When a new summer season is on the way, a car needs some decent «shoes» that would ensure an adequate safety level in accordance with the weather conditions, in which the car is most likely to drive. The expert team of the German publication Auto Bild, who lovingly nicknamed summer tires «flip-flops» of the car world, did a lot of work, testing before the upcoming summer season 2019 a total of 53 sets of tires of different price brackets, from expensive premium segment to the budget-friendly Chinese models.

The Auto Bild summer tire test was carried out in the size of 225/45 R17, which has become a standard for compact SUVs.

Elimination round

In order to make it into the main competition round, all of the candidates were subjected to wet and dry braking tests. The sum total of the braking distances determined which of the summer tires would proceed to the second round and ultimately reach the finals.

The elimination round also educed the 13 «most dangerous» models (places 53 to 41), whose braking distances turned out to be way too long. Almost all of them belonged to the budget segment.

Slightly better performance was demonstrated by the models that score places from 40 to 20. This group also included the subsidiary brands of premium-segment tire manufacturers (Bridgestone, Continental, Michelin). They are more expensive than Chinese tires but, compared to the expensive premium-segment tires, still will allow you to save up a fair bit.

The finalists progressing to the next round.

In the final round, the following twenty summer tires competed for the winner pedestal:

• Apollo Aspire XP
• Bridgestone Turanza T005
• Continental PremiumContact 6
• Dunlop SportMaxx RT2
• Falken Azenis FK510
• Firestone Roadhawk
• Fulda SportControl 2
• Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
• Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3
• Kenda Emera A1 KR41
• Kleber Dynaxer UHP
• Kumho Ecsta PS71
• Maxxis Premitra 5
• Michelin Pilot Sport 4
• Nokian Wetproof
• Pirelli P Zero
• Sava Intensa UHP 2
• Toyo Proxes Sport
• Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
• Yokohama Advan Fleva V701

What came as a total surprise was the Indian brand Apollo and Taiwan’s Maxxis and Kenda getting into the final and making a giant leap into the top league to end up together with the premium tires of the world-renowned brands.

Disciplines of the test

Wet surface

Wide grooves and large tread depth of the tire ensure better handling in the pouring rain. The best hydroplaning resistance was demonstrated by Michelin Pilot Sport 4, while in the case of Nokian Wetproof,Firestone Roadhawk and Kleber Dynaxer UHP, one should better refrain from accelerating too much on wet roads.

Also, its weak hydroplaning resistance is clearly at odds with the very name of «Nokian Wetproof» tire but, sadly, this was the case.

In terms of highway handling, the Nokian Wetproof model, meant to ensure maximum safety in the wet, totally redeemed itself, and, in addition, demonstrated the best lateral stability.

In the wet, the brand-new 2019 model Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5, as well as Pirelli P Zero also demonstrated outstanding lateral grip.

Michelin Pilot Sport 4 was the best handling tire on test, giving excellent steering feel and precision.

Slightly poorer handling and lateral grip in the wet were demonstrated by two models of mid-price segment Dunlop SportMaxx RT2 and Yokohama Advan Fleva V701, which significantly affected their overall rankings.

Dry surface

The best lap time on dry pavement was scored by Pirelli P Zero tires. The results of five more models — Michelin Pilot Sport 4, Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3, Falken Azenis FK510, Vredestein Ultrac Vorti and Dunlop SportMaxx RT2 — were all scattered within a one-second range.

The worst result — 2.7 seconds behind the leader in this discipline — was shown by Firestone Roadhawk. It obviously lacked handling consistency and preciseness of steering response.

The maximum noise emission at a speed of 80 km/h was demonstrated by Bridgestone Turanza T005. All the other tires on test stayed «in the green zone» — conceivably, they are not expected to cause any riding discomfort.

Wear/Fuel efficiency

When making a buying decision about a set of tires, alongside with the tire’s overall performance, drivers oftentimes take into consideration the expected costs of driving on these tires. Car owners are interested not only in the tire’s fuel efficiency but also in its wear resistance in order to compare the overall value of different models.

The Auto Bild summer tire test 2019 vividly demonstrated that the top performers among the finalists in terms of price/wear ratio are Sava Intensa UHP 2, Continental PremiumContact 6 and Apollo Aspire XP.

