Sadly Tire Reviews isn't performing an SUV summer tire test this year, but luckily the German publication AutoBild once again have us covered if you want to know what the best tire is for your SUV!
This year AutoBild tested twelve SUV tires for the crossover SUV segment in the 225/65 R17 tire size.
As usual, all the tires were tested in the dry and wet, and had their rolling resistance and noise / comfort levels graded, but as this category of tire is also intended for some "light off-roading" they tested the twelve SUV tires in mud, sand, dirt and even on wet grass! This means this really is the best test this year you show you what the best tire is for your SUV!
There's a LOT of data from this test, so we won't preface anymore - This is how the best twelve SUV tires fared in the dry, wet, gravel, mud, dirt and sand!
Wet braking was led by the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV. The Michelin looks a little out of place in this test, the Pilot Sport 4 SUV is an ultra high performance summer tire, and all the other tires in the test are more touring / comfort bias tires. Perhaps the Michelin Primacy 4 would have been a better match for the test, but this does give us an excellent insight into the differences between the two categories of tires.
It should come as no surprise that the Aplus A919 in last place was the cheapest tire on test, but it might be a surprise that the Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport also struggled to stop the car.
Wet Braking
Spread: 13.70 M (27.5%)|Avg: 54.54 M
Wet braking in meters (100 - 0 km/h) (Lower is better)
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
49.90 M
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
52.10 M
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
52.20 M
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
52.60 M
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
52.90 M
Bridgestone Turanza 6
53.00 M
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
53.60 M
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
53.80 M
Toyo Proxes Comfort
54.70 M
General Grabber GT Plus
55.00 M
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
61.10 M
Aplus A919
63.60 M
The Michelin was also the fastest around the wet handling lap, beating the new Bridgestone Turanza 6.
Wet Handling
Spread: 4.30 Km/H (5%)|Avg: 85.00 Km/H
Wet Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
86.80 Km/H
Bridgestone Turanza 6
86.40 Km/H
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
85.70 Km/H
Toyo Proxes Comfort
85.50 Km/H
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
85.40 Km/H
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
85.20 Km/H
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
85.00 Km/H
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
84.80 Km/H
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
84.40 Km/H
General Grabber GT Plus
84.30 Km/H
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
84.00 Km/H
Aplus A919
82.50 Km/H
The Michelin also had the best straight aquaplaning resistance, significantly ahead of all the tires bar the Uniroyal RainSport 5, which usually wins the deep water tests!
Straight Aqua
Spread: 12.10 Km/H (12.6%)|Avg: 89.01 Km/H
Float Speed in Km/H (Higher is better)
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
95.90 Km/H
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
94.50 Km/H
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
91.00 Km/H
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
90.90 Km/H
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
90.20 Km/H
Bridgestone Turanza 6
89.00 Km/H
General Grabber GT Plus
87.80 Km/H
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
87.80 Km/H
Toyo Proxes Comfort
87.10 Km/H
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
86.20 Km/H
Aplus A919
83.90 Km/H
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
83.80 Km/H
Dry
The Pirelli Cinturato P7 managed to beat the Michelin to be best in dry braking, with the Aplus once again trailing the field buy a significant margin.
Dry Braking
Spread: 5.70 M (16.5%)|Avg: 36.51 M
Dry braking in meters (100 - 0 km/h) (Lower is better)
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
34.60 M
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
35.20 M
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
35.30 M
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
35.50 M
Toyo Proxes Comfort
35.70 M
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
36.20 M
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
36.50 M
Bridgestone Turanza 6
36.60 M
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
37.10 M
General Grabber GT Plus
37.20 M
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
37.90 M
Aplus A919
40.30 M
The more comfort bias Pirelli couldn't hold off the more sporty Michelin during the dry handling test.
Dry Handling
Spread: 5.90 Km/H (5.7%)|Avg: 100.59 Km/H
Dry Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
103.30 Km/H
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
102.70 Km/H
Bridgestone Turanza 6
102.40 Km/H
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
102.00 Km/H
Toyo Proxes Comfort
101.70 Km/H
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
100.50 Km/H
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
100.50 Km/H
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
100.40 Km/H
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
99.90 Km/H
General Grabber GT Plus
98.40 Km/H
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
97.90 Km/H
Aplus A919
97.40 Km/H
Off Road
The dirt handling course was led by Pirelli, with the new Hankook Ventus Prime 4 a close second!
