The world of tyres is unexplored and mysterious territory to most of us, full of abbreviations such as AO, MFS, PNCS, SSR and UHP.
Sending your car into a tyre shop for replacements can usually mean you avoid most of the jargon, but if you intend to order new tyres online, you will deal more intensively with many of the acronyms and abbreviations. There are also many different, vehicle-specific versions of what is apparently the same tyre.You will find about 10 versions of Pirelli P Zero, for example. But this is easily overcome because tyre retailers can filter the correct tyres for specific vehicles on their websites when you plug in your car registration number or model details.
What are summer tyres?
Summer tyres are what you ought to consider as ‘normal’ tyres. They perform well in the the milder months of the year because they are made from a relatively hard compound that soften a little in warmer (above 7 degrees Celsius) temperatures. In addition to being made from a harder compound than winter tyres, summer tyres also have fewer grooves in the tread pattern in order to gain as much contact with the road as possible, improving grip and handling. Where winter tyres work only in the coldest times of the year, summer tyres are a lot more versatile. Above 7 degrees, summer tyres have better grip but also develop less friction, which aids fuel economy.
How we conducted tyre testing
One of our sister publications, Auto Zeitung, undertakes annual testing of summer, winter, and all-season tyres. For 2021, the summer tyre test contenders were:
Continental PremiumContact 6
Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2
Falken Azenis FK510
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3
Maxxis Victra Sport 5
Michelin Pilot Sport 4
Nexen N’Fera Sport
Nokian Powerproof
Pirelli P Zero PZ4
These tyres were all assessed in the popular 225/40 R18 size on the same vehicle (Seat Leon) and over a series of 13 tests, inlcuding road noise, aquaplaning, braking and handling.
The results
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Here you can find the tyres ranked in descending order. You can find specific results for each test further below.
Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 5
Test winner (92/100)
Fuel-saving recommendation
Price: £89.98 and up | VIEW OFFER
A great all-rounder. The Goodyear tyre performed well in the aquaplaning test and won the 62-0 mph wet brake test and came fourth in the dry brake test. It ranked just below average in the wet handling tests but did much better in the dry handling tests.
The Goodyear tyre gained third place for rolling resistance and fifth place in tyre noise (71dB).
Continental PremiumContact 6
Second place (89/100)
Price: £85.39 and up | VIEW OFFER
Appropriately, the Continental tyre came in second place in both the wet and dry 62-0 mph brake tests. It performed well in the aquaplaning test and also won the dry handling test.
However, its weaknesses lay in the wet handling test and rolling resistance and noise, where it scored relatively poorly in a close contest.
Pirelli P Zero PZ4
Third place (88/100)
Price: £112.59 and up | VIEW OFFER
The Pirelli tyre excelled in wet conditions, winning all the wet handling tests and slalom. The P Zero PZ4 also scored well for road noise at 69.8dB. It ranked in the middle for both wet and dry braking tests, and also the dry handling test.
Where it scored lowest was in rolling resistance.
Michelin Pilot Sport 4
Fourth place (87/100)
Price: £83.19 and up | VIEW OFFER
Like the Goodyear tyre, the Michelin is a solid all-rounder, performing reasonably well in all areas.
Its standout achievement was winning the dry brake test, but its weakest point was road noise with a reading of 71.1dB.
Falken Azenis FK510
Fifth place (86/100)
Fuel-saving recommendation
Price: £80.44 and up | VIEW OFFER
The Falken tyre scored well in the wet braking test (third place), aquaplaning, and quietness.
It scored average in the dry braking test and slalom but ranked quite low in the handling tests.
Nokian Powerproof
Sixth place (85/100)
Price: £82.56 and up | VIEW OFFER
The Nokian tyre ranked around the middle for most tests. Where it excelled was in the wet handling test, securing second place behind the Pirelli tyre. However, it was the loudest tyre tested, at 71.9 dB.
Maxxis Victra Sport 5
Seventh place (83/100)
Price: £76.20 and up | VIEW OFFER
The Maxxis tyre did reasonably well in the wet and dry handling tests, securing fourth and second places respectively. It also gained third place in the dry braking test and second place in the slalom.
It didn’t do so well in the wet braking test (eight place) and ranked about the middle for rolling resistance and noise.
Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2
Eighth place (81/100)
Price: £72.19 and up | VIEW OFFER
The Dunlop tyre’s strengths lie in quietness (second place), little rolling resistance (first place), and subjection to aquaplaning (first place).
