2015 AMS Performance Tyre Test

Test Summary
Best tyre for dry roads	Hankook Ventus V12 evo2
Best tyre for wet roads	Continental Sport Contact 5
The lowest fuel use	Dunlop Sport BluResponse Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance
The most comfortable	Continental Sport Contact 5 Hankook Ventus V12 evo2
The quietest tyre	Hankook Ventus V12 evo2

With over two hundred different tyres available for the chosen 225/50 R17 tyre size, Auto Motor Und Sport decided to pick the top nine best European label scoring tyres to test on their Mercedes C Class, presuming they would be getting the top nine tyres on the market.

Every tyre on test was an A label under wet braking, which is the highest label score currently possible. With the difference in label scores A and B being 3 meters stopping distance, you'd have expected the wet braking test to have been fairly close. This wasn't the case.

The winning Continental stopped in 29.1 meters, with the second placed Uniroyal needing two meters more. Nothing surprising here, other than the lead Continental have under wet braking over their sister brand, Uniroyal. What was surprising was the Bridgestone and Kumho wet braking scores, 34.1 and 35.3 meters respectively which puts the Kumho 6.2 meters behind the winning Continental, yet still displaying the same A label score for wet braking.

There was a similar story for noise. The Hankook was the quietest tyre on test at 66 dB, and the worst tyres on test scored 70 dB. It might not sound a lot, until you realise the decibel is a logarithmic scale, and a 4 dB increase means twice the noise produced!

The Results

With a near flawless performance, the Continental Sport Contact 5 took top place with only a slightly high rolling resistance and the highest price as a negative points. The Dunlop Sport BlueResponse, Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance and Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 placed second to fourth respectively, all with a very similar balance of qualities, and despite the best aquaplaning score and second best wet braking result , the Uniroyal Rainsport 3 ended in fifth thanks to an average dry performance.

The overall weighting of the results is 35% dry, 45% wet, 15% comfort / noise and 5% based on price.

1st: Continental Sport Contact 5
225/50 R17	Total: 42.8 Dry: 9.2 Wet: 9.6 Comfort: 9 Rolling Resistance: 7 Noise: 8 High grip and short braking distances in all conditions, balanced behavior on wet roads, good handling on dry roads Slightly high rolling resistance, expensive Read Reviews    Buy from £108.49
2nd: Dunlop Sport BluResponse
225/50 R17	Total: 43.8 Dry: 8.9 Wet: 8.9 Comfort: 8 Rolling Resistance: 10 Noise: 8 Good handling on wet surfaces, good handling and very short braking distances in the dry, very low rolling resistance Relatively weak resistance to aquaplaning, relatively long braking distances on wet surfaces Read Reviews    Buy from £94.99
3rd: Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance
225/50 R17	Total: 43 Dry: 8.7 Wet: 8.3 Comfort: 8 Rolling Resistance: 10 Noise: 8 Good handling on wet surfaces, balanced behavior and short braking distances in the dry, very low rolling resistance relatively weak resistance to aquaplaning, somewhat slow steering response on dry roads Read Reviews    Buy from £106.69
4th: Hankook Ventus V12 evo2
225/50 R17	Total: 42.7 Dry: 9.4 Wet: 8.3 Comfort: 9 Rolling Resistance: 6 Noise: 10 Good performance on wet roads, short braking distance in the dry Relatively weak resistance to aquaplaning, high rolling resistance Read Reviews    Buy from £84.39
5th: Uniroyal RainSport 3
225/50 R17	Total: 39.1 Dry: 7.5 Wet: 8.6 Comfort: 8 Rolling Resistance: 8 Noise: 7 Excellent resistance to aquaplaning, good handling and predictable behavior at the limit of grip on dry surfaces Long braking distance on dry surface, relatively high noise level Read Reviews    Buy from £114.66
6th: Nokian zLine
225/50 R17	Total: 36.3 Dry: 8.1 Wet: 8.2 Comfort: 6 Rolling Resistance: 7 Noise: 7 Good steering and handling on both dry and wet roads Poor resistance to aquaplaning, average comfort, noisy, relatively high rolling resistance Read Reviews
7th: Pirelli Cinturato P7 Blue
225/50 R17	Total: 37.2 Dry: 8.4 Wet: 7.8 Comfort: 7 Rolling Resistance: 7 Noise: 7 Good handling on dry roads Long braking distances on wet roads, poor resistance to aquaplaning Read Reviews    Buy from £110.00
8th: Bridgestone Turanza T001
225/50 R17	Total: 36.4 Dry: 7.6 Wet: 8.8 Comfort: 6 Rolling Resistance: 7 Noise: 7 Good resistance to aquaplaning, good handling and feel Long braking distances and slow steering response in the wet, high rolling resistance, high noise level Read Reviews    Buy from £113.80
9th: Kumho Ecsta LE Sport
225/50 R17	Total: 33.1 Dry: 6.4 Wet: 6.7 Comfort: 6 Rolling Resistance: 6 Noise: 8 Short braking distance on dry roads Poor resistance to aquaplaning, poor dry handling, high rolling resistance Read Reviews