It's never a bad thing when a magazine goes to the effort of testing summer AND all season tyres in the same test, as it gives the motorist a good idea of the different balance of performances each tyre type has, so it's great to see Auto Navigator doing exactly this for their 205/55 R16 summer tyre test.
Not satisfied with just summer and all season tyres, Auto Navigator have included a "test winning" winter tyre, as well as worn summer and worn winter tyres (tread depth unknown!)
Caveats from the test? Well, sadly Auto Navigator didn't perform what I would call a full tyre test, instead just covering dry and wet braking, dry and wet peak cornering speed (not a full handling lap) and they touched upon noise and wear.
Additionally, we've decided not to include the wear testing scoring in our database, as they seemed to give a score out of "1", with "0.9" being the best and "0.1" being the worst with very little scientific basis behind the result. For reference the Michelin Primacy 4 and Continental AllSeasonContact seemed to show the lowest wear.
Dry
During dry braking (60-0 kph), the Michelin CrossClimate+ and Bridgestone WeatherControl A005 were the only all season tyres to trouble the summers. The worn winter tyre performed better than the new one, which isn't unusual for a siped tyre in the dry as lower tread depth means lower block movement / tear.
Dry Braking
Spread: 3.80 M (25.7%)|Avg: 16.10 M
Dry braking in meters (Lower is better)
Dry Braking: Safety Impact: Best vs Worst Tyre
The dry "handling" lap was actually peak cornering speed on a dry circle. Again, the worn tyres had an advantage thanks to less block movement, but the Michelin CrossClimate+ was mighty impressive.
Dry Handling
Spread: 4.30 Km/H (9.9%)|Avg: 41.68 Km/H
Dry Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
43.50 Km/H
Reference Summer Worn
43.50 Km/H
Firestone RoadHawk
43.30 Km/H
Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance
42.70 Km/H
Reference Winter Worn
42.50 Km/H
Hankook Kinergy Eco 2
42.20 Km/H
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
42.20 Km/H
Barum Bravuris 5HM
42.00 Km/H
Vredestein Quatrac 5
41.80 Km/H
Bridgestone Turanza T005
41.80 Km/H
Kleber Quadraxer 2
41.30 Km/H
Continental Premium Contact 6
41.30 Km/H
Continental AllSeasonContact
41.00 Km/H
Davanti DX390
40.80 Km/H
Apollo Alnac 4G All Season
40.70 Km/H
Reference Winter
40.50 Km/H
Michelin Primacy 4
40.00 Km/H
Momo Outrun M20
39.20 Km/H
Wet
The results get more confusing in the wet. The wet braking was the same 60-0 kph tested, and some tyres managed to do a better job of stopping the car than in the dry (we're assuming a higher friction surface for wet braking.) The Goodyear won this safety critical test, which also makes us wonder why it finished tenth overall...
Wet Braking
Spread: 4.30 M (30.1%)|Avg: 16.42 M
Wet braking in meters (Lower is better)
Wet Braking: Safety Impact: Best vs Worst Tyre
Wet "handling" was again peak speed on a wet circle, not a real handling lap. This time the Firestone won, with the Kleber Quadraxer 2, which performed relatively poorly in the wet braking, taking third overall.
It might be worth noting at this point, Tyre Reviews doesn't conduct peak speed circle testing as the results can be variable.
Wet Handling
Spread: 5.00 Km/H (10.2%)|Avg: 46.57 Km/H
Wet Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Firestone RoadHawk
48.80 Km/H
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
48.20 Km/H
Kleber Quadraxer 2
48.00 Km/H
Barum Bravuris 5HM
47.70 Km/H
Hankook Kinergy Eco 2
47.70 Km/H
Bridgestone Turanza T005
47.50 Km/H
Michelin Primacy 4
47.40 Km/H
Davanti DX390
47.30 Km/H
Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance
47.30 Km/H
Momo Outrun M20
47.00 Km/H
Continental Premium Contact 6
46.50 Km/H
Reference Winter
46.20 Km/H
Vredestein Quatrac 5
46.00 Km/H
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
45.30 Km/H
Reference Summer Worn
44.80 Km/H
Continental AllSeasonContact
44.50 Km/H
Apollo Alnac 4G All Season
44.20 Km/H
Reference Winter Worn
43.80 Km/H
Environment
Only the Bridgestone Turanza T005 had an advantage in the noise testing.
Noise
Spread: 3.00 dB (5%)|Avg: 61.78 dB
External noise in dB (Lower is better)
Bridgestone Turanza T005
60.00 dB
Hankook Kinergy Eco 2
61.00 dB
Michelin CrossClimate Plus
61.00 dB
Michelin Primacy 4
61.00 dB
Reference Winter
61.00 dB
Momo Outrun M20
62.00 dB
Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance
62.00 dB
Barum Bravuris 5HM
62.00 dB
Bridgestone Weather Control A005
62.00 dB
Continental AllSeasonContact
62.00 dB
Firestone RoadHawk
62.00 dB
Continental Premium Contact 6
62.00 dB
Kleber Quadraxer 2
62.00 dB
Davanti DX390
62.00 dB
Apollo Alnac 4G All Season
62.00 dB
Vredestein Quatrac 5
62.00 dB
Reference Summer Worn
63.00 dB
Reference Winter Worn
63.00 dB
Results
Be sure to check out the full article on the Auto Nagivator website, where you can change your driving preferences to change the order of the results!
