2022 AutoBild Sports Cars UHP Summer Tyre Test

The 2022 Autobild Sportscars summer tyre test has tested eleven 225/45 R18 sizes using a BMW 3 Series, but has also tested four of the SAME sets in a staggered 225/45 R18 front and 255/4 R18 rear size to compare the two different options.

First up, the main test. Sadly the test was missing Goodyear and Pirelli, and interestingly the testers found the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 not only to be the best, but also to have the sportiest handling, something we're don't see often.

Even more surprising was that the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti+ finished joint first, beating every tyre in the wet handling test and ending up with enough points to match the Pilot Sport 4.

It was the test of ties, with the Falken FK510 and Toyo Proxes Sport A finishing joint third and the Bridgestone Potenza Sport and Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 3 finishing joint fifth.

Square vs Staggered Setup

The most interesting part of the test was the square vs staggered setup. Unfortunately the Tyre Reviews database can't list both results, just the square, so we'll have to explain the differences below referencing the square data we have already.

The tyres tested in both square and staggered were the Michelin Pilot Sport 4, the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti+, Falken FK510 and Nexen N'Fera Sport.

In the dry, the staggered setup with the wider rear tyre stopped 0.1 meters worse for the Falken and 0.2m behind for Michelin and Vredestein which is certainly counter intuitive, but the Nexen was 0.3 meters better with the wider rear tyre. 

Dry handling made no more sense with the Michelin finishing 0.8 km/h faster with the wider rear tyre, 1.3 km/h faster for the Vredestein, 1.5 km/h faster for the Nexen, but 1.3 km/h slower for the Falken.

Wet braking had the Michelin stopping the BMW 0.5 meters shorter with the wider rear, 1.3 meters shorter for Nexen but exactly the same for Vredestein and 0.5 longer for the Falken!

Finally, every set of tyres was significantly slower in the wet with the wider rear tyre.

What can we conclude regarding square vs staggered tyres? The data shows that there's not a huge amount of difference with the extra 20 mm of rear tyre width, and whether you get better or worse performance varies between what test is being tested, and the tyre brand used!

There's more information in the full Auto Bild test, so we suggest you check that out if you're interested in further information.

Below is all the data from the 225/45 R18 square test.

Dry

Bridgestone, Hankook and Toyo had an impressive lead in dry braking.

Michelin aced the dry handling test with the quickest lap time and the sportiest handling.

Wet

Bridgestone again led the way in wet braking.

But couldn't quite beat Vredestein for the top place in wet handling.

GT Radial and Toyo led the way in the aquaplaning testing.

Environment

The budget Tomket had the lowest external noise on test.

And the lowest rolling resistance.

And the lowest price.

