The best tyre test from the UK press is finally here - the EVO 2015 tyre test.
We look forward to the EVO test every year, not because they test unique sizes, or use special vehicles - in fact this year they've used the generic Golf GTI running 225/40 R18 tyres, but because EVO dedicate over 40% of their scoring to subjective feel, and weight the results in order of performance traits such as lap times, giving criteria such as comfort a lower overall impact. This makes the tyre tests particularly relevant to those of us who love the feel of driving, rather than outright objective measurements.
Testing at Pirelli's Vizzola facility near Milan, Italy, EVO subjected ten of the best 225/40 R18 tyres available today to the usual mix of dry, wet and comfort tests.
The Top Three
Regular readers of the site are unlikely to be surprised at the winning tyre… once again Continental have taken the top spot with the Sport Contact 5, thanks to a supreme wet performance, taking the fastest wet lap and best subjective score.
While the number one position was unsurprising, the second placed tyre is a little more interesting. Yokohama, with the Advan V105S finished just 0.1% behind Continental overall, thanks to class leading dry weather lap times and feel, with third place going to Pirelli, which has recently made a comeback with an updated P Zero tyre.
The Rest
Fourth to sixth positions finished just 1.2% apart. The Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymmetric 2 narrowly beat the Vredestin Ultrac Vorti thanks to a good overall performance, where the Vredestein could only excel in the dry, and Dunlop took sixth with the Sport Maxx RT, doing well, but not excelling in all areas.
Hankook disappointed in the wet to finish seventh, and the Michelin struggled in the dry to finish eighth. The nomination of the RE002 was a brave move by Bridgestone, but it ultimately failed to work, finishing in ninth place, and Toyo showed that a low price doesn't always pay, finishing last in nine of the twelve tests, and last overall.
The Future
TyreReviews knows of three changes to the above tyres worth looking out for in the next few months. The Continental Sport Contact 6 is already out on the new Civic Type R, and will be launched officially next month, and both Goodyear and Michelin are due to replace the tyres tested in this test in 2016. The rumour is the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 will include a lot of technology from the excellent Michelin Pilot Super Sport, which will make the 2016 EVO tyre test far more interesting.
The Results
Below are the full results. Please note, we've not included aquaplaning scores, or applied any weighting, so make sure you pick up a copy of EVO issue 213 (October 2015) for the test in its full glory. Also we entered the EVO road route test as "comfort", but EVO took into account comfort, noise and steering feel while testing on the road.
Total: 664.9 Total: 659.7 Total: 660.7 Total: 669.7 Total: 658.5 Total: 668.9 Total: 649.7 Total: 643.3 Total: 557.4 Total: 596.6Continental Sport Contact 5
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 99.4 Wet 100 Subjective 196.2 Comfort 91.7 Rolling Resistance 81.3 Overall 96.3 Yokohama Advan Sport V105
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 100 Wet 99.1 Subjective 192.6 Comfort 95.8 Rolling Resistance 76 Overall 96.2 
Pirelli P Zero
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 99.9 Wet 99.4 Subjective 187.9 Comfort 95.8 Rolling Resistance 81.8 Overall 95.9 Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 99.6 Wet 98.7 Subjective 180.1 Comfort 95.8 Rolling Resistance 100 Overall 95.5 Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 100 Wet 97.6 Subjective 190.1 Comfort 95.8 Rolling Resistance 80.1 Overall 94.9 Dunlop SportMaxx RT
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 98.9 Wet 96.9 Subjective 188.7 Comfort 97.5 Rolling Resistance 92.7 Overall 94.2
Hankook Ventus S1 evo2
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 99.2 Wet 96.4 Subjective 170.2 Comfort 100 Rolling Resistance 90.6 Overall 93.3 Michelin Pilot Sport 3 PS3
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 98.5 Wet 98.3 Subjective 177.4 Comfort 91.7 Rolling Resistance 84.5 Overall 92.9 Bridgestone Adrenalin RE002
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 99.1 Wet 96.2 Subjective 176.4 Comfort 9.7 Rolling Resistance 83.7 Overall 92.3 Toyo Proxes T1 Sport
225/40 R18
All discipline results (6)
Test Result Dry 98.5 Wet 92.4 Subjective 153.9 Comfort 75 Rolling Resistance 90.5 Overall 86.3
I'd like some new tyres to replace run flats on my 330i and was fairly decided upon Michelin Pilot Sport 3's as they did well in the Evo 2014 tyre test (3rd overall and 1st on the subjective road route). This was on a Golf GTI wearing 225/45/17 - Evo seem to have taken the test down now from their website but results are here: http://www.tyrereviews.co.u......
