Big summer tire test from Auto Bild — 2026
The main part of the big test by Auto Bild included 20 summer tires of size 245/45 R19, which during the qualifying stage proved that they can quickly stop the car on dry and wet asphalt. The best in the qualification was unexpectedly the budget Linglong Sport Master, in addition to which tires of various price classes, the cost of which on the German market ranges from 980 to 450 euros, also made it to the finals.
Linglong ultimately failed the wear resistance test, and the main surprise was the inexpensive Giti tire from a Singaporean company, which received a rating of not "Good", but "Exemplary".
List of participants:
Bridgestone Potenza Sport Evo
Giti GitiSport S2+
Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6
GT Radial SportActive 2 Evo
Nokian Powerproof 2
For comparison, a cheap tire with a low level of adhesion was taken, which was supposed to demonstrate how dangerous budget tires can be, and it did an excellent job in the first discipline, as its braking distance on wet pavement when stopping from 100 km/h was 20 meters longer than that of Linglong, which became the best, with a significant gap from Hankook in second place.
In the lateral stability test, Linglong was no longer among the leaders, although it showed a fairly decent result, and Hankook took first place, meaning that they have high longitudinal adhesion combined with equally good transverse adhesion.
Hankook was also recognized as the best in terms of handling, and thus, on wet pavement, they were able to surpass more expensive premium products in all parameters.
The most effective in terms of resistance to longitudinal and transverse aquaplaning were Goodyear, but in both disciplines, all participants did well with their tasks.
Hankook tires also excelled in braking performance on dry asphalt, and here, too, all the tested tires received high marks.
In the handling tests, gold was awarded to the same Hankook, making a serious bid for victory in the entire test, and behind them were Michelin and Vredestein.
In the list of the quietest tires, Goodyear took the first place, and only Pirelli were relatively loud.
Auto Bild also measures the potential mileage of tires, and it was here that the main weakness of Linglong was revealed, whose resource was almost twice lower compared to Goodyear, which means that the Chinese company's tires cannot claim high places in the overall ranking.
Experts also calculated the cost of 1000 km of travel based on mileage and tire cost, and according to this indicator, Hankook and GT Radial became the best, and Continental was at the bottom of the list.
The Euro 7 standard will take into account tire wear particle emissions, and the testers added a corresponding discipline to the tests, with Kleber taking first place, which left just over 1 kg of rubber on the road after 4000 km, while Linglong left almost twice as much.
The heavier the tires, the higher the fuel consumption, so the weight of the tires was also measured, and the lightest were the Sava tires, while Linglong and Nokian were at the bottom of the list.
The most economical tires in the test were Kleber, while Giti, Linglong, and, especially, Yokohama had relatively high rolling resistance.
Taking into account factors such as resource, weight, rolling resistance, and delivery distance to Germany, an environmental rating was compiled, which was headed by Goodyear, followed by Continental, Kleber, Michelin, Hankook, Falken, Pirelli, Sava, Bridgestone, Nokian, Nexen, Dunlop, Giti, Kumho, Vredestein, GT Radial, Toyo, Yokohama, Maxxis, and Linglong.
Hankook Ventus evo won a well-deserved victory in the entire test, surpassing all competitors in handling on both dry and wet pavement — and would have become the best in both braking efficiency tests if it weren't for Linglong — and have an excellent price-quality ratio, while Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 6 took silver, also working excellently in any conditions and having an impressive resource.
Michelin Pilot Sport 5 took third place, also combining durability with high adhesion in any weather, and fourth place was shared by Pirelli Cinturato (C3), which particularly excelled in wet pavement tests, and, surprisingly, the inexpensive GitiSport S2+ from the Singaporean Giti, which performed well in all safety-related disciplines.
Continental PremiumContact 7, which had already won all three tests they participated in this season, ended up in sixth place this time, and the reason was the worst price-resource ratio among the tested tires. Kumho Ecsta Sport received the same number of points as Continental, and did not allow themselves any significant weaknesses in any discipline, and GT Radial SportActive 2 Evo, also produced by Giti, were one step below, making the test quite successful for this manufacturer. According to the experts, GT Radial has very balanced characteristics, and the only drawback can be considered a slightly increased noise level.
Ninth place was shared by Nexen N'Fera Sport and Vredestein Ultrac Pro, and the former's minus was a slow response to steering, which is not very good for a UHP-class model, and the latter's was a very short service life.
Next were Bridgestone Potenza Sport Evo, whose rating was worsened due to high rolling resistance, and Nokian Powerproof 2, which did not perform very well in wet track tests.
The test was completed with the same number of points by Dunlop Sport Maxx RT2, which has a good balance of characteristics but lags behind the leaders in terms of adhesion; Falken Azenis FK520, which does not respond very accurately to the driver's actions on dry pavement; and Yokohama ADVAN Sport V107, which has the highest rolling resistance among the participants. At the same time, despite individual drawbacks, all of them were able to receive a "Good" rating, which the tires at the bottom of the list could not achieve, earning a "Satisfactory" rating. The latter group is headed by Linglong Sport Master with phenomenal braking properties on wet roads, which the developers, unfortunately, were unable to combine with acceptable wear resistance. The reduced resource also let down the Toyo Proxes Sport 2 tires, which, in addition, do not have the highest lateral stability on wet pavement, while Kleber Dynaxer HP5 is not very effective in the rain and also takes a relatively long time to stop the car on dry pavement, and the same applies to Sava Intensa UHP2.