2019 Auto Bild Summer Tyre Test

Test Summary Dry Braking ▲ Michelin Pilot Sport 4: 34.2 M

▼ Toyo Proxes Sport: 37.1 M Dry Handling ▲ Pirelli P Zero: 118 Km/H

▼ Firestone RoadHawk: 115.3 Km/H Wet Braking ▲ Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3: 28.7 M

▼ Maxxis Premitra HP5: 33.2 M Wet Handling ▲ Michelin Pilot Sport 4: 76.5 Km/H

▼ Kleber Dynaxer UHP: 71.6 Km/H Straight Aqua ▲ Michelin Pilot Sport 4: 99.7 Km/H

▼ Firestone RoadHawk: 90.7 Km/H Subj. Comfort ▲ Michelin Pilot Sport 4: 9 Points

▼ Dunlop SportMaxx RT 2: 2 Points Noise ▲ Nokian WetProof: 71.3 dB

▼ Bridgestone Turanza T005: 75 dB Wear ▲ Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5: 54210 Km

▼ Kumho Ecsta PS71: 26520 Km Value ▲ Sava Intensa UHP 2: 06.47 Price/1000

▼ Pirelli P Zero: 12.26 Price/1000 Price ▲ Sava Intensa UHP 2: 290

▼ Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5: 520 Rolling Resistance ▲ Bridgestone Turanza T005: 07.49 kg / t

▼ Vredestein Ultrac Vorti: 11.49 kg / t

This is going to be a long test! The German publication Auto Bild often perform the most thorough tyre tests of any of the traditional publications, and 2019 is no exception. After taking fifty three 225/45 R17 tyre patterns through wet and dry braking testing to establish the top twenty available in the market, Auto Bild have run the best of the 17" tyres through an extremely thorough full test, and even included the often omitted wear test!

The Michelin Pilot Sport 4 continued on from a very strong run of results in 2018 to win the test overall, with the brand new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 a very close second. The new Goodyear only had one weakness, the rolling resistance testing, and was also reported to have a very high purchase price, which no longer applies in the UK market.

Third place was joint awarded to another new tyre, the Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3. This continues on the excellent results Hankook has achieved with the new Ventus Prime 3 in 2018, and confirms what the market has suspected for a while - Hankook is now a premium player. The more established Falken FK510 matched the Hankook, with its only weakness being wear.

It's also worth noting that this is the first test the seventh place Nokian WetProof has been featured in. WetProof by name, the new Nokian proved to be extremely strong in the wet handling tests, but struggled during the aquaplaning testing.

Dry

If you average the dry braking and dry handling results, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 is the best dry weather tyre overall, with a huge gap during the dry braking testing. The Auto Bild testers also commented that the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 was the best handling tyre on test, giving excellent steering feel and precision.

Wet

The top four tyres during wet braking were all extremely close, with the new Hankook just beating the new Goodyear for the best wet braking tyre on test.

The test-winning Michelin proved to be extremely strong during wet handling, leading the pack by a small margin.

And somehow the Michelin tyre also dominated the straight aquaplaning testing, which is normally an opposing quality to tests like dry grip and handling.

Environment

The Bridgestone Turanza T005 proved to have the lowest fuel use on test.

All tyres, apart from the Bridgestone T005 were separated by less than 3dB during the external noise testing, with the new Nokian WetProof the quietest tyre on test.

Each tyre was given a subjective comfort score, with the Michelin again being in a class of one.

Cost

The new Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 beat Michelin at it's own game, having the lowest wear on test! Michelin and Continental were a close second and third place, which is great to see as wear has been a weak point for Continental in the past.

The new Goodyear was the most expensive tyre tested, which would be to do with the new nature of the tyre. If you see our pricing below, the new Goodyear is already significantly cheaper than the Michelin in the UK.

Most importantly, the "value" test, where the magazine divides the purchase price by the potential wear had the Continental and Falken as the best value tyres of the top six places! With the corrected Goodyear pricing, the new Asymmetric 5 also looks to be extremely good value.

Results

Below are the overall results and testers commentary. Be sure to check out the full test on autobild.de, and feel free to leave any comments or questions below.