(It also has an unscientific look at sidewall stiffness and indicates it doesn't correlate to what did well in dry handling)
However, I've recently seen the 2015 test and the PS3 didn't do so well (8th overall, joint 6th on road route)
NB 8 of the 10 tyres are the same as last year, which makes that result seems slightly odd...
The 2015 evo tyre test http://www.evo.co.uk/featur...... was on a Golf GTI wearing 225/40 R18, and these were the overall results:
1 Continental 96.3 (Continental ContiSportContact 5 (Y 92))
2 Yokohama 96.2 (Yokohama Advan Sport V105 (W 92))
3 Pirelli 95.9 (Pirelli P Zero (Y 92))
4 Goodyear 95.5 (Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 (Y 92))
5 Vredestein 94.9 (Vredestein Ultrac Vorti (Y 92))
6 Dunlop 94.2 (Dunlop Sport Maxx RT (Y 92))
7 Hankook 93.3 (Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 2 (Y 92))
8 Michelin 92.9 (Michelin Pilot Sport 3 (Y 92))
9 Bridgestone 92.3 (Bridgestone Potenza RE002 (W 92))
10 Toyo 86.3 (Toyo Proxes T1 Sport (Y 92))
The road test result (for which I'm probably most interested) was as follows:
1 Hankook 100
2 Goodyear 95.8
3 Pirelli 95.8
4 Vredestein 95.8
5 Yokohama 95.8
6 Bridgestone 91.7
7 Continental 91.7
8 Michelin 91.7
9 Dunlop 87.5
10 Toyo 75.0
Curiously the Hankook (same tyre in a different size) finished flat LAST in the 2014 Evo tyre test road route.
How can there be that much inconsistency from the same magazine, with the same test car (Golf GTI) with 8 of the 10 tyres the same? Henry Catchpole authored last years test, this year was Dan Prosser. How on earth can I feel confident in what I'm going to buy?!
Tyre size can change the behavior of a tyre, but what we believe to be the case here is mid-life pattern updates.
Tyres get minor updates all the time, but in the past few years the tyre manufacturers have been chasing improving label scores. As tyre patterns are only replaced every 2-5 years, tyre companies push the new technology into existing patterns in order to improve the label scores.
As all the top tyres are so close objectively now, these mid life updates can drastically change the order of results.
I'd like to see Very cheap budget tyres that I see all the time fitted to common cars compared with tyres that just get in the top ten or top 20 on these test, this would make people pay slightly more for a big safety improvement on the roads.
No surprise for me, the good result for the Yokohama Advan Sport V105. I've used it, and find it a very good tyre, with very good feel, never felt lack of grip or issues in the wet.
Only ever consider a tyre test fair when its a blind test and nobody but the fitter knows what tyres are on the car. Magazines will always lean towards those that pay for advertising space. FACT
You could argue that because Pirelli hosted the test, it would be bias towards them.
EVO are totally independant and having seen the raw data from the tests, we're 100% sure there is no bias. Further more, EVO go to the lengths of buying all the tyres on the open market to ensure no "special" tyres are included.
Thank you for the backup. You could say theres bias towards Pirelli due to their near perfect dry and wet scores... or they could just be good tyres.
No accusations were leveled at manufacturer specials but also more information left off that would relevant to Joe Public. Just as every bit of data is deem necessary in the rating a tyre or other technical equipment so is information to arm a user to make a better decision.
Hi Unpop
Just for the record, our testing is done blind - the driver is unaware of which tyre is fitted at any given time. We should have made this clear in the article.
As for your suggestion that we lean towards the companies that pay for advertising space, well, consider this: Of all the tyre manufacturers whose products we tested, Michelin has advertised by far the most in the magazine and on evo.co.uk over recent months. It sponsored an eight-page feature in our September issue, for example, and has placed three double-page advertorials with us in recent months. Yet its contender finished 8th out of the ten tyres we tested. Hopefully this proves that our testing is unbiased - and that your "FACT" is actually anything but.
Incidentally, for the benefit of those who haven't read the full test, the Michelin was not a bad tyre by any means. In fact it won one of the tests it was subjected to. It's just that the results were close and other tyres scored more highly overall.
All the best,
Ian Eveleigh
Production editor
evo
Hi Ian, the defining factor for readers would be hat the test was done blind. There are too many magazines, worldwide, that DO lean towards their paying advertisers. That you cannot deny. FACT is I said "magazines" and not specifically EVO but as you can back this up, theres nothing really to debate and some readers are more informed.
Your test data was also presented in a way that showed that a lower place finish does not necessarily mean a bad tyre so I dont have an issue there. Though Michelin advertising must be paying off seeing I use Michelin Pilot Super Sports