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2018 AZ Summer AND All Season Tyre Test

Jonathan Benson
Data analyzed and reviewed by Jonathan Benson
6 min read Updated

Adjust Result Weighting

The overall scores below are calculated using our weighting system. Since the original publication may use a different scoring methodology that wasn't shared, these results may differ from their published rankings. You can adjust the weightings below to explore how different priorities affect the results.
Dry 35%
Wet 50%
Comfort 5%
Value 10%
Dry 35% · Wet 50% · Comfort 5% · Value 10%
Fine-tune sub-categories
Dry
Wet
Comfort
Value

Test Results Data

BEST Good Average Below Average
# Tyre Total Score Dry Wet Comfort Value
Braking M Handling s % Braking M Handling s Straight Aqua Km/H % Noise dB % Price Rolling Resistance kg / t %
1 Michelin Pilot Sport 4 97.5% 35.4 62.8 100% 49.4 3 87 77.4 99.7% 71 98.6% 450 9.3 77.2%
2 Continental Premium Contact 6 96.8% 35.8 2 63.3 99% 49.1 87.6 2 72.3 98.5% 72 97.2% 450 8.8 80.3%
3 Falken Azenis FK510 96.7% 36.5 3 63.1 2 98.3% 50 88.2 3 73.3 2 97.8% 71 98.6% 330 3 9.26 85.1%
4 ▲1 Hankook Ventus Prime 3 K125 94.2% 36.7 63.2 3 97.9% 56.1 92.2 72.7 91.5% 70 100% 310 2 8.49 3 92.1%
5 ▲1 GiTi GitiSport S1 93.8% 38.1 63.3 96.1% 55.2 92.1 72.3 92% 70 100% 290 8.89 91.5%
6 ▼2 Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 93.6% 37.7 63.4 96.5% 56.6 91 72.8 3 91.7% 72 97.2% 390 7.76 91.5%
7 ▼6 Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2 92.5% 43.1 65.7 88.9% 49.1 89.3 69.9 97.2% 70 100% 490 8.91 77.9%
8 ▼7 Michelin CrossClimate Plus 92.3% 39 64.6 94% 50.9 91.7 66.5 93.9% 73 95.9% 520 8.95 76.5%
9 ▼6 Continental AllSeasonContact 92% 42.5 65.1 89.9% 50.9 90.6 68.5 94.9% 71 98.6% 510 8.27 2 81.6%
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Dry 100% Wet 100% Comfort 99% Value 77%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 35.4 M
Dry Handling 62.8 s
Wet
Wet Braking 49.4 M 3
Wet Handling 87 s
Straight Aqua 77.4 Km/H
Comfort
Noise 71 dB
Value
Price 450
Rolling Resistance 9.3 kg / t
Dry 99% Wet 99% Comfort 97% Value 80%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 35.8 M 2
Dry Handling 63.3 s
Wet
Wet Braking 49.1 M
Wet Handling 87.6 s 2
Straight Aqua 72.3 Km/H
Comfort
Noise 72 dB
Value
Price 450
Rolling Resistance 8.8 kg / t
Dry 98% Wet 98% Comfort 99% Value 85%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 36.5 M 3
Dry Handling 63.1 s 2
Wet
Wet Braking 50 M
Wet Handling 88.2 s 3
Straight Aqua 73.3 Km/H 2
Comfort
Noise 71 dB
Value
Price 330 3
Rolling Resistance 9.26 kg / t
Dry 98% Wet 92% Comfort 100% Value 92%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 36.7 M
Dry Handling 63.2 s 3
Wet
Wet Braking 56.1 M
Wet Handling 92.2 s
Straight Aqua 72.7 Km/H
Comfort
Noise 70 dB
Value
Price 310 2
Rolling Resistance 8.49 kg / t 3
5
93.8%
Dry 96% Wet 92% Comfort 100% Value 92%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 38.1 M
Dry Handling 63.3 s
Wet
Wet Braking 55.2 M
Wet Handling 92.1 s
Straight Aqua 72.3 Km/H
Comfort
Noise 70 dB
Value
Price 290
Rolling Resistance 8.89 kg / t
Dry 97% Wet 92% Comfort 97% Value 92%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 37.7 M
Dry Handling 63.4 s
Wet
Wet Braking 56.6 M
Wet Handling 91 s
Straight Aqua 72.8 Km/H 3
Comfort
Noise 72 dB
Value
Price 390
Rolling Resistance 7.76 kg / t
Dry 89% Wet 97% Comfort 100% Value 78%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 43.1 M
Dry Handling 65.7 s
Wet
Wet Braking 49.1 M
Wet Handling 89.3 s
Straight Aqua 69.9 Km/H
Comfort
Noise 70 dB
Value
Price 490
Rolling Resistance 8.91 kg / t
Dry 94% Wet 94% Comfort 96% Value 77%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 39 M
Dry Handling 64.6 s
Wet
Wet Braking 50.9 M
Wet Handling 91.7 s
Straight Aqua 66.5 Km/H
Comfort
Noise 73 dB
Value
Price 520
Rolling Resistance 8.95 kg / t
Dry 90% Wet 95% Comfort 99% Value 82%
View detailed scores
Dry
Dry Braking 42.5 M
Dry Handling 65.1 s
Wet
Wet Braking 50.9 M
Wet Handling 90.6 s
Straight Aqua 68.5 Km/H
Comfort
Noise 71 dB
Value
Price 510
Rolling Resistance 8.27 kg / t 2
Not every driver has the same priorities. Adjust the category weightings above to re-rank the tyres based on what matters most to your driving style.
Scores are colour-coded from red (weakest) through yellow to green (strongest) to help you quickly spot each tyre's strengths and weaknesses.
The original test ranking is shown in the # column. Arrows indicate how each tyre moves when your custom weighting is applied.

