Summer Max Performance Passenger Car Tire Tests

The Michelin Pilot Sport 5 is a customer favourite - it's test-winning, long-lasting, and one of the best all-round UHP tires you can buy. So adding a low rolling resistance "Energy" version was always going to be tricky. Historically, energy-focused performance tires have meant giving up a noticeable chunk of wet grip. The question is whether Michelin has managed to close that gap.

The data here comes from two test programmes, both commissioned by Michelin. Performance testing was carried out by TÜV SÜD at TRIWO Pferdsfeld in August 2025 (Report Nr. 713379856-S32-01), covering wet braking, dry braking, wet handling, and rolling resistance. Tread wear testing was conducted by DEKRA in Narbonne, France, during September and October 2025 (Report CPA MARK25H). Both used a Tesla Model Y (RWD, 75 kWh, 2,080 kg) and a tire size of 255/40 R20 101Y XL.

The ACE Auto Club Europa has published the first summer tire test of 2026, kicking off this year's test season. Ten tires in the 225/40 R18 size were tested across wet and dry braking, aquaplaning resistance, handling on both surfaces, rolling resistance, and exterior noise.

The 2025 evo tire test evaluated nine ultra-high performance tires in the 235/35 R19 size. The field comprised eight premium brand offerings alongside one budget and used an AWD BMW 135i X-Drive.

Below is the data from the Die-Reifen summer performance tire test which tested eight popular summer tires in 225/40 R18 using a VW Golf GTI.

It's the second test for the new Pirelli P Zero PZ5, and the second win! This years Auto Express summer tire test has tested nine popular summer tires in 225/40 R18, with some rather interesting results.

Tire Rack are on a mission this year to test more tires than anyone has before, which is very exciting. Their summer performance tire test has tested eleven of the most popular tires in 275/35 R19 using their new BMW M2 test vehicle.

Autobild Sports have tested seven premium and budget offerings in a staggered fitment of 245/35 R20 front and 295/30 R20 rear. Using a Lotus Emira as their test vehicle, Auto Bild Sportscars put these high-performance tires through their paces across dry and wet conditions to determine which delivers the best balance for demanding sports car applications.

There's a new tire on the market aiming to be the best of the best performance summer tires. The Pirelli P Zero PZ5 is designed to take on the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, Continental SportContact 7, Bridgestone Potenza Sport, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 and more, but can the latest UUHP summer tire on the market really move the game on in both handling AND grip? There's only one way to find out - testing!

To find out if the new PZ5 is as good as Pirelli claim, I have tested it against all the tires mentioned above, and the Falken Azenis FK520 and a budget tire. I've put all seven sets of tires through dry and wet testing, and I've looked into the noise, comfort and rolling resistance levels of each set of tires to ensure you have all the information needed to make the correct purchase decision. 

Autobild Sports Cars tests are usually nice and simple. Fast car, the best of the UUHP tires, put them together and see what's best.

Thankfully, in the strange year of 2025 testing, Autobild have kept that formula and tested eight performance summer tires in 245/35 R19 using an Audi TTS.

As this is a nice and simple test, we'll let the data do the talking.

The 2025 Sport Auto UUHP tire test is the first to test the new Falken Azenis RS820!

The test used a G series BMW M4 with 275/35 R19 front and 285/30 R20 rear tire sizes. Sport Auto evaluated four performance tires: Continental SportContact 7, Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, Falken Azenis RS 820, and the BMW OE-marked Pirelli P Zero (PZ4*). Testing covered wet and dry braking, handling, aquaplaning resistance, and rolling resistance.

Following on from the 52 set braking shootout, the full Autobild summer tire test has taken the best twenty tires to the full set of testing, with some interesting highlights!

There are two interesting stories. Firstly, is the rise of the Chinese tires, with both Linglong and Sailun performing really well in the grip tests. Does this mean Chinese tires are now fighting with the premium manufacturers? Well, sort of.

The 2025 Auto Zeitung summer tire test has tested ten ultra high performance 225/45 R18 patterns in the dry and wet, and this year included wear!

The wear test has added some interesting highlights, which we'll discuss below.

The 2025 ADAC summer tire test has been published, and it follows this years trend of testing in the sporty 225/40 R18 tire size!

As always with ADAC they sadly don't give us all the data for the test, but they do give us some interesting insights, including wear, and they do a great job summarising each tires performance overall.

So it begins, the 2025 summer tire test season is upon is, and it's going to be an interesting year!

To start things off, Autobild have published their annual 52 tire shootout, where they test the wet and dry braking of pretty much every tire they can get their hands on to work out the best 20 to take through to the full tire test.

Top Tire Review has put six Asian-market ultra-high performance tires through a comprehensive test for 2024/25. The lineup includes five standard UHP tires - Continental MaxContact MC7, Michelin Pilot Sport 5, Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6, Toyo Proxes TR1, and the Chinese-made RoadX RXMotion U11. Adding an interesting comparison, Hankook's EV-focused iON evo was included to see how a dedicated electric vehicle tire performs against traditional UHP options.

This is the data from the 2024 EVO Summer Tire Test.

Every year Autobild Sports Cars aims to go big, and this year they've literally have, testing UUHP summer tires! In search for the sportiest performance tire, they used a Mercedes AMG test vehicle which is fitted with 265/35 R19 front and 295/30 R20 rear tires.

As usual the excellent drivers at AutoBild put seven sets of UUHP / maximum performance tires to the test in the dry and wet, as well as testing the rolling resistance and noise levels of the tires.

It's a good bunch of tires, and includes the brand new Vredestein Ultrac Pro (which replaces the Ultrac Vorti) against the very best in the category.

The first summer tire test of 2023 has been published, the Gute Fahrt / ACE Europe UHP tire test in the popular 235/35 R19 size using a Golf GTI.

Unfortunately the details of the test are somewhat limited, and this isn't a test that shares any data or percentage results. Instead they use a positive or negative scoring system, which really doesn't satisfy our geeky desire for data, so this write up will be limited.

For 2021 EVO magazine tested nine sets of UHP / UUHP tires in the popular 225/40 R18 size. That size in particular offers some interesting issues as companies like Bridgestone and Goodyear offer their UUHP products in that size, but companies like Continental and Michelin do not.  

The test was conducted using an Audi S3 which has a haldex type based four wheel drive system, which is fairly uncommon in tire testing. EVO spend a lot of time rating the subjective handling, noise and comfort of  the tires on the road and track, which means they put more score weighting on subjective data than any other publication. This makes the results really interesting for those of us who enjoy driving.

For summer 2022, Sport Auto tested four sets of UHP tires, three sets of UUHP and three semi set of slick track day tires, all in the popular 235/35 R19 size! This is of course very interesting, and in parts a little confusing! 

As the Tire Reviews database doesn't yet have the ability to deal with different types of tires in the same test gracefully, we'll run over the results below before presenting all the data.