The German magazine ran a test of 10 tire models designed for compact SUVs, including a few budget tires costing half the price of the premium ones.
List of models tested:
- BFGoodrich Advantage SUV
- Bridgestone Turanza T005
- Continental PremiumContact 6
- Falken Ziex ZE310 Ecorun
- Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
- Imperial Ecosport SUV
- Maxxis Premitra HP5
- Michelin Primacy 4
- Nokian Wetproof SUV
- Toyo Proxes Comfort
In its next test, the German publication Auto Bild Allrad compared 17-inch summer tires designed for compact SUVs. Interestingly, the most expensive tire on the test — the Michelin Primacy 4 cost twice as much as the cheapest one — the Imperial EcoSport SUV (525 and 265 Euro respectively). Imperial is a private brand of the Belgian trade company Deldo, introduced in 2011. The experts included these Chinese-made tires into the test in order to demonstrate once again what the consequences of saving up on tires can be.
According to the experts, they already tested cheap Chinese tires on multiple occasions, and there are two major points to consider. First, Chinese tire makers are rapidly developing and improving the quality of their product, and, second, you can no longer say «if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all» about these tires because the products of different companies may vary significantly in terms of their parameters — just as those of the market leaders. Thus, it is really worth your while, before investing in a new set of tires, to try and find out as much as possible about them, including by studying the results of the tests.
On the whole, the Imperial model’s performance was rated as acceptable, the tire getting a score worse than 3 (on a 1–6 scale) only in one out of the 15 disciplines. At the same time, this was one of the most important disciplines — wet handling — and the tire scored 4+ due to poor lateral grip and somewhat fuzzy steering response. This low score affected the overall ranking, and ultimately the Imperial tire received a «not recommended» verdict.
The other nine tires did not have such problems, the top five places being scored by premium-class models, each one with peculiar features of their own. The fifth position was occupied by the Nokian tire, which demonstrated good traction on grass and gravel, but high rolling resistance. Fourth place was scored by the Continental model, which clearly falls short of the Finnish brand in off-road conditions, but demonstrates exemplary performance on wet pavement. Bronze was won by Bridgestone, whose tires showed excellent results on dry pavement, yet lost a few points during the wet grass test. Second place was scored by the Michelin model, which demonstrated a relatively weak traction on sand, combined with an otherwise quite decent well-balanced performance, while the absolute winner was the Goodyear EfficentGrip 2 SUV tire — a new model 2021, which made a flashy debut in independent tests. This tire did not have any issues in any of the disciplines, but you have to pay for everything, and this Goodyear model comes with a hefty price tag.
1st place: Goodyear / EfficientGrip 2 SUV
Quick Take
Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV
- Excellent handling response both on all types of surfaces
- Excellent handling response in the dry
- Precise steering response
- Short braking distance on wet and dry pavement
- Low rolling resistance
- Exemplary
2nd place: Michelin / Primacy 4
Quick Take
Michelin Primacy 4
- Excellent performance on wet and dry pavement
- Excellent hydroplaning resistance
- Short braking distance on dry pavement
- Average sand traction
- High price
- Exemplary
3rd place: Bridgestone / Turanza T005
Quick Take
Bridgestone Turanza T005
- Good handling performance and crisp steering response in any weather conditions
- Short braking distance on dry pavement
- Low rolling resistance
- Average grass traction
- Overpriced
- Exemplary
4th place: Continental / PremiumContact 6
Quick Take
Continental PremiumContact 6
- Great handling response in any weather conditions
- Precise steering response
- Short braking distance on wet and dry pavement
- Average grass and gravel traction
- Good
5th place: Nokian / Wetproof SUV
Quick Take
Nokian Wetproof SUV
- Excellent hydroplaning resistance
- Excellent grass and gravel traction
- Short braking distance on wet and dry pavement
- Increased rolling resistance
- Slightly delayed steering response
- Good
6th place: Falken / Ziex ZE310 Ecorun
Quick Take
Falken Ziex ZE310 Ecorun
- Excellent hydroplaning resistance
- Good handling response and high safety level on wet pavement
- Short braking distance on dry pavement
- Average grass and mud traction
- Increased rolling resistance
- Satisfactory
7th place: Maxxis / Premitra 5 HP5
Quick Take
Maxxis Premitra 5 HP5
- Excellent hydroplaning resistance
- Short braking distance on dry pavement
- Great riding comfort
- Attractive price
- Prone to understeer and long braking distance on wet pavement
- Satisfactory
8th place: BFGoodrich / Advantage SUV
Quick Take
BFGoodrich Advantage SUV
- Excellent gravel and mud traction
- Great riding comfort
- Low rolling resistance
- Poor sand traction
- Prone to understeer on wet and dry and wet pavement
- Fuzzy steering response and insufficient handling feedback
- Satisfactory
9th place: Toyo / Proxes Comfort
Quick Take
Toyo Proxes Comfort
- Excellent gravel and sand traction
- Good hydroplaning resistance
- Great riding comfort
- Prone to understeer and long braking distance on wet pavement
- Satisfactory
10th place: Imperial / Ecosport SUV
Quick Take
Imperial Ecosport SUV
- Good hydroplaning resistance
- Low price
- Poor traction, prone to understeer and long braking distance on wet pavement
- Long braking distance on dry pavement
- Satisfactory