Discussion

21 comments
  1. Kolemjdouci archived

    CPC6 "very strong in the dry" with 126 points & Hankook K125 with "average dry performance" with 129 points in the dry sounds a bit bias...

    #3314
    1. TyreReviews Kolemjdouci archived

      The AZ "dry" scoring also includes comfort, noise and rolling resistance points, which I also separated out but did not subtract from the total dry score. This is why there's a difference between the testers comments and the "dry" scoring.

      #3315
  2. Ger kruger archived

    Hello, the graph of the rolling resistence can’t be correct for the Giti tyres, because it’s got the
    Same points the Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance has got and in the Test Summary on top
    Of the page it’s classified as second.

    #3312
    1. TyreReviews Ger kruger archived

      Well spotted! The graph is correct, the score isn't. Updated :)

      #3313
  3. John Rayner archived

    I wish manufacturers would produce a summer tyre with slightly better snow capability. Enough to get you home, but not as good as the all-season tyres, and with no discernible loss of feel and feedback in the summer compared to a premium summer tyre. I think this is the tyre enthusiastic drivers are waiting for. You could fit it and leave it on all year, without worrying about getting stuck in the snow, and without feeling you're losing out on fun in the summer. Driving home from the dentist in the snow yesterday, in my BMW 130i on Conti Premium Contact 6, I almost didn't make it home. Not a nice feeling. I'd like to fit Michelin Crossclimate+, but I hear feel and feedback are some way off the mark compared to a premium summer tyre, so I just can't bring myself to do it. Still waiting for that elusive perfect tyre ...

    #3287
    1. TyreReviews John Rayner archived

      The CrossClimate is as close as we've gotten to that perfect tyre. Some of the basic requirements of a tyre which works in snow is a higher land/sea ratio (ie, more blocky pattern) and sipes, both of which detract from handling.

      Maybe one day the technology will exist, but for now we have to make do with what we have.

      #3288
  4. berckovich archived

    Hi. is this Falken Azenis FK510 is a run flat tyre ?

    #3261
    1. TyreReviews berckovich archived

      This test will have tested the non-runflat version of the tyre.

      #3262
  5. kelper archived

    It's a shame all the graphs have a false origin - the scale does not start at zero. This makes the differences appear much larger than they really are. In 'dry handling', for example, there's only a two-second spread in lap times of around a minute. that's 5% and most drivers wouldn't notice such a small change. Please use percentages like Auto Express.

