If you like detailed and confusing tyre tests, you're in for a treat! The 2020 Sport Auto tyre test has tested ten 245/35 R19 tyres, using a Mercedes AMG A45 S, and is confusingly amazing!
Why is this confusing? They've managed to test three different types of tyres in the single test! The first group is the more "regular" ultra high performance tyres, which includes the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5, Nokian PowerProof, Vredestein Ultrac Vorti, Toyo Proxes Sport, and strangely, the Continental SportContact 6. They've also tested two "UUHP" tyres, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S and the new Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport (which is the group we believe the Continental SportContact 6 should be included in, as the PremiumContact 6 is the more natural rival to the Asymmetric 5), and three track day tyres, the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2, the unreleased Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS, and the Giti GitiSport GTR3.
So we have ten tyres across three different categories, with one of them in the wrong category, and one of them unreleased, all in the same test! Fortunately, the data is really interesting, and is a fascinating insight into the differences between the three types of tyre.
Before we start, if you're able to read German, we highly recommend finding a copy of the original test on SportAuto.de as their print layout is way more effective at displaying the differences of all the tyres included.
The differences between tyre types
In theory, as each group of tyres gets more sporty (UHP -> UUHP -> track day tyres), their dry performance and subjective handling scores should increase, while their wet performance and comfort levels should decrease, and this is roughly the case!
In the dry handling testing, the results were perfectly as expected, with the track day tyres best, the two UUHPs next in line, and the five UHP tyres at the bottom of the table. Dry braking wasn't quite as expected, but apart from the Giti, it was roughly correct (see below.)
In the wet, the rule also played out almost perfectly. The track day tyres were always at the bottom of the pack, and while the UUHP tyres were mixing it with the UHP tyres, they never appeared in the top two places. It's nice when logic wins.
That said, the gap between the worst wet handling UHP tyre and the best track day tyre wasn't huge, and the wet circle, where the water depth is very shallow, was even closer!
The full data can be poured over below, and as always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask.
Dry
Michelin will be happy with the dry braking results, as both their tyres lead the group. The track bias Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 had the shortest stopping distance, with the Pilot Sport 4S just 0.4 meters behind. Interestingly, the other two track day tyres only managed to finish seventh and tenth overall. Without knowing how the test procedure was run it's impossible to say why, but it might have something to do with a lack of temperature in the Bridgestone and Giti products.
Dry Braking
Spread: 3.20 M (9.8%)|Avg: 34.22 M
Dry braking in meters (Lower is better)
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
32.70 M
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
33.10 M
Continental Sport Contact 6
33.50 M
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
33.90 M
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
34.00 M
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
34.30 M
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
34.40 M
Nokian PowerProof
35.00 M
Toyo Proxes Sport
35.40 M
Giti GitiSport GTR3
35.90 M
The dry handling results are much closer to what we expect, with the three trackdays tyres reaching temperature, and being significantly faster than even the fastest UUHP tyre. The two UUHP tyres were also a step above the UHP tyres, both in lap time and subjective handling.
Dry Handling
Spread: 5.40 Km/H (4%)|Avg: 132.83 Km/H
Dry Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
135.90 Km/H
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
134.50 Km/H
Giti GitiSport GTR3
134.10 Km/H
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
133.00 Km/H
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
132.90 Km/H
Toyo Proxes Sport
132.00 Km/H
Continental Sport Contact 6
132.00 Km/H
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
131.80 Km/H
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
131.60 Km/H
Nokian PowerProof
130.50 Km/H
Subj. Dry Handling
Spread: 4.00 Points (33.3%)|Avg: 9.00 Points
Subjective Dry Handling Score (Higher is better)
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
12.00 Points
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
10.00 Points
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
9.00 Points
Continental Sport Contact 6
9.00 Points
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
9.00 Points
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
9.00 Points
Nokian PowerProof
8.00 Points
Giti GitiSport GTR3
8.00 Points
Toyo Proxes Sport
8.00 Points
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
8.00 Points
Wet
As you would expect in wet braking, the track day tyres finished at the other end of the table, with even the "best in the dry" Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 nearly 4 meters behind the worst road tyre.
Wet Braking
Spread: 10.40 M (39.1%)|Avg: 30.65 M
Wet braking in meters (Lower is better)
Continental Sport Contact 6
26.60 M
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
28.10 M
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
28.10 M
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
28.90 M
Nokian PowerProof
28.90 M
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
30.00 M
Toyo Proxes Sport
30.20 M
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
34.00 M
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
34.70 M
Giti GitiSport GTR3
37.00 M
Wet handling gave the first win to the UHP segment, with the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 proving to be the fastest, and best subjectively around the wet handling circuit, with the Continental SportContact 6 a close second.
