issues!
The only negatives I really see against the PS4 is that they can be a little noisy in some fitments, and they don't wear as well as previous Michelins.
I'm not sure what sizes you have, but the Asymmetric 5 would be an alternative.
Thanks for the reply! I’m currently running 255 45 19 and 285 40 19 which aren’t available in PS 4s from what I can tell. I think I can get the PS2 or SS in that size but they seem like old technology. I’m thinking of moving to 20” rims as tires seem to be more available and cheaper in that size. So it would be 255 40 20 and 285 35 20 if I went with the Mercedes size recommendations. Cheers.
Is there a reason why my last comment was marked as spam?
How come the Bridgestone S001 has done so much better in the wet in this test than previous tests?
I feel like I covered that in the article :)
Are there different iterations of the same tire? If so is there any way to find out what you've got? Asking as we bought a used car with S001's and was thinking of changing them but this has confused me.
No way of telling unless Bridgestone will tell you. They will need a combination of the DOT code andthe factory it was produced, but I wouldn't be hopeful getting that data from them
Numbers on mine (if this ever blows up): DOT 7GN1 P7C. 4218. 69873
Another strange thing for me is how far the falken 510 has slipped down the list this year it was really good the last few years.
Strange how they are testing the toyo t1 sport instead of the newer TR1 and the rainsport 3 instead of the rainsport 5.
The test must have been done last summer or autumn...
Am I the only one that is disappointed by Michelin Pilot Sport 4? 225/45R17 (94Y) XL.
I find them less grippy than the Kenda Vezda AST. They're spinning very easy and abs kicks in constantly.
Might it be down to the time of year? They're consistently well rated!
That is what worries me. If it wasn't consistent and if there were bad reviews I could understand that it was a bad choice. I chose what is considered the best without budget restrictions.
I'm now playing with tire pressure as they were overinflated by installer.
I'm gonna wait a little more for weather to get hotter but I'm not hoping much.
Could be the months stored be an issue? Greece hot summer etc. Installer is official Michelin trader-installer.
Depending on how they were stored, hopefully not on direct Greek sun. They should not be too much old either (DOT max. 4 years).
You can try to change front & rear set, sometimes it can help, together with different air pressure. If one only tire is problematic, use it just as for the reserve wheel.
P.S. You can also just start slower when no launch control available :-)
If one is problematic then I will change a pair under warranty. Spare wheel is 16", so not fitting!
I believe they were protected by sun and extreme temperatures, I bought from main supplier of North Greece and they have a big warehouse. Dot1619
I'll also try front-rear interchange after some testing with pressures.
They feel solid in feedback and response comparing to my previous tires. If we were talking about turning I would say that the safety feeling makes me getting in with higher speed. But it is difficult to start without spinning.
Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of your issue
Wet braking distance shorter than dry braking distance? What were the relative starting speeds and what vehicle was used?
Like they always test: Braking in dry from 100 km/h and from 80 km/h in wet.
Stupid test. The Debica and Sava tire are exactly the same.......still different in scores ?!?!?!?!
They seem to have different tread pattern.
Thats only on the surface.....less then 1mm deep. The rest including the material is all the same.
This test is useless. There are more weird tires used like the old Bridgestone S001.
And what about the whole specs off the used tires....96 or 100 loadindex???
I can see what you're saying but these small differences could make a difference. The gum could also be "almost" the same.
Can't say for sure.
Yeah, for Pirelli also the old P zero.
There´s going to be some serious arguing and yelling at Pirelli's and Yokohama's, since they went off the top 20 and the full test...
At least it was the previous gen P Zero, not the new PZ4!
Why are they still testing it then?
They bought it under known title "P Zero" in the shop anonymously like all others.
They simulated purchase of a normal consumer (not a professional client).
What do you mean? Couldn't they ask for the new pz4? It's a different tire. I'm not a pirelli fan but I think it's not fair. It's like asking for the Conti premium contact and getting the 5 no questions asked.
I don't get it either. When looking for tires I have no idea if it's an updated version or not. That's the problem with the p zero there is nothing to indicate if it's the pz4 or not. In any case a tire shouldn't get worse but some how they do vary a lot. Not sure if tire size makes a big difference or not.
It's perhaps more likely that in this size, at the time of test (last summer!) the PZ4 might not have been available, so they chose to test the older pattern instead rather than exclude it
They wrote the PZ4 was tested in this dimension a year ago and it was much better
https://www.tirereviews.co....
But it´s still strange. I bought the old P Zero in 2015, in that year it dominated in wet braking in two magazines, different size. In one test it the 2nd tire needed over 3m more, in other test around 2m more.
Can´t believe other tires now are so much better now, so it means the P Zero is more worse now?
Here is the test in another size in 2019
https://www.tirereviews.co....
Very good in important points
Sometimes tire manufacturers have variable quality between factories, but I doubt this is the case with Pirelli. Unless in this size they've made a compound update to improve wear, at the expense of wet grip, I'm a bit stumped!
Pirelli have variable quality between factories.
I remember some years ago the ADAC-magazine test the P1 Verde, made in Romania and Turkey. The romanian Tires were much better than the turkish.
But Pirelli said some weeks later it was because the romanian plant had already the new producition process, the turkish plant get it later.
But still, the tires don´t get so much better in a few years, so the P Zero must be getting worse