The lowest rolling resistance was shown by Bridgestone Turanza T005, Firestone Roadhawk, and again Continental PremiumContact 6.

If you are only interested in the number of seasons that your tires will faithfully serve you, be sure to check out Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5, Michelin Pilot Sport 4 and Continental PremiumContact 6.

The riding comfort was tested by the Auto Bild experts subjectively on a specially engineered route that included roads of different types with small obstacles such as sewer hatch covers.

Auto Bild test summary

Auto Bild 2019 225/45 R17 summer tire test 2019 did not bring us any disturbing surprises. Furthermore, six of the tested models were pronounced «exemplary» by the Auto Bild experts.

The result summary of the large Auto Bild 2019 225/45 R17 summer tire test. Places 1–10. Click to enlarge.

«Exemplary»

The victory was won by the most expensive tire on test, Michelin Pilot Sport 4, which scored top marks in all of the disciplines both in the wet and in the dry.

Michelin Pilot Sport 4

It shared the winner pedestal with three other summer tires: Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5, also very far from inexpensive (second place), and the tandem of Falken Azenis FK510 and Hankook Ventus S1 Evo³, who together shared the third place.

Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5

Continental PremiumContact 6 was left without any medals this time.notes the technical expert of TiresVote.com

But it still was able to get its perks of the «exemplary» verdict of the test group and the proud name of «Eco-master».

Continental PremiumContact 6

The last of the six «exemplary» models became Fulda SportControl 2. It was stopped from scoring a higher position in the tournament bracket by relatively weak wear. However, it only reached the sixths place without any significant shortcomings.

The result summary of the large 225/45 R17 summer tire test. Places 11–20. Auto Bild, 2019. Click to enlarge.

«Good»

The top six tires were followed by seven models that were given a «good» ranking. These were Nokian Wetproof (7th place), Pirelli P Zero (8th place), Sava Intensa UHP 2 (9th place), and a trio that shared the tenth line of the tournament bracket — Apollo Aspire XP, Bridgestone Turanza T005 and Vredestein Ultrac Vorti. Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2 were only ultimately able to score the 13th place — this is how it gets when you don’t have enough grip on wet pavement.

Bridgestone Turanza T005

«Satisfactory»

Models on the final places 14–20 were rated as «satisfactory».

In addition to failing a few wet tests, Yokohama Advan Fleva V701 (14th place) showed poor wearing resistance.

Yokohama Advan Fleva V701

Toyo Proxes Sport, in spite of its quite decent performance on wet and dry pavement, were only able to score the 15th place because of their high rolling resistance and low resistance to wear.

Toyo Proxes Sport

In the case of Kleber Dynaxer UHP, wet handling and wet braking leave much to be desired, which ends up in a quite predictable 16th place in the competition.

Kleber Dynaxer UHP

The 17th place was scored by Maxxis Premitra 5. This tire took the champion league by storm but ultimately was unable to prove its competitiveness.

Maxxis Premitra 5

Firestone Roadhawk had too many shortcomings to count on anything more than the 18th place.

Firestone Roadhawk

No miracle happened to Kenda Emera A1 KR41 either. This tire showed decent results in the wet, which gave the Auto Bild experts the grounds to speak about «dependable tires that even surpassed the products of such tire making giants as Continental and Dunlop». However, the extremely high wear and less-than-ideal handling in the dry could not go unnoticed. The 19th place.

Kenda Emera A1 KR41

Kumho Ecsta PS71, which came 18th in the elimination round, did not perform any better in the final, scoring the last place in the Auto Bild test. It was seriously failed by high wear and high rolling resistance, even though it performed quite well in the safety disciplines. Safety wise it even outdid a few models that scored higher places in the tournament bracket.

Price

Conclusion

The latest Auto Bild 2019 225/45 R17 summer tire test proved once again that safety costs money.

However, this is not the only conclusion that we can make from looking at the results of the 2019 test. The final competition round involved a few medium-segment models and even a few brands that anybody would hardly place their bets on (Maxxis, Apollo, and Kenda). And this means that the quality of the relatively inexpensive tires is only growing by the year, and maybe in a few years’ time we will see the leading positions occupied by the «dark horses» of today.