SUV and 4x4 Tyre Tests

The 2023 AMS SUV winter tyre test not only aims to answer what the best winter tyre in 255/45 R20 is, but also to find out if swapping from a regular diesel Kia Sorento to a fully electric Kia EV6 will make a difference to the results.

All season and winter tyre testing season is upon us! The first test of the season is the excellent AutoBild AllRad SUV all season tyre test, which tested ten of the latest all season tyres in 235/65 R17, and included a reference summer and winter tyre to see what the differences are between various tyre options.

Autobild conducted the test using an Audi Q3, and are the first publication to test the new Bridgestone Turanza 6 All Season! Can the new Bridgestone take on the established king, the Michelin CrossClimate 2 SUV? Read on to find out!

It's not often I'm completely shocked by a tyre test, but this years AMS EV tyre vs normal tyre test has me stumped.

Why? Let me run a few things past you. The Michelin e.Primacy was best in wet braking, beating both the Continental SportContact 7 and Bridgestone Potenza Sport, which usually ace that test. The Michelin e.Primacy also beat the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 SUV overall, which has won every other test it's featured in, and Continental won the test twice!

The concept for the test seems relatively straightforward - get a bunch of the best performance tyres on the market and test them against the newest ultra low rolling resistance / EV tyres, the Michelin e.Primacy, the Falken eZiex and the Pirelli Scorpion Elect.

Sadly Tyre Reviews isn't performing an SUV summer tyre test this year, but luckily the German publication AutoBild once again have us covered if you want to know what the best tyre is for your SUV!

This year AutoBild tested twelve SUV tyres for the crossover SUV segment in the 225/65 R17 tyre size.

As usual, all the tyres were tested in the dry and wet, and had their rolling resistance and noise / comfort levels graded, but as this category of tyre is also intended for some "light off-roading" they tested the twelve SUV tyres in mud, sand, dirt and even on wet grass! This means this really is the best test this year you show you what the best tyre is for your SUV!

We're going to let the test do the talking for this one. The excellent Swedish testers at ViBilagare have tested eight SUV studless friction winter tyres, included the new Nokian Hakkapeliitta R5 SUV and Bridgestone Blizzak DM-V3 using a Volvo V40 wearing 235/55 R18 tires. Fortunately, where the tyre patterns match those in the Tyre Reviews Nordic Winter Tyre Test, the results are very similar!

Sadly here at Tyre Reviews we've not had time to do a studded tyre test for 2022, but fortunately the excellent testers at the Nordic publication Vibilagare have tested eight sets of studded winter tyres to show us which of the studded tyres on the market are the best! While the test size is an SUV size (235/55 R18) and the test vehicle a Volvo XC40, these results should give you an idea of the balance between the tyres in all sizes.

As you would hope, the tyres have been tested in the dry, wet, snow and ice. Which is of course the reason studded tyres exist.

The data is interesting, and in full below, but as we saw in the Tyre Reviews Studless Winter Tyre Test there is a pretty clear inversion between the tyres which priorities wet performance, and the tyres which priorities ice performance.

The 2022 Auto Bild SUV tyre test has tested ten sets of performance suv winter tyres in the popular 225/45 R19 size using a BMW X1, and included a reference summer tyre so we can compare the differences.

In this test we'll be testing nine of the most popular all terrain tyres to see which has the most grip in the dry, wet, AND offroad, and also to see which uses the least gas, and which has the best comfort and lowest noise in the real world. Basically, everything you'll ever need to know about these all terrain tyres!

The 2022 Auto Bild SUV all season tyre test has tested eleven popular all season tyres in 225/50 R18 tyre size and included a summer and winter tyre as comparison references! 225/50 R18 is a small sidewalled tyre for an SUV,  this is aimed at the more compact crossover SUV all season tyre market, with Auto Bild using a BMW X2 for the testing.

Auto Express tested seven sets of 235/55 R18 SUV tyres for their 2022 summer tyre test.

We are very late in the season for this one, so we're not going to write too much on this. For 2022 Auto Zeitung tested ten crossover SUV tyre sizes in 215/55 R17 using a Ford Puma.

The excellent testers at AZ were obviously happy with the majority of the tyres tested as they gave out seven awards to the top seven tyres! It's also worth noting the Continental tyre in this test was the ultra low rolling resistance EcoContact 6, not the PremiumContact 6 you'd expect.

Sadly AZ didn't get the chance to do any offroad testing, not that these tyres are intended for much offroad use, but if you would like to see how these sorts of tyres perform on dirt and grass you can check out the Tyre Reviews SUV test here.

