The test conducted by the British magazine involved nine models of sports tires with an 18-inch fitting diameter.

List of models tested:

• Bridgestone Potenza Sport
• Continental PremiumContact 6
• Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2
• Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
• GT Radial SportActive 2
• Hankook Ventus S1 evo3 K127
• Michelin Pilot Sport 4
• Pirelli P Zero (PZ4)
• Triangle SporteX TH201/TSH11

In December, Britain’s magazine Evo published the results of its next test of summer tires, which may come in handy for those who are looking for a set of sports tires for the upcoming season. This time around, the tires were tested in size 225/40ZR18. The tires featured a reinforced construction (all of them had an XL sign), and belonged to various price brackets ranging from «premium» to «economy». The tests were performed in standard disciplines such as dry and wet braking; the tires were also subjectively rated for feedback through the wheel, cabin noise, etc.

The competitor list included the Bridgestone Potenza Sport (introduced last year), whose rivals were the well-known premium s Pirelli P Zero (PZ4), Michelin Pilot Sport 4 (recently a newer model, Pilot Sport 5, was introduced), and the Continental PremiumContact 6 (to be replaced by PremiumContact 7). In addition, the test involved the Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport, Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2, Hankook Ventus S1 evo3, as well as SportActive 2 from the GT Radial brand, for whom it was a debut in the Evo tests. The budget segment was represented by the Chinese tire Triangle Sportex TH201.

The tires were tested using an Audi S3 on Bridgestone’s test facility in Aprilia south of Rome, where a large new facility for wet-surface handling tests was built not long ago, thanks to which Evo magazine can now conduct the entire range of tests there. A «road test» was also performed, in which the tires were evaluated on various road surfaces, simulated on the test track.

Wet handling

Test discipline: wet handling. Source: evo.co.uk

In the wet handling test, the lap time was measured, and the pilots also gave their subjective evaluations. The most high-speed tires do not necessarily score the highest points in the pilot’s subjective rankings, but this time it was indeed the case — as the Evo experts noted, the Pirelli model from the very start demonstrated excellent feedback through the wheel, thanks to which the pilot felt extremely confident about driving. Goodyear fell short of Pirelli by mere 0.5 seconds, but its subjective ranking was even higher, including due to the crisp steering response. Bridgestone and Dunlop shared the third place in subjective evaluations, but the former was particularly commended for precise handling performance combined with excellent traction while exiting a slow corner, while the latter did not ensure such a strong traction but still felt very confident in corners.

According to the experts, the GT Radial tire ensures good grip during abrupt lane switching, but the tire was pretty noisy; still lower in the subjective ranking was the Michelin tire, which behaved in a stable way, yet demonstrated a certain lack of traction. Possibly, the new PS5 model will be more effective in this respect. The Hankook tires, as the Evo experts noted, confidently pulled the car out of tight corners, but their handling response was somewhat fuzzy at higher speeds, while the Continental model had a limited lateral grip, do to which the car could easily go into a skid (in a test involving such rivals, it would have been more appropriate to use a Continental model from the SportContact family, but, probably, they just could not find a set of the required size). The last place, both by lap time and by subjective evaluations, was scored by the budget Triangle model, which surprised the Evo experts with a grip so weak that they compared driving on Triangle tires with driving on snow.

Lateral stability on wet pavement

On a sprinkled track with a diameter of 83 meters, the best lap time was shown by Pirelli, closely followed by Bridgestone. The Continental and Hankook fell short by a second, and Triangle again confidently scored the last line.

Braking

Test discipline: wet braking. Source: evo.co.uk

All the tested tires, for the exception of the Triangle model, were rated «A» for wet traction in accordance with the EU label, but even among the tires with the same ranking the difference in braking performance from 80 to 20 km/h on a sprinkled track were rather large. The most effective tire in this respect — the Pirelli model — achieved this task already in 27 meters, while the worst A-grade tire was Dunlop, whose stopping distance was 5.3 meters longer, and this is larger than the length of a BMW 5-Series. At the same time, on the other hand, the C-rated Triangle tire had a whopping braking distance of 42.9 meters, i.e. the stopping distance demonstrated by the Pirelli model was 16 meters shorter.

On a dry track, the first place was scored by Bridgestone with a slight lead over Pirelli and Michelin. On the whole, the differences between the tires were smaller than they were on dry pavement, although the result demonstrated by the Triangle tire (when braking from 100 km/h) was 7.3 meters longer than that of the leader’s.

Test discipline: dry braking. Source: evo.co.uk

Hydroplaning

Test discipline: hydroplaning resistance. Source: evo.co.uk

In the earlier Evo test, the best hydroplaning resistance was generally shown by Dunlop tires, but this time around they had a strong rival in the face of the GT Radial model, which had a better grip in corners, and shared the first place with the Dunlop model on the straight track. The Triangle tire might have come last again, but an even worse hydroplaning resistance was shown by the Hankook model.

Dry handling

Test discipline: dry handling. Source: evo.co.uk

The best time on a dry track was shown by the Goodyear model, which also scored high points for precise steering response. From the subjective evaluation standpoint, the best tire was recognized to be the Pirelli model, whose grip could tackle even the tightest of corners; the Dunlop tire was very stable and informative, and the Michelin tire was very predictable and effective during emergency braking. At the same time, these two last tires were rather loud when under load.

The Bridgestone tire also turned out to be noisy, but it instilled confidence in the pilot with information and stability, while the Continental model reacted more slowly to the driver’s actions, but at the same time showed surprisingly good lap times. The GT Radial tire showed excellent traction while exiting tight corners, but was noisy when under loads, while the Hankook tire also made loud noise, and at the same time its handling response was not as precise as that of the best tires. Regarding the Triangle tire, the experts noted that it again lacked overall grip.

The road test

The road test involved such factors as ride comfort, noise, steering response, etc. The best tire was recognized to be the Pirelli model, which scored high points by all parameters. The second place was scored by the Dunlop tires with a performance just as balanced; the third place was shared by Continental and Goodyear — the first tire was comfortable and quiet, but it had a slightly fuzzy handling response, while the second was in a reverse situation, i.e. it was quick to react to the driver’s actions, but it delivered a relatively rough ride on broken tarmac, and was noisy on uneven surfaces.

The Hankook tire lacks steering precision, and it’s a little on the noisy side, while the Bridgestone engineers, for all intents and purposes, sacrificed ride comfort in favor of accurate steering response. The Michelin tire, on the other hand, quickly responds to the driver’s actions at high speeds, but, curiously, as the car slowed down, the handling response grew fuzzy, and the tire was clearly noisy at the joints between the road surfaces. The Hankook tire was also noisy on uneven surfaces, and the worst tire was recognized to be the Triangle model, which ensured a reasonably smooth ride, but was very slow to respond to the driver’s actions, and the steering wheel felt too light.

Environment

The lowest rolling resistance, directly affecting the fuel consumption, was demonstrated by Hankook, Michelin, and Continental, and the fourth place, in spite of the low grade of «E» on the EU label, was occupied by GT Radial. The last line was scored by the Pirelli tire, even though its EU ranking was higher than that of the GT Radial, Bridgestone, and Goodyear models.

In the tournament bracket, the leader’s result is assumed as 100%, and the results achieved by others are calculated based on the difference with this figure.