It performed fine in the wet braking and handling tests but came last in the dry braking and handling tests.
Hankook Ventus S1 evo3
Ninth place (78/100)
Price: £88.39 and up | VIEW OFFER
Having not ranked particularly well overall, it is not a surprise that the Hakook tyre sits in the lower half of the rankings for most tests.
Its only notable achievements were scoring fourth equal in the dry handling test and second place in rolling resistance.
Nexen N’Fera Sport
Last place (74/100)
Price: £83.59 and up | VIEW OFFER
For the tyre scoring lowest overall, it’s mostly a case of seeing if there are any pros to offset the many cons.
In the case of the Nexen tyre, it was the quietest on test but ranked within the bottom three in everything else.
Individual test results
Braking test, wet (62-0mph)
1. Goodyear 41.9m
2. Continental 42.1m
3. Falken 42.8m
4. Michelin 44.8m
5. Pirelli 45.1m
6. Nokian 46.6m
7. Dunlop 48.7m
8. Maxxis 49.7m
9. Nexen 50.1m
10. Hankook 50.6m
Braking test, dry (62-0mph)
1. Michelin 34.3m
2. Continental 34.7m
3. Maxxis 34.8m
4. Goodyear 35.1m
5. Pirelli 35.2m
6. Nokian 35.4m
6. Falken 35.4m
8. Hankook 35.5m
8. Nexen 35.5m
10. Dunlop 36.2m
2 Goodyear 41.9m
3 Falken 42.8m
4 Michelin 44.8m
5 Pirelli 45.1m
6 Nokian 46.6m
7 Dunlop 48.7m
8 Maxxis 49.7m
9 Nexen 50.1m
10 Hankook 50.6m
Handling course, wet (0.96 miles)
1. Pirelli 62.6s
2. Nokian 62.9s
3. Michelin 63.1s
4. Maxxis 63.2s
5. Dunlop 63.3s
5. Hankook 63.3s
7. Goodyear 63.4s
8. Falken 63.5s
9. Continental 63.7s
10. Nexen 64.9s
Handling course, dry (1.17 miles)
1. Continental 68.8s
2. Maxxis 69.0s
2. Michelin 69.0s
4. Goodyear 69.1s
4. Hankook 69.1s
6. Nokian 69.2s
6. Pirelli 69.2s
8. Nexen 69.4s
9. Falken 69.6s
10. Dunlop 69.7s
18-metre slalom
1. Pirelli 40.8mph
2. Maxxis 40.3mph
3. Continental 39.9mph
4. Michelin 39.7mph
5. Goodyear 39.6mph
6. Falken 39.4mph
7. Nokian 39.1mph
8. Dunlop 39.0mph
8. Nexen 39.0mph
10. Hankook 38.6mph
Aquaplaning
1. Dunlop 45.5mph
2. Continental 44.5mph
3. Goodyear 44.4mph
4. Falken 43.8mph
5. Michelin 43.7mph
6. Nokian 43.4mph
7. Hankook 43.3mph
7. Nexen 43.3mph
9. Maxxis 43.1mph
10. Pirelli 42.3mph
Rolling resistance
1. Dunlop 8.38 kg/t
2. Hankook 8.50kg/t
3. Goodyear 8.60kg/t
4. Michelin 8.64kg/t
5. Nokian 8.66kg/t
6. Maxxis 8.78kg/t
7. Continental 8.88kg/t
8. Falklen 9.23kg/t
9. Nexen 9.27kg/t
10. Pirelli 9.99kg/t
Road noise (50mph)
1. Nexen 69.1dB/A
2. Dunlop 69.8dB/A
2. Pirelli 69.8dB/A
4. Falken 70.4dB/A
5. Goodyear 71.0dB/A
5. Maxxis 71.0dB/A
7. Michelin 71.1dB/A
8. Hankook 71.2dB/A
9. Continental 71.4dB/A
10. Nokian 71.9dB/A
Finding the right tyre size
Tyre retailers that sell online, be it Amazon, Halfords, or a tyre specialist, will have a useful tool on its site that allow you to filter the correct tyre size for your car by entering your car registration number or model details. Alternatively, you can find the size of your tyres on the sidewall of your car’s current tyres.
For a detailed explanation of tyre sizes, read our guide here.
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