Autobild are at it again, with the best SUV / mild 4x4 summer tyre test you'll see all year (Tyre Reviews sadly isn't doing one)! The German publication have tested ten leading SUV tyres in the popular 235/55 R18 tyre size using a VW Tiguan, and have managed to test the tyres in the usual range of tests covering the dry and wet performance of the tyres, but also test them on grass, dirt, gravel and even sand!

To add even more awesomeness Autobild included the multiple award winning Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen 3 all season tyre. There's been a number of driver reviews on Tyre Reviews claiming that an all season tyre is actually pretty cabible in certain offroad conditions, and now we get to see!

For the 2022 ADAC tyre test, the German publication have tested a crossover SUV size of 215/60 R16 (this test) and a smaller 185/65 R15 tyre size which can be read here.

The 2021 Auto Zeitung SUV winter tyre test has tested ten suv winter tyres in 235/55 R18 size using a VW Tiguan crossover SUV.

As this is a smaller test when compared to other winter tyre tests we'll keep the introduction short. All ten sets of tyres were placed through the usual blend of dry, wet and snow testing, plus rolling resistance and noise.

The 2022 Auto Bild Allrad SUV tyre test tested ten SUV / 4x4 winter tyres in the popular 235/55 R18 size, and included a reference summer tyre.

As in the Tyre Reviews winter tyre test, there was a tie for first place with the Goodyear UltraGrip Performance+ SUV and Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 SUV tying for the win.

Both tyres had slightly different approaches to grip, the Goodyear the more balanced tyre, only winning the wet handling test but scoring well in nearly all other tests, where as the Michelin won every snow test but performed relatively poorly in the wet testing.

The Bridgestone Blizzak LM005 performed well again, it's a tyre that seems to perform well in all tests with its only real weakness the worst dry braking on test, and the Vredestein Wintrac Pro placed fourth with an excellent wet braking and snow grip result.

The German SUV specialist publication Auto Bild Allrad have become the second magazine in 2021 to publish their all season tyre test, and the first to include the new Michelin CrossClimate 2 (much to our disappointment, we wanted to be first!)

While the Allrad tests aren't quite as in depth as the industry leading Auto Bild tests, they're still an excellent reference point for the market, and especially useful if you drive an SUV, or are interested in how an all season tyre compares to a summer and winter tyre, as both are included as references.

The tested size is 215/65 R17, which fits many popular SUVs such as the VW Tiguan test vehicle, the Audi Q5, Mercedes GLA, Nissan Qashqai and many others. It's worth remembering that sometimes SUV tyre sizes have different constructions to their regular cousins, meaning that surprising results can be a feature in this sort of test!

The German publication ProMobil have tested eight summer tyres in the popular 235/55 R17 size using a VW T 6.1 Camper!

This test is slightly more relevant than usual tests to Camper Van / SUV overs, as the magazine tested the "regular" 235/55 R17 tyre option instead of the 215/65 R16 C commercial size with is often fitted to the VW Transporter the VW is based on.

This tyre size isn't just limited to camper vans though, it's also on many large saloons and midsize crossover SUVs such as the BMW 7 Series, BMW X3, Audi Q3, Ford S-Max, Honda CRV, VW Tiguan, VW, California, VW Caravelle and many others!

As usual the eight sets of summer tyres were put through the usual array of dry, wet, noise and rolling resistance tests to find out exactly what tyre is best in each key area.

It's the first Tyre Reviews SUV tyre test, and as usual, we're trying to do this as properly as possible!

We have 8 of the most popular SUV tyres in 235/55 R18, including the Michelin Primacy 4, the brand new Goodyear EfficientGrip 2 SUV, the extremely popular Uniroyal RainSport 5, the new Hankook Ventus S1 Evo3 SUV, the Nokian WetProof SUV, the Vredestein Ultrac Satin, the Avon ZX7, the BFGoodrich Advantage SUV, and a budget tyre.

The 2021 Auto Bild All Rad SUV test has tested ten SUV tyres in the popular 215/60 R17 size. While the German publication used a Jeep Renegade for testing, this size is also fitted to vehicles like the Nissan Qashqai, VW Transporter, Renault Kadjar, Toyota C HR and many other popular crossover SUVs.

As always Auto Bild have done a great job testing, as not only have they tested in the dry and wet, they've also conducted FIVE off-road tests. Given these sort of vehicles rarely see any activity outside of the school run, the tests have a low weighting in the overall results, but it's certainly excellent data if you ever plan to take your crossover SUV on grass, gravel, sand or mud!