Germany’s Promobil magazine has tested six models of 17-inch commercial tires.

List of models tested:

• Continental ContiVanContact 200
• Continental VanContact 4Season
• Michelin Agilis +
• Nankang CW-20
• Nokian cLine Cargo
• Pirelli Carrier
• Toyo Nanoenergy Van

The larger and the heavier the vehicle, the more difficult it is to bring it to a standstill. The number one factor here is, of course, dependable brakes, but extra advantage in this respect is created by low profile tires, whose outside diameter remains the same but the width of the tread pattern is increased. In its latest test, Promobil compared such «sports» tires in the size of 235/60 R17C, which can be fitted on such vehicles as VW Crafter, Mercedes Sprinter, and MAN TGE.

According to experts, thanks to the fine-tuned chassis and the steering systems, all these models feel more like passenger cars, and the tires fitted on them also must be up to the high standards. In order to find out, which tires would handle this task best of all, Promobil tested all the models of the required size available on the German market, including the brand new Toyo tire. In addition to that, the test involved one set of all-season Continental tires that could be used in winter, which is indicated by the snowflake sign on the tire’s sidewall.

Let’s start with the tires that showed the weakest results, and these are the cheap Nankang, which are prone to understeer on dry pavement (but at least they ensure decent riding comfort), and perform downright poorly on wet pavement. During braking and maneuvering, Nankang easily lose grip on the front axle, and, while the best tires brought the vehicle to a standstill from 80 km/h after 40 meters, the tires of this Taiwan brand needed about 60 meters to do that. This is a very serious gap, and because of that they even subtracted an extra point from this model’s scores in the final ranking.

The last but one place was occupied by the new Toyo model that the experts were only able to lay their hands on with a 103 loading index (1 030 kg per tire), i.e. in terms of load capacity it was inferior to its competitors. The new Japanese product did not make an impressive debut, and it was only able to show satisfactory performance on wet pavement, including the increased braking distance — 8 meters longer than the competitors’. On dry pavement, the situation was significantly better, and there were no safety issues because Toyo quickly stops the vehicle, which is confirmed by the third place in this discipline.

Further up on the list are Michelin tires that demonstrated good performance on dry pavement but had braking and handling issues in the wet. As a result, the tires from this reputed brand were only «conditionally recommended».

The silver was won by the Pirelli tires that demonstrated excellent braking performance in any weather conditions, high hydroplaning resistance and ensured a good riding comfort. Their only shortcoming is relatively large rolling resistance, which will be sure to increase the fuel consumption.

Thanks to better results on dry pavement, the second place was scored by Nokian that were the quickest to bring the car to a halt, showed the best lap time, and demonstrated great stability during abrupt maneuvers. At the same time, on wet pavement Nokian was not as effective, and it showed weak resistance to straight hydroplaning. In addition, Nokian demonstrated the highest rolling resistance out of all the tested tires.

The 2019 test was ultimately won by Continental tires, which, although losing to Nokian on dry pavement, could still prove that they had better balanced handling properties in combination with a high fuel efficiency.

As for the all-season tires, they generally showed great results tainted by one big shortcoming — in comparison to the summer tires they considerably increase the braking distance on dry asphalt. Since the tires must also work in winter conditions, there are lamellas on their side wall that decrease the crosswise rigidity of the tread pattern and undermine the braking performance.

Test Disciplines

Wet Surface

Dry Surface

Test Results

Continental ContiVanContact 200

Nokian cLine Cargo

Pirelli Carrier

Michelin Agilis +

Toyo Nanoenergy Van

Continental VanContact 4Season

Nankang CW-20

Price