Consumers benefit from independent tyre tests, but the advice given is sometimes conflicting. Whereas Auto Bild declares that all-season tyres can provide a safe solution for year-round motoring, ACE still believes motorists must live with a compromise when choosing these products.
For its 2018 winter tyre test, German vehicle inspection organisation GTÜ evaluated nine winter tyres together with German motoring organisation ACE and Austrian counterpart ARBÖ. For good measure, it also tested three all-season tyres alongside the winter rubber. The result? An all-season tyre took second place in the winter test.
The outcomes of comparative tests published by car magazines and motoring associations influence many drivers’ purchasing decisions. Tyre tests are no exception here, and therefore the pride Goodyear shows in its tyres’ test performance is understandable. The tyre maker reports that, in 208 magazine tyre tests carried out by 37 well-known European publications and organisations over the past five years – including Auto Express, ADAC, Auto Bild, Auto Bild Allrad, Auto Zeitung, Gute Fahrt, Auto Moto and ACE/GTÜ – Goodyear tyres were recommended in more than 80 per cent of them. Goodyear was named test winner in 43 of these tests.
All-season tyres aren’t just growing in popularity in the UK – sales of year-round rubber are on the up in many European markets, and these products are increasingly the subject of comparative tyre tests. The latest is from Germany’s Autoclub Europa (ACE) and its Austrian partner the Auto, Motor und Radfahrerbund Österreichs (ARBÖ); this test evaluated the performance of ten size 250/55 R16 all-season tyres. The question the two motoring associations strove to answer was whether all-season tyres are true universal geniuses or merely winter tyres with summer characteristics.
In response to a recent, less than favourable third party tyre test, Giti Tire has run two sets of independent tests with Dekra and “a leading German tyre testing association” to verify the wet braking performance of its GT Radial Champiro FE1 tyre. In the case of the original test, the Nexen Nblue HD Plus was chosen as the comparison product based on the reported results, which had this tyre as the test winner. Therefore Giti ran its tests using the same Nexen product as a comparison.
Giti Tire has re-stated its intention to commission “further tests with an independent body” following the recently published Auto Club Europa (ACE) comparative summer tyre tests, in which its GT Radial Champiro FE1 was ranked tenth out of ten “price-competitive” tyres.
Nexen Tire is celebrating success in the recent ACE Lenkrad tyre test where its N’blue HD Plus (195/65 R15 91V) was ranked ‘Test Winner’ by the well-regarded German automobile magazine.
In the most recent Auto Club Europa (ACE) comparative test of competitively priced tyres, the ranking of the newest GT Radial touring tyre, the Champiro FE1, has caused consternation with the manufacturer. ACE-GTU ranked the tyre bottom in the test, with its performance in the wet causing particular concern, despite the fact that the tyre carries a B rating for wet grip on the tyre label. In response, Giti sent a testing team based at Mira in Leicestershire, to re-examine its tyre at Idiada, the proving ground near Barcelona at which the ACE test was carried out. Giti also released a full statement to Tyres & Accessories, explaining that it was investigating all avenues to explain why the results recorded by ACE-GTU did not match its own findings.
According to German motoring association Auto Club Europa (ACE), the priority for many drivers when buying tyres is to find a product that is both good and affordable. Therefore, together with its Austrian partner association it has published a test of ten price-competitive tyres. The tested products are size 195/65 R15 summer tyres for compact […]
German vehicle inspection organisation the Gesellschaft für Technische Überwachung (GTÜ) has released one of the season’s first winter tyre tests, and the result are mostly positive. The test of eight size 225/50 R17 H/V tyres was jointly carried out with the Autoclub Europa (ACE), using a BMW 320i as test vehicle. The tyres were subjected to the usual snow, ice and wet tests.