2020 Tire Reviews Ultimate Summer Tire Test

Do you want to know what tire is best for every day, real world driving? In this test we take eleven of the very best 205/55 R16 tires on the market, plus a well regarded budget tire, to see exactly what tire performs best in the dry, wet, comfort, noise and rolling resistance tests!

It's the Tire Reviews long overdue, 16" tire test! The 16" tires is the most popular size in the world, and is fitted to a large percentage of "daily" cars, so this test will hopefully be relevant to a large number of drivers!

In this test we have twelve of the most popular tires on the market, including the multiple test winning Continental PremiumContact 6 and Michelin Primacy 4, going up against the new Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2, Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2, Uniroyal RainSport 5 and BFGoodrich Advantage, with the usual tires from Falken, Nokian, Bridgestone, Maxxis, Hankook and Goodride.

All twelve tires will be tested in dry and wet handling, dry and wet braking, aquaplaning, internal cabin noise and fuel use, and have subjective grades given to their dry and wet handling, and most importantly for this type of tire, their comfort levels.

The overall score will be weighted as 35% dry (35% lap time, 10% subjective, 55% braking), 50% wet (35% lap time, 5% subjective, 55% braking, 5% aquaplaning), 7.5% NVH (50% internal noise, 50% comfort) and 7.5% value (80% rolling resistance, 20% price), however if you prefer qualities such as subjective dry handling over wet braking, all the data will be below to allow you to make your own purchase decision.

As always, any questions, please ask below! 

Dry

You might not think the dry performance of a 16" tire is important, but dry braking and handling show you exactly how much grip each tire will have in an emergency situation, where you lean on the tire more than normal.

For dry braking, the Continental had the advantage over a very close group, with the Pirelli, Falken, and Nokian joint second! Uniroyal, Hankook and Goodride all had longer than ideal dry stopping distances.

The new Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 was the fastest tire round dry handling, with the joint second placed Continental and Maxxis both having the best subjective handling feel.

Wet

Wet braking had three tires significantly ahead of the rest, with Falken, Continental And Uniroyal all having over 2 meters to the next best tire on test. Again, Hankook and Goodride struggled with grip levels.

With a couple of deeper parts of water on track, the wet handling test favoured the tires with higher levels of aquaplaning resistance, meaning the Continental couldn't match its excellent wet braking result.

Only the budget Goodride had worse aquaplaning resistance than the two premium Continental and Goodyear tires, with the Uniroyal RainSport 5 once again proving its unique tread pattern was the best way to clear water.

Comfort

Comfort is an important quality for a 16" tire, and the BFGoodrich and Michelin pair had a significant advantage over the bumps and road imperfections.

We tested internal noise levels rather than external, averaging the noise from two different road surfaces at two different speeds, giving you a true picture of how loud a tire is to the driver. Again, the BFGoodrich had a clear advantage.

Value

The Bridgestone Turanza T005 once again aced the rolling resistance test, finishing top, but the new Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 was a close second.

At the time of test, the budget Goodride was the cheapest tire to buy, and the Michelin the most expensive.

Sadly, we couldn't test wear, however there are plenty of other tests on Tire Reviews, along with user reviews, showing the wear rates of most of these tires.

Overall Results