One can hardly find any other tire brand that would be spoiled by so much critical acclaim and so many awards in comparative tests as the product of Hannover-based Continental. The ContiSportContact 5 showed no weak sides either on dry or on wet pavement. However, this time around it fell short of the total win because of its relatively weak hydroplaning resistance and only satisfactory scores for cabin noise and ride comfort.

The Falken Azenis FK510 SUV, which got high scores from the test experts, brought a lot of success to its parent company Sumitomo. It demonstrated effective braking and excellent lateral stability on wet pavement, and well as crisp steering response in the dry. The overall picture was slightly spoiled by weak lateral hydroplaning resistance, increased rolling resistance, and average ride comfort.

Launched on the market in 2019, the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 in this competition lineup became the star of wet pavement, making a great impression on the experts who appreciated its handling precision and reliability. Confident performance on a dry track, combined with low cabin noise and comfortable ride, charmed the experts so much that they, turning a blind eye to its «incredibly high rolling resistance», maned this Goodyear model as the winner of the test.

The product from this Finnish tire maker sometimes produces quite a favorable impression in comparative tests of winter tires, but when it comes to comparative tests of summer tires, this northern manufacturer seems to still have a lot to learn.

The Nokian Wetproof model is a vivid example of that: it shows high class in dry braking, but in all of the wet disciplines it falls short of its premium-class rivals. In addition, the Nokian Tires engineers should probably think of improving the Wetproof’s hydroplaning resistance, especially lateral.

On the other hand, this model is particularly good from the environmental standpoint.

The tire model from this well-known Italian brand, Pirelli Cinturato P7, ultimately scored a «Good-" verdict, but there is a certain doubt if it deserves even that, because in this test it demonstrated an obvious lack of balanced performance, which is a must for a really good tire. Only twice during the entire test, this Pirelli model was able to make it into the winning trio — in the environment and the straight aqua disciplines; otherwise, the Italian tire was not up to their level.

Let us hope that the second-generation tire model Pirelli Cinturato P7 (P7C2), designed for the summer season 2020, will improve the situation, and in 2021 this model will be among the prize winners.

It looks like Toyo cannot yet fully master the art of tire making. Against the background of its stronger rivals, Toyo Proxes CF2 SUV looked really unconvincing. The only «good» grade that this model was able to score from the experts was for straight hydroplaning resistance; otherwise, it was rated either as «satisfactory», or, still worse, «mediocre». The highest rolling resistance on test.

India’s Apollo with the tire of the Dutch brand, Vredestein Ultrac Satin, finally secured the right to be called a high quality tire maker. This model delivered a well-balanced performance in all of the wet disciplines, demonstrating noise level and ride comfort on a par with Goodyear. Its downsides include a relatively long braking distance on dry pavement and average straight hydroplaning resistance.

The performance delivered by the Yokohama BluEarth RV-02 in the 2020 tire test can hardly be rated as successful. As its melodic name suggests, the tire’s main strong side is its environmental performance, yet, when compared to that of its rivals, it is surely not as high as the tire maker would want it to be.

The tire demonstrated the worst hydroplaning resistance on test, especially lateral. In other disciplines, the BluEarth RV-02 delivered just an average performance, and, therefore, an average level of safety. Not recommended by the Gute Fahrt experts.