Tire Tests

Off road vehicles don't always spend all their time off road, and the new generation of "soft-road" vehicles can go their entire lives without seeing so much as a muddy verge.

For this reason, the German "Off Road" magazine have chosen to test six 215/65 R16 tires on an Audi Q3, which are designed to spend 99% of their life on the road.

With SUV and 4x4 vehicles quickly becoming the most popular vehicle type in Europe, more and more magazines are providing dedicated tire tests for SUV sizes.

This year, Auto Motor und Sport have tested nine SUV tires in the crossover 215/60 R17 size using a VW Mokka.

This year the German magazine "Gute Fahrt" have tested nine all season tires in 205/55 R16 using a VW Golf, plus summer and winter tire for comparison.

While the full results are summarised below, we thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at how the all season tires compared to the summer Continental EcoContact 5 and winter Dunlop WinterSport 5 included in the test.

This year the German AutoBild magazine have taken the 15 best tires from their 205/55 R16 50 tire braking shootout through to the full test, and the result is another impressive win for Hankook!

The 2016 Auto Bild SUV and 4x4 tire test looks at seven of the latest tires for the quickly growing "softroad" vehicle segment. These latest softroaders have sporty driving characteristics, and spend most of their time on road, yet should still retain some performance on grass or gravel.

One VW Golf wearing 205/55 R16 tires, 50 different tire patterns, and a lot of wet and dry braking tests gives us a good overview of the market in 2016. The dry test was braking from 62 mph, and the wet from 50 mph.

The test we've all been waiting for is here, and it's round one to Continental.

The 2016 Auto Bild Sports Cars tire test placed six maximum performance tires through their paces on a Jaguar F-Type, in 255/35 R20 front and 295/30 R20 rear sizes.

The new Continental Sport Contact 6 was tested against the reigning performance tire king, the Michelin Pilot Super Sport, and the result was surprising.

Testing in 225/45 R17, the GTU test is the first test to include the new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3, Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2, Falken Azenis FK510, Toyo Proxes T1 Sport+ and GT Radial SportActive amongst the fourteen tires tested! Sadly, the new Michelin Pilot Sport 4 was absent from the test, but we can't have everything at once.

Much like the 225/45 R17 test ADAC published at the same time, the ADAC 185/65 R15 tire test looks at sixteen premium and mid range tires, but this time has selected tires intended to be fitted to smaller town and city cars.

The biggest surprise of the test was this time delivered by Vredestein, with the Sportrac 5 dominating the test, and beating the wet weather master Continental Premium Contact 5 in the wet tests. The Vredestein must have gone through a life cycle update, as in 2015 the best result it could manage was fifth overall, and over placed near the bottom of the tests it took part in.

The 2016 ADAC 225/45 R17 summer tire test is a classic ADAC by-the-numbers tire test, with the results driven from data rather than subjective scoring.

Of the sixteen tires tested, at least three patterns have already been replaced, with the Michelin Pilot Sport 3, Toyo Proxes T1 Sport and GT Radial Champiro HPY already superseded by the Michelin Pilot Sport 4, Toyo Proxes T1 Sport+ and GT Radial Sport Active in late 2015.

Goodyear and Dunlop are also noticeably absent from this test, with the newly released Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 and Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 missing.

The first summer tire test of 2016 is a curious one. ACE, the Automobile Club Europa, are often first to publish their regular summer tire tests, but this year their first tire test exclusively features midrange tires.

Testing ten 195/65 R15 tires on a VW Golf, ACE argue that the most important consideration for 90% of motorists is price, which is why they've chosen to tests tires as cheap as 35/euros per tire.

Continuing the year of all season tire tests, French magazine L'Argus have released their first all season tire test, which included both the new Michelin CrossClimate, the new Nokian Weatherproof, and the new Nokian WR D4 as the reference winter tire.

Testing five of the latest all season tires in 205/55 R16 on a VW Golf, L'Argus put the all the tires through a full complement of winter and summer tests, in both an Austrian Autumn at a warm 15c, and a Finnish winter where the temperatures were as low as -15c.

Testing 10 premium UHP winter tires in 225/50 R17, including three patterns released in 2015, Auto Motor und Sport put the tires through the usual range of dry, wet, snow and environmental tests across Finland and Germany.

Our copy of the 2015 ACE winter tire test is a little thin on details, but we thought it was important to include as it tests many of the new winter tires for 2015, in the popular 225/50 R17 tire size.

This year, Sport Auto have tested seven different UHP winter tires in 235/35 R19, on a VW Golf R.

The UK climate represents a difficult challenge for car tires. Warm enough to require a tire that works well at higher temperatures, but not warm enough to make a summer tire the best choice year round.

Until recently, tires have fallen into three distinct categories: summer, all season and winter tires. Traditionally, all season tires have been developed from a winter tire origins, which give them excellent snow performance but can impact dry and wet performance, especially in the warmer months. This year, Michelin have released the CrossClimate, which if the marketing is to be believed, promises to be a second type of all season tire, one which started life as a summer tire and has been gifted winter capabilities.

Is a summer and winter tire combination the only safe option? Has the second generation Goodyear all season moved the game on? Can the new Michelin CrossClimate live up to the marketing hype? That's what we're here to find out.

There's not much we can say about the excellent 2015 Auto Express Winter Tire Test, other than head over to the Auto Express site and check out the full review!