Results

View Results as a single table and adjust the score weighting

1st: Michelin Pilot Sport 4
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 6th +1.1 M 97.04% Dry Handling 1st 100% Wet Braking 2nd +1.9 M 96.01% Wet Handling 5th -2 Km/H 97.75% Wet Circle 7th +0.54 s 95.5% Straight Aqua 3rd -1.2 Km/H 98.79% Curved Aquaplaning 6th -0.42 m/sec2 88.62% Noise 4th +2 dB 97.25% Price 11th +325 50.76% Rolling Resistance 2nd +0.24 kg / t 97.15% Premium summer tyres with the best dynamic driving characteristics in the dry (direct steering with good feedback), safe wet handling, short wet and dry braking, low rolling resistance. High price level. Read Reviews    Buy from £135.29
1st: Vredestein Ultrac Vorti+
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 8th +1.5 M 96% Dry Handling 4th -0.9 Km/H 99.14% Wet Braking 5th +3.8 M 92.32% Wet Handling 1st 100% Wet Circle 4th +0.35 s 97.04% Straight Aqua 5th -1.5 Km/H 98.49% Curved Aquaplaning 5th -0.35 m/sec2 90.51% Noise 8th +2.5 dB 96.59% Price 3rd +150 69.07% Rolling Resistance 11th +1.82 kg / t 81.8% Sporty balanced summer tyre, good wet grip, good aquaplaning resistance, sporty dry handling with precise steering, short wet and dry braking distances. High rolling resistance. Read Reviews    Buy from £115.89
3rd: Falken Azenis FK510
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 5th +1 M 97.3% Dry Handling 5th -1.2 Km/H 98.85% Wet Braking 3rd +2.2 M 95.41% Wet Handling 6th -2.5 Km/H 97.19% Wet Circle 6th +0.48 s 95.98% Straight Aqua 4th -1.4 Km/H 98.59% Curved Aquaplaning 4th -0.15 m/sec2 95.93% Noise 7th +2.4 dB 96.72% Price 9th +235 58.77% Rolling Resistance 7th +0.83 kg / t 90.79% Good performance potential, excellent aquaplaning resistance, stable handling the wet, sporty dry dynamics. High price level. Read Reviews    Buy from £123.19
3rd: Toyo Proxes Sport A
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 2nd +0.1 M 99.72% Dry Handling 2nd -0.1 Km/H 99.9% Wet Braking 4th +3.1 M 93.65% Wet Handling 4th -1.4 Km/H 98.43% Wet Circle 2nd +0.26 s 97.78% Straight Aqua 1st 100% Curved Aquaplaning 2nd -0.09 m/sec2 97.56% Noise 9th +2.7 dB 96.33% Price 5th +160 67.68% Rolling Resistance 8th +1.29 kg / t 86.38% Exemplary driving characteristics, very good aquaplaning resistance, sporty handling in the wet and dry, short wet and dry braking, fair price. Reduced ride comfort, high rolling resistance. Read Reviews    Buy from £112.99
5th: Hankook Ventus S1 evo 3
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 2nd +0.1 M 99.72% Dry Handling 3rd -0.6 Km/H 99.42% Wet Braking 5th +3.8 M 92.32% Wet Handling 3rd -1.3 Km/H 98.54% Wet Circle 3rd +0.29 s 97.53% Straight Aqua 9th -3.8 Km/H 96.18% Curved Aquaplaning 10th -0.84 m/sec2 77.24% Noise 2nd +1.4 dB 98.06% Price 7th +185 64.42% Rolling Resistance 5th +0.58 kg / t 93.38% Balanced tyre with good driving characteristics in the dry and wet, short braking distances, low noise, low rolling resistance, low price. Limited curved aquaplaning resistance. Read Reviews    Buy from £110.19
5th: Bridgestone Potenza Sport
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 1st 100% Dry Handling 7th -1.9 Km/H 98.17% Wet Braking 1st 100% Wet Handling 2nd -0.1 Km/H 99.89% Wet Circle 1st 100% Straight Aqua 8th -3.7 Km/H 96.28% Curved Aquaplaning 8th -0.63 m/sec2 82.93% Noise 10th +3.3 dB 95.55% Price 8th +225 59.82% Rolling Resistance 9th +1.52 kg / t 84.33% Impressive grip with sporty handling in the wet, direct steering response and stable handling in the dry, short wet and dry braking, good comfort. High rolling resistance, high noise. Read Reviews    Buy from £114.69
7th: Continental Premium Contact 6
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 4th +0.7 M 98.09% Dry Handling 6th -1.4 Km/H 98.66% Wet Braking 9th +6.8 M 87.05% Wet Handling 7th -3.1 Km/H 96.51% Wet Circle 9th +0.73 s 94.02% Straight Aqua 10th -4.4 Km/H 95.57% Curved Aquaplaning 9th -0.78 m/sec2 78.86% Noise 10th +3.3 dB 95.55% Price 10th +255 56.78% Rolling Resistance 4th +0.53 kg / t 93.92% Premium comfort tyres with stable driving on dry roads, short dry braking, fuel saving rolling resistance, good comfort. Low aquaplaning resistance, longer wet braking. Read Reviews    Buy from £124.59
8th: Fulda SportControl 2
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 11th +1.8 M 95.24% Dry Handling 8th -2 Km/H 98.08% Wet Braking 8th +6.7 M 87.21% Wet Handling 8th -3.8 Km/H 95.73% Wet Circle 5th +0.43 s 96.39% Straight Aqua 6th -2.4 Km/H 97.59% Curved Aquaplaning 2nd -0.09 m/sec2 97.56% Noise 4th +2 dB 97.25% Price 5th +160 67.68% Rolling Resistance 6th +0.59 kg / t 93.27% Safe driving characteristics in the wet and dry, good aquaplaning resistance, short dry braking, low rolling resistance, good comfort. Long wet braking, limited dry cornering grip. Read Reviews    Buy from £105.49
9th: Nexen N Fera Sport SU2
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 7th +1.4 M 96.26% Dry Handling 9th -3.1 Km/H 97.02% Wet Braking 7th +4.9 M 90.32% Wet Handling 9th -6 Km/H 93.25% Wet Circle 8th +0.55 s 95.42% Straight Aqua 7th -3 Km/H 96.98% Curved Aquaplaning 7th -0.51 m/sec2 86.18% Noise 6th +2.1 dB 97.12% Price 2nd +75 81.71% Rolling Resistance 10th +1.67 kg / t 83.05% Good aquaplaning resistance, short dry braking, low price. Limited handling in the dry and wet, weak cornering, slow steering, high rolling resistance. Read Reviews    Buy from £97.19
10th: GT Radial SportActive 2
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 9th +1.7 M 95.49% Dry Handling 10th -4.9 Km/H 95.29% Wet Braking 10th +11.3 M 80.18% Wet Handling 10th -10.7 Km/H 87.96% Wet Circle 10th +0.87 s 92.95% Straight Aqua 2nd -0.6 Km/H 99.4% Curved Aquaplaning 1st 100% Noise 3rd +1.5 dB 97.93% Price 4th +155 68.37% Rolling Resistance 3rd +0.44 kg / t 94.9% Good aquaplaning resistance, short dry braking, low rolling resistance. Low levels of grip in the wet with understeer balance, significantly longer wet braking distances, average ride comfort. Read Reviews    Buy from £128.80
11th: Tomket Sport 3 Series 3
225/45 R18	Test # Difference % Dry Braking 9th +1.7 M 95.49% Dry Handling 11th -5.1 Km/H 95.1% Wet Braking 11th +19.9 M 69.66% Wet Handling 11th -13.7 Km/H 84.59% Wet Circle 11th +1.31 s 89.75% Straight Aqua 11th -4.8 Km/H 95.17% Curved Aquaplaning 11th -0.87 m/sec2 76.42% Noise 1st 100% Price 1st 100% Rolling Resistance 1st 100% Short dry braking, low rolling resistance. Very poor grip in the wet with severe understeer, dangerously long wet braking distances, poor aquaplaning resistance. Read Reviews