Dirt Handling
Spread: 1.50 Km/H (2.3%)|Avg: 65.97 Km/H
Dirt handling average speed (Higher is better)
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
66.60 Km/H
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
66.50 Km/H
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
66.40 Km/H
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
66.20 Km/H
Aplus A919
66.20 Km/H
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
66.10 Km/H
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
66.00 Km/H
General Grabber GT Plus
65.90 Km/H
Bridgestone Turanza 6
65.70 Km/H
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
65.60 Km/H
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
65.30 Km/H
Toyo Proxes Comfort
65.10 Km/H
The next three data points are gravel, sand and mud traction tests, measured as a pulling force. It's important to note that offroad testing is some of the hardest testing in the world, none more so than mud, so worry less about the precise order and more about general trends.
These general trends are that the budget Aplus might not be able to grip on wet roads, but is great on wet grass and in mud but not sand. The General Grabber GT Plus was best in sand but poor on grass... it seems even general trends are difficult with offroad testing!
Grass Traction
Spread: 635.00 N (21.7%)|Avg: 2493.92 N
Pulling Force in Newtons (Higher is better)
Aplus A919
2924.00 N
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
2669.00 N
Toyo Proxes Comfort
2589.00 N
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
2505.00 N
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
2474.00 N
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
2454.00 N
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
2444.00 N
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
2435.00 N
General Grabber GT Plus
2415.00 N
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
2397.00 N
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
2332.00 N
Bridgestone Turanza 6
2289.00 N
Sand Traction
Spread: 1656.00 N (18.6%)|Avg: 8079.25 N
Pulling Force in Newtons (Higher is better)
General Grabber GT Plus
8886.00 N
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
8422.00 N
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
8398.00 N
Bridgestone Turanza 6
8346.00 N
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
8304.00 N
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
8102.00 N
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
8102.00 N
Aplus A919
8012.00 N
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
7998.00 N
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
7744.00 N
Toyo Proxes Comfort
7407.00 N
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
7230.00 N
Mud Traction
Spread: 924.00 N (28.3%)|Avg: 2844.08 N
Pulling Force in Newtons (Higher is better)
Aplus A919
3261.00 N
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
3204.00 N
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
3022.00 N
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
2930.00 N
Bridgestone Turanza 6
2930.00 N
General Grabber GT Plus
2930.00 N
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
2870.00 N
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
2803.00 N
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
2747.00 N
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
2573.00 N
Toyo Proxes Comfort
2522.00 N
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
2337.00 N
Environment
External noise is a much easier test, and the Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV proved to be the quietest tire of the group by a huge margin!
Noise
Spread: 3.10 dB (4.6%)|Avg: 69.33 dB
External noise in dB (Lower is better)
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
67.30 dB
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
68.30 dB
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
68.90 dB
General Grabber GT Plus
69.10 dB
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
69.30 dB
Toyo Proxes Comfort
69.30 dB
Bridgestone Turanza 6
69.40 dB
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
69.60 dB
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
70.10 dB
Aplus A919
70.10 dB
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
70.20 dB
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
70.40 dB
The new Bridgestone Turanza 6 continued Bridgestones excellent performance in the rolling resistance tests, leading the Hankook and Uniroyal.
Rolling Resistance
Spread: 2.14 kg / t (28.8%)|Avg: 8.25 kg / t
Rolling resistance in kg t (Lower is better)
Bridgestone Turanza 6
7.42 kg / t
Hankook Ventus Prime 4
7.63 kg / t
Uniroyal RainExpert 5
7.67 kg / t
General Grabber GT Plus
7.78 kg / t
Toyo Proxes Comfort
8.16 kg / t
Cooper Zeon 4XS Sport
8.34 kg / t
Pirelli CINTURATO P7
8.35 kg / t
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV
8.44 kg / t
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
8.49 kg / t
Nexen N Fera Sport SUV
8.59 kg / t
Falken ZIEX ZE310 EcoRun
8.59 kg / t
Aplus A919
9.56 kg / t
The Aplus was the cheapest tire on test, but this time the Michelin wasn't the most expensive tire of the group, it was the joint most expensive with Goodyear!
Test winner with top driving characteristics on wet and dry roads, exemplary safety reserves in aquaplaning, precise steering behavior, good off-road capability, good comfort.
A new tire with well-balanced performance potential, top performance on wet and dry roads, good off-road qualities, safe aquaplaning properties, fuel-saving rolling resistance.
Premium profile with well-balanced, safe driving characteristics, good aquaplaning resistance, short wet braking distances, good off-road capability, good comfort.
Severely limited safety reserves in the wet and aquaplaning, dangerously long wet and dry braking distances, significantly increased rolling resistance.