Wet Handling
Spread: 8.80 Km/H (10.5%)|Avg: 79.95 Km/H
Wet Handling Average Speed (Higher is better)
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
83.70 Km/H
Continental Sport Contact 6
83.20 Km/H
Nokian PowerProof
83.00 Km/H
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
82.60 Km/H
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
80.90 Km/H
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
80.50 Km/H
Toyo Proxes Sport
79.00 Km/H
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
76.80 Km/H
Giti GitiSport GTR3
74.90 Km/H
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
74.90 Km/H
Subj. Wet Handling
Spread: 5.00 Points (50%)|Avg: 7.20 Points
Subjective Wet Handling Score (Higher is better)
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
10.00 Points
Continental Sport Contact 6
9.00 Points
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
8.00 Points
Nokian PowerProof
8.00 Points
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
7.00 Points
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
7.00 Points
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
7.00 Points
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
6.00 Points
Toyo Proxes Sport
5.00 Points
Giti GitiSport GTR3
5.00 Points
The wet circle test swapped the top two tyres from wet handling, while the track day tyres continued to struggle.
Wet Circle
Spread: 1.06 m/s (14.5%)|Avg: 6.84 m/s
Lateral wet grip in m/s squared (Higher is better)
Continental Sport Contact 6
7.33 m/s
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
7.04 m/s
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
7.03 m/s
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
6.99 m/s
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
6.94 m/s
Nokian PowerProof
6.93 m/s
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
6.79 m/s
Toyo Proxes Sport
6.62 m/s
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
6.46 m/s
Giti GitiSport GTR3
6.27 m/s
The Continental SportContact 6 again proved its dominance in the wet, acing the straight aquaplaning test.
Straight Aqua
Spread: 13.00 Km/H (15.6%)|Avg: 77.82 Km/H
Float Speed in Km/H (Higher is better)
Continental Sport Contact 6
83.40 Km/H
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
80.40 Km/H
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
80.10 Km/H
Toyo Proxes Sport
79.70 Km/H
Nokian PowerProof
78.90 Km/H
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
77.90 Km/H
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
77.70 Km/H
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
75.90 Km/H
Giti GitiSport GTR3
73.80 Km/H
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
70.40 Km/H
Environment
Interestingly there was no real order between the three groups of tyres on the subjective comfort or noise tests.
Subj. Comfort
Spread: 4.00 Points (40%)|Avg: 8.10 Points
Subjective Comfort Score (Higher is better)
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
10.00 Points
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
10.00 Points
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
8.00 Points
Giti GitiSport GTR3
8.00 Points
Toyo Proxes Sport
8.00 Points
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
8.00 Points
Continental Sport Contact 6
8.00 Points
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
8.00 Points
Nokian PowerProof
7.00 Points
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
6.00 Points
Noise
Spread: 2.10 dB (3%)|Avg: 71.98 dB
External noise in dB (Lower is better)
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
70.80 dB
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
71.20 dB
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
71.30 dB
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
71.70 dB
Continental Sport Contact 6
72.00 dB
Nokian PowerProof
72.20 dB
Giti GitiSport GTR3
72.30 dB
Toyo Proxes Sport
72.60 dB
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
72.80 dB
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
72.90 dB
Tyre weight was again fairly evenly distributed between the three groups of tyres.
Tyre Weight
Spread: 1.94 Kg (19.7%)|Avg: 10.58 Kg
Tyre Weight Per Set (Lower is better)
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
9.84 Kg
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
9.94 Kg
Continental Sport Contact 6
9.99 Kg
Toyo Proxes Sport
10.40 Kg
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
10.51 Kg
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
10.71 Kg
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
10.76 Kg
Giti GitiSport GTR3
10.86 Kg
Nokian PowerProof
11.05 Kg
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
11.78 Kg
Whereas the rolling resistance testing definitely showed an advantage for the UHP category of tyres.
Rolling Resistance
Spread: 1.80 kg / t (20.7%)|Avg: 9.53 kg / t
Rolling resistance in kg t (Lower is better)
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5
8.70 kg / t
Nokian PowerProof
8.70 kg / t
Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport
9.30 kg / t
Continental Sport Contact 6
9.50 kg / t
Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S
9.50 kg / t
Vredestein Ultrac Vorti
9.70 kg / t
Giti GitiSport GTR3
9.70 kg / t
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2
9.80 kg / t
Toyo Proxes Sport
9.90 kg / t
Bridgestone Potenza S007 RS
10.50 kg / t
Results
The below results will look a little confusing as there's three winners (one from each category) so keep this in mind when reading through.
Outstanding wet grip with a very neutral balance and excellent feedback. Very short braking distances in the dry with excellent steering precision and speed in the dry.
Slight oversteer in the high speed wet, average rolling resistance.
Proven wet grip, now with new convincing mix of abilities.
Outstanding grip and precision in the dry, very good feedback, very easy to control at the limit. Pressure change to 2.4f 2.1r (from 2.2f 2.2r) when hot recommended.
As typical for a semi slick limited wet performance and high rolling resistance.
Good natured and easy to control in the wet, with high aquaplaning safety. Good handling in the dry, very low rolling resistance, good comfort levels and very quiet.
Slightly slower to steer.
Top performer with top liability and low rolling resistance.
Short braking and good dynamics with high steering precision in the dry. The high driving stability and excellent behaviour creates trust for fast times. Acceptable performance in the wet.
Average aquaplaning, reduced comfort.
The brand new Eagle F1 SuperSport is still missing some bite.
Excellent direct steering with high levels of feedback, great dry balance with exploitable grip. Pressure change to 2.4f 2.1r (from 2.2f 2.2r) when hot recommended.
Typically restricted semi slick wet performance with long wet braking and high rolling resistance.