Tyre test results mock European label ratings

If the latest tyre test published by auto motor und sport teaches us one thing, it is that consumers shouldn’t blindly trust the European tyre label. The German magazine tested nine highly-ranked summer tyres, yet some of the test results were at odds with the figures printed on EU tyre labels. The Kumho tyre – which achieved an ‘A’ label rating for wet grip – effectively failed the test, while the Bridgestone participant was only ‘conditionally recommended’. Auto motor und sport awarded top test honours to Continental’s SportContact 5.

The publication didn’t just select nine tyres at random from the 200 or so size 225/50 R17W tyres sold in Europe – the tyres that auto motor und sport tested were amongst the best wet grip performers according to EU label criteria. They were evaluated on wet and dry road surfaces for factors that included driving and braking properties, rolling resistance and external noise.

The biggest contrast in tyre performance was seen in the wet. Although the EU label only allows for a maximum difference of three metres in the wet braking criterion, auto motor und sport found stopping differences to be much greater. When fitted with ContiSportContact 5 tyres, the Mercedes C-Class test vehicle took 29.1 metres to stop from 80km/h. Its best performing rival, the Uniroyal RainSport 3, required an additional two metres, while the Dunlop, Goodyear, Hankook and Nokian tyres needed three further metres to stop than the Continental tyre. And two tyres delivered unexpectedly poor results: The Bridgestone Turanza took 34.1 metres to stop in the wet and the Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU 39 took 35.3 metres – more than six metres longer than the test winner.

Significant differences were also seen in the aquaplaning test. The Uniroyal tyre first lost contact with the road surface at 88.3km/h, while the Goodyear tyre set sail at 75.6km/h. And the variation between the best and worst external noise results were also significant. While the Hankook tyre only emitted 66 dB (A) at 80km/h, the noise from the Bridgestone, Nokian, Pirelli and Uniroyal entrants reached 70 dB (A). The four tyres were thus twice as loud as the Hankook tyre.

Test winner according to auto motor und sport’s criteria was the Continental SportContact 5, the only tyre from the nine participants to be given a ‘highly recommended’ rating. Following closely behind the Continental tyre were the Dunlop Sport BluResponse, Hankook Ventus V12 evo² and Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance (all rated ‘recommended’). The Uniroyal RainSport 3, Nokian zLine and Pirelli Cinturato P7 Blue were also given a ‘recommended’ rating. The Bridgestone Turanza T001 only received a ‘conditionally recommended’ rating while the auto motor und sport testers didn’t recommend the Kumho Ecsta LE Sport KU 39 at all, primarily due to its weak performance on wet surfaces.