2021 Sport Auto Summer Tyre Test

For the 2021 Sport Auto summer tyre test, the German publication have tested eleven tyres in the relatively small 195/55 R16 tyre size. As this tyre size is intended for smaller vehicles such as the Audi A1, Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 208 and other similar sized cars, Sport Auto used a Seat Ibiza for testing, and placed all eleven sets of tyres through the usual dry, wet and environment based tests.

The first and second placed tyres will be no surprise. The Michelin Primacy 4, which always seems to work well in the smaller sizes, dominated both braking tests, was the fastest in wet handling and was the quietest on test. Second placed Bridgestone Turanza T005 had the lowest rolling resistance, and scored well in every other key test, other than a slightly average dry braking result, while the third placed Nokian WetProof lived up to its name and was the fastest around the wet handling lap, but struggled during the dry handling lap.

One other issue with this lower volume tyre size is not all patterns are the most up to date, with the testers having to test the Continental PremiumContact 5 rather than the 6.

Dry

During dry braking, the Michelin Primacy 4 had a large advantage, beating the second placed Maxxis Premitra 5 by nearly a full meter. The next ten tyres were only separated by another 1.9 meters!

The new Toyo Proxes Comfort was the fastest around the dry handling lap, with the BFGoodrich Advantage struggling to set a quick time.

Wet

The Primacy 4 continued its braking advantage in the wet, with the sister brand BFGoodrich placing second.

The Primacy 4 was also the fastest around the wet handling lap, but this time tying first place with the Nokian WetProof.

Falken and Nokian led the way in the straight aquaplaning test.

Environment

The difference in external noise between the eleven sets was relatively low, with Goodyear, Michelin and Nokian all tying for the quietest tyres on test.

The two most expensive tyres on test offered the lowest rolling resistance, but with the group relatively close it's unlikely they would recover that higher purchase price. As we've seen before, the Falken ZE310 struggled with high rolling resistance.

Surprisingly, Michelin wasn't the most expensive tyre on test, with the Bridgestone 4 euros per tyre more expensive. There is a 184 euro price difference between a full set of the Maxxis and Bridgestone tyres.

Results