2012 ACE Touring Summer Tyre Test

Touring tyres, designed for family cars and vehicles which spend most of their time on the motorway might not be the most exciting of tyres, but they do make up a large percentage of tyres sold in the UK.

ACE have started the year off with their annual touring tyre test, covering 15 tyres in the popular 205/55 R16 size. The test covers a wide range of tyres, including a yet unreleased tyre and a number of budget options.

Results

In a rather strange twist, the tyre which has won the test is not yet available for purchase in the UK. The Continental Premium Contact 5 replaces the Continental Premium Contact 2 as the companies flagship premium touring tyre, and seems to pick up right where the PC2 left off by winning the test convincingly. The tyre is officially being launched at the end of March and should be available for sale shortly after.

Second place is taken by the excellent Dunlop SP Sport Fast Response with a convincing all round performance, but it’s 3rd to 6th places where things get far more interesting.

Finishing 3rd is the Nokian V. Nokian are a company well known for their winter tyres, and have recently been making strides with their summer V, Z and Z G2 tyres. The V in this test managed to combine and excellent dry result with a good rolling resistance score to round out the top 3.

4th place was secured by Fulda, with the new Eco Control HP. Fulda are widely regarded as a premium brand in Europe, but their relatively unknown status in the UK means they’re a bit of a performance bargain. The Eco Control HP had the lowest rolling resistance on the test, yet still managed good dry and noise scores.

5th and 6th were taken by Semperit and Hankook, both brands which are making real strides up the midrange table, and along with Fulda and Nokian, are almost defining a new “premium midrange” sector.

At the bottom end of the table are the budget tyre, continuing the trend “you get what you pay for”. While a number of budget tyres can offer good rolling resistance scores, the tyre off in wet performance isn’t worth the small cost saving.

As always, the full results are below. Any questions please feel free to comment!

1st: Continental Premium Contact 5

Continental Premium Contact 5
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 135
  2. Dry: 43
  3. Wet: 72
  4. Rolling Resistance: 14
  5. Noise: 6
Read Reviews    Buy from £84.99

2nd: Dunlop SP Sport Fast Response

Dunlop SP Sport Fast Response
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 133
  2. Dry: 44
  3. Wet: 71
  4. Rolling Resistance: 10
  5. Noise: 8
Read Reviews    Buy from £78.08

3rd: Nokian V

Nokian V
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 133
  2. Dry: 44
  3. Wet: 68
  4. Rolling Resistance: 12
  5. Noise: 9
Read Reviews

4th: Fulda EcoControl HP

Fulda EcoControl HP
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 130
  2. Dry: 44
  3. Wet: 59
  4. Rolling Resistance: 17
  5. Noise: 10
Read Reviews

5th: Semperit Speed Life

Semperit Speed Life
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 129
  2. Dry: 43
  3. Wet: 67
  4. Rolling Resistance: 10
  5. Noise: 9
Read Reviews

6th: Hankook K425 Kinergy Eco

Hankook K425 Kinergy Eco
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 129
  2. Dry: 43
  3. Wet: 63
  4. Rolling Resistance: 14
  5. Noise: 9
Read Reviews

7th: Goodyear EfficientGrip

Goodyear EfficientGrip
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 131
  2. Dry: 41
  3. Wet: 67
  4. Rolling Resistance: 17
  5. Noise: 6
Read Reviews    Buy from £72.00

8th: Pirelli CINTURATO P7

Pirelli CINTURATO P7
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 127
  2. Dry: 42
  3. Wet: 67
  4. Rolling Resistance: 12
  5. Noise: 6
Read Reviews    Buy from £66.98

9th: Vredestein Sportrac 3

Vredestein Sportrac 3
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 114
  2. Dry: 39
  3. Wet: 57
  4. Rolling Resistance: 12
  5. Noise: 6
Read Reviews

10th: Kumho Ecsta HM KH31

Kumho Ecsta HM KH31
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 112
  2. Dry: 38
  3. Wet: 59
  4. Rolling Resistance: 7
  5. Noise: 8
Read Reviews

11th: Firestone TZ300A

Firestone TZ300A
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 112
  2. Dry: 36
  3. Wet: 67
  4. Rolling Resistance: 3
  5. Noise: 6
Read Reviews

13th: Sava intensa hp

Sava intensa hp
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 94
  2. Dry: 27
  3. Wet: 59
  4. Rolling Resistance: 2
  5. Noise: 6
Read Reviews

14th: Goodride SA05

Goodride SA05
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 77
  2. Dry: 29
  3. Wet: 37
  4. Rolling Resistance: 10
  5. Noise: 1
Read Reviews

15th: Rotalla F108

Rotalla F108
  • 205/55 R16
  • 3PMSF: no
  1. Total: 65
  2. Dry: 22
  3. Wet: 17
  4. Rolling Resistance: 16
  5. Noise: 10
Read Reviews
Note: 12 place was awarded to the "High Performer HS2" with the scores 37 / 39 / 9 / 12, however we could find so little information about the tyre we were unable to include it in our tyre database.


Discussion:

comments powered by Disqus