While anyone prioritising ride comfort above every other factor should steer clear of low profile, higher rim diameter tyres, motorists who want a more dynamic driving experience certainly benefit from a couple of extra inches and a flatter sidewall. Auto Bild has tested 15 size 235/35 R19 tyres suitable for sporty compact cars such as the VW Golf GTI, Audi S3 and Seat Leon Cupra.
The market for classic car tyres is a small but profitable one, with some vehicle owners prepared to pay three or four times the price of a regular tyre for a fitment that looks the part. Several major tyre brands now offer classic lines; these are either past products brought up to date with modern compounds and/or construction or newly-developed tyres featuring period treads. But how do these tyres compare with modern standard tyres? To find out, Auto Bild Klassik has tested three classic tyres – the Michelin XAS, Vredestein Sprint Classic and Dunlop Sport Classic – against four modern counterparts.
With starting fields of more than 50 tyres and two rounds of product evaluation, Auto Bild’s tyre tests count amongst the most thorough and authoritative in the business. Kumho is therefore justifiably proud that its Ecsta HS51 achieved outright victory in the Auto Bild 2021 summer tyre test.
Anyone who’s ever suggested that motoring magazines favour the same two or three brands in their tyre tests will be quietened by the results of the Auto Bild 2021 summer tyre test. The biggest names in the business needed to clear space on the top step of the winners’ podium for an ambitious competitor, while the runner-up Continental tyre was given a run for its money by its lower-priced sibling Semperit.
We’ll have to wait another fortnight to learn the winner of this year’s Auto Bild summer tyre test, but the motoring magazine has let the names of the finalists out of the bag. Of the more than 50 tyre brands that Auto Bild looked at – this year in size 205/55 R16 91V – just 20 remain for further, more intensive testing following the qualifying round. Hankook’s candidate tops the shortlist after achieving the best stopping distances in both the wet and dry braking tests.
Auto Bild managed to publish its 2020 all-season tyre test more or less on time despite the lockdown affecting many parts of Europe during the spring. The German motoring publication looked at 32 brands of all-season tyres and evaluated 14 of these in greater depth following a preliminary knock-out round of braking tests. One of the 14 candidates making it through to the finals is a product we’d seen neither hide nor hair of beforehand – the Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF. In contrast to the Cinturato All Season and Cinturato All Season Plus, no retailer appears to stock this particular model. And as we’ve learned, it looks as if this will remain the case.
The tyre test team at Auto Bild has been busy of late. In addition to recommending the best car, SUV and high-performance tyres for the coming winter, the German publication has taken a look at all-season tyres. It fitted 32 brands of size 205/55 R16 tyre to a VW Golf, and after an elimination round of wet and dry braking tests evaluated the 14 top performers in wet, dry and snow conditions. Five of the candidates received Auto Bild’s top ‘exemplary’ rating and were considered every bit as good as summer or winter tyres.
Goodyear’s new Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 sealed two more test victories for the manufacturer that has more all-season test wins than any other. German magazine Auto Bild and British website Tyre Reviews made the tyre their number one in their most recent tests for the rapidly expanding segment. “It’s great to see wins with the Vector 4Seasons Gen-3 product so soon after its launch into the market. We are particularly thrilled to be recognized by prestigious publications such as Auto Bild and Tyre Reviews,” said Mike Rytokoski, chief marketing officer for Goodyear Europe.
The latest issue of Auto Bild warns motorists not to buy a pig in a poke. Instead of trusting in blind luck, test results should guide tyre purchases. To help in this area the motoring publication has now shared the outcome of its 2020 winter tyre test. This evaluation of size 245/45 R18 tyres for executive cars (Auto Bild used a BMW 5 Series for testing) compares the 20 best performers from an initial field of 51 tyre brands subjected to wet and snow braking tests. Six of the brands received Auto Bild’s top ‘exemplary’ rating.
Tyre tests published in the run-up to summer show that the majority of mainstream tyres available in the UK are of a high or very high standard. Europe’s major car magazines and motoring associations recommended most products during the recent spate of testing. Of the 134 individual tyres put through their paces, only a handful weren’t recommended or were found to have serious issues. A further 13 were deemed merely ‘adequate’ or were conditionally recommended.
After eliminating 30 tyres from its 2020 summer tyre test in a preliminary wet and dry braking round, Auto Bild scrutinised the remaining 20 more closely. The findings are now out, and the motoring publication is very happy with more than a third of the tested candidates. First place in test was shared by two tyres.
It was a glaring omission from an illustrious who’s who of the tyre world – the Pirelli P Zero was nowhere to be seen amongst the list of finalists for the Auto Bild summer 2020 tyre test. Its combined result in the preliminary round’s wet and dry braking tests only sufficed for 25th place from 50 tyres, a result that Auto Bild called “disappointing”. Pirelli isn’t leaving this stain on the P Zero’s reputation unanswered.
As in previous years, Auto Bild’s 2020 summer tyre test has begun with a preliminary round in which the distance taken to stop in wet and dry conditions determines which tyres progress to the second, more extensive round of testing, and which don’t. The results of this first round are now available, and there’s one or two surprises to be seen.
In the spring, Auto Bild looked at the wet and dry braking results from five of its latest summer and all-season tyre tests. Tyre brands that had participated in at least three tests received an average percentage value for all braking tests results, and based on these values the motoring magazine named Michelin its ‘Manufacturer of the Year’. With winter now approaching, Auto Bild has reached for its pocket calculator again to work out which products are “the best tyres for the cold season”.
If you are like most UK motorists and want to drive year-round on the same set of tyres, then all-season tyres may well be the right choice for you. But is there such thing as a tyre that offers safe driving in every type of weather? After testing 31 all-season tyre models, Auto Bild believes there is.
Goodyear
Stephen Goodchild