Magazine note - Conditionally recommended - "it is only available in a few ways, and we know that the different production times can give significantly different characteristics, so it is far from certain that the purchased copy is so good will be like the test arrived"
the problem is which subject is important.. wet and dry braking or wet and dry handing? All normal people drive slowly and carefully at wet conditions. Braking is much more important than driving speed. Faster driving can makes a little more time saved but better braking can save your life and your car. as my opinion, this test system does not show what's important. atb test system, every subject does not have the same weight in overall .
Compare Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance with Bridgestone Turanza T005, the goodyear beat the bridgestone in everything why the final results put it 10th place vs 3rd place?
In 175/65 R15 size, what is the best tyre regarding handling and steering precision? I like stiff sidewalls. My car is tall and light and in highway it sways a bit. I have Michelin Energy Saver Plus tyres and I think there are sportier alternatives. Thanks in advance for your help.
No one really tests sidewall strength in that size. Track day tyres, if any, will be best, but as for normal road tyres, you might have to go and see for yourself. Older / cheaper tyres usually have stiffer sidewalls.
I have a Renault Talisman with 225/55R17 101W tires and I live in northern Italy. The snow is a rarity and most of the year is rainy or dry. I usually drive 10000km/year and I was looking for an all season tire. These tires are available to me at the following costs:
If you read the original Auto-Navigator website,the score tables show up two other columns: "Fuel Efficiency" and "Wear"... ;)
In both of theses columns,the "Continental AllSeasonContact" tires do better than "Michelin CrossClimate" and also better than "Bridgestone Weather Control A005" !
It remains confusing. Are these 2 categories so important to overcome the results in the other 5 categories? I dont think so. The results are not right
Exactly. Continental AllSeasonContact performed worse than both, Bridgestone Weather Control A005 and Michelin CrossClimate+, in every single test, (noise including) yet it is classified higher than these tyres. Very confusing.
the problem is which subject is important.. wet and dry braking or wet and dry handing? All normal people drive slowly and carefully at wet conditions. Braking is much more important than driving speed. Faster driving can makes a little more time saved but better braking can save your life and your car. as my opinion, this test system does not show what's important. atb test system, every subject does not have the same weight in overall .
Compare Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance with Bridgestone Turanza T005, the goodyear beat the bridgestone in everything why the final results put it 10th place vs 3rd place?
We don't cover all their data, if you check out the full test in the link you should have a better idea of why they were ranked as they were
In 175/65 R15 size, what is the best tyre regarding handling and steering precision? I like stiff sidewalls. My car is tall and light and in highway it sways a bit. I have Michelin Energy Saver Plus tyres and I think there are sportier alternatives. Thanks in advance for your help.
No one really tests sidewall strength in that size. Track day tyres, if any, will be best, but as for normal road tyres, you might have to go and see for yourself. Older / cheaper tyres usually have stiffer sidewalls.
I have a Renault Talisman with 225/55R17 101W tires and I live in northern Italy. The snow is a rarity and most of the year is rainy or dry. I usually drive 10000km/year and I was looking for an all season tire. These tires are available to me at the following costs:
Hankook kinergy 4S2 (97€/Tire)
Bridgeston weather control A005 (105€/Tire)
Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons G2 (113€/Tire)
Michelin CrossClimate+ (123€/Tire)
I really appreciate your help on which tire to choose that best suits my needs. thank you so much in advance.
Best Regards
If you can stretch to the Crossclimate this is where my money would go if snow was a rarity rather than the norm
Thank you so much again for your kind help. I will definitely go with the Michelin as you suggested. Have a great day and all the best.
I need new front tyres to replace Vredestein Vortis, what would be a good All season match as there's loads of tread on the rear?
There's sadly no good way of matching an all season and summer tyre, you'll have dry, wet and handling differences.
Hello Greg and Mark S!
The final results are correct!
If you read the original Auto-Navigator website,the score tables show up two other columns:
"Fuel Efficiency" and "Wear"... ;)
In both of theses columns,the "Continental AllSeasonContact" tires do better than "Michelin CrossClimate" and also better than "Bridgestone Weather Control A005" !
Salute!
It remains confusing. Are these 2 categories so important to overcome the results in the other 5 categories? I dont think so. The results are not right
I do not understand the final results...
The 6th Continental is not better than 8th Bridgestone in any metrics...
Exactly. Continental AllSeasonContact performed worse than both, Bridgestone Weather Control A005 and Michelin CrossClimate+, in every single test, (noise including) yet it is classified higher than these tyres. Very confusing.
Bit of chinglish crept in there for the Davanti ?