    #3255
    1. Igor kelper archived

      If all the graphs started at 0 they would be almost unreadable, the purpose of the graph would vanish. The graphs look great and start at the right scale.
      Yes, the difference somewhere is minimal, and it's up to the reader to notice it and decide if it matters or not.
      Tyre tests are done driving at the limit. Of course in normal-everyday drive all the tyres would be almost equal. It's in emergencies when the tyre you have matters, than those 5% between the best and worst can mean accident/injury or forgetting about the incident next week if nothing happened.

      #3256
      1. kelper Igor archived

        But it's ridiculous to score tyres on attributes when the differences are so small. It would make more sense to put tyres into similar abilities in each test. Tyre tests should point out where there are significant shortfalls in a particular area. Auto Express did this in its last group test. Any graph with a false origin is either intended to deceive or an insult to its readers.

        All season tyres are inevitably a compromise. It's important to find where the manufacturer has sacrificed one ability to enhance another. I'm willing to lose some snow traction to get better wet grip. But a diference of 5% or less is of no consequence. I will never drive on the limit. In poor driving conditions I leave a large gap between me and vehicles in front. And when some moron tailgates me, I leave additional braking space so that I can brake gently if the car infront explodes or somersaults.

        #3257
        1. TyreReviews kelper archived

          As Igor mentioned, it's rare to find graphs starting at 0 when there's such a small spread of results as consuming the data is too difficult on smaller screens.

          Please can you explain your point about Auto Express more? Also express simply take the braking distances, make the best 100% then each one after that is a percentage of the 100% result. This means in things like dry braking you have 8 tyres all within 4% of each other, which is just as meaningful as 8 tyres within 2 meters of each other!

          #3258
          1. kelper TyreReviews archived

            4% is a small difference. 2 metrers is half the width of the graph and this looks a large difference. The noise differeces look significant but 3dB is the smallest change detectable by humans!

            Here's my version of AutoBild's 225/50R17 test

            https://drive.google.com/op...

            #3259
          2. kelper TyreReviews archived

            4% is quite a small difference, but 2 metres is a third the width of the graph. The noise differences look quite big, but 3dB is only just noticeable to the human ear.

            My version of AutoBild's 225/50R17 tests is here.....

            https://disq.us/url?url=htt...

            #3260
            1. TyreReviews kelper archived

              While I understand your point, your version of the graph is too difficult to see the differences between the results. The way the site generates the graph is actually fairly standard, with many of the magazines publishing their tables with non-zero indexes too.

              #3263
              1. kelper TyreReviews archived

                This made me laugh!

                " your version of the graph is too difficult to see the differences between the results."

                That's exactly my point when the differences are a bit trivial, let's say 5% or less, even 10%.

                But let's agree to differ :-)

                #3264
                1. Yoon Loke kelper archived

                  I completely agree with kelper.
                  For my sins, I teach medical students in university on critical appraisal of statistics.
                  Truncation of the graph axis, as done here, is generally considered to produce misleading interpretations by exaggerating the differences between products. A typical example is an expensive new drug which is only slightly better than the cheap old drug. But the graph can be drawn in a way that makes the expensive drug seem a whole lot better.
                  Lots of articles on the web explaining misleading graphs, and how to overcome this by showing the entire axis and/or axis breaks.
                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
                  https://venngage.com/blog/m...

                  I do think this is a great tyre review site and I value the advice. But I don't look at graphs.

                  #3634
            2. MrEe kelper archived

              3db is double the noise so i would think you would definitely hear a difference.

              #3299
              1. kelper MrEe archived

                3dB is double the sound energy. It takes ten times the sound energy for a perceived doubling in noise. I think 1dB change is perceptible in lab conditions. But if two cars passed you and the measured sounds were less than 3dB, most people could not, reliably, say which was louder. If you are interested you can test this yourself at http://www.audiocheck.net/b...
                For a steady tone I could not hear the 1dB rise or fall. But the washing machine is on behind me and I have some high trequncy hearing loss from years in ship's engine rooms.

                look here for evidence http://www.autoexpress.co.u...

                #3300
  6. Igor archived

    There is no info of tyre size tested.
    Considering the tyre models, should I suppose its 225/45R17

    #3253
    1. TyreReviews Igor archived

      Sorry, and very good guess! Article updated :)

      #3254