The new Hankook made a stunning debut in the qualification round of the Auto Bild summer tire test involving 50 models.
The German magazine Auto Bild conducted its next tire test that involved 50 tire models from premium to budget ones. The tires were tested in size 215/55 R17, which fits such cars as Ford Mondeo, Skoda Superb, and Volkswagen Passat, and, as usual, the test was divided in two parts.

To make it into the final round, the tires had to demonstrate effective dry and wet braking capabilities, and in 2022 this was achieved by 21 tire models, the top lines of the tournament bracket being scored by the Bridgestone Turanza T005 and the newcomer of the season — Hankook Ventus Prime4 K135 — which was launched by Hankook literally yesterday. A pleasant surprise was made by the inexpensive Goodride SA-57 model from ZC Rubber, which made it into the final round — something that was not achieved, for example by Yokohama.

The premium Continental EcoContact 6 barely made it into the final round because, as this year’s ADAC test demonstrated, due to the strong focus on reducing rolling resistance, affecting the fuel consumption by the vehicle, overall grip was compromised.

The worst tires were pronounced to be the Firemax FM601 (produced by the Chinese company Shouguang Firemax Tyre Co., Ltd.) and Atlas Sport Green 2 (a private brand owned by the Belgian trade company Deldo). Just as last year, poor performance was largely demonstrated by subsidiaries of the world’s leading tire makers. For example, the list of the tires that did not reach the finals includes the Firestone Roadhawk by Bridgestone, Uniroyal RainSport 5 and General Altimax One S by Continental, and Kormoran Ultra High Performance by Michelin, while the Barum Bravuris 5HP (by Continental) was disqualified altogether.