Continental dominates ADAC summer tyre tests
The latest tyre tests produced by German motoring association ADAC, in partnership with OAMTC (the Austrian equivalent) were dominated by tyres produced by Continental. But there were also surprisingly strong performances from emerging and second line brands such as Apollo and Barum set against a disappointing result for Infinity.
The latest ranking exercise pitted fifteen 165/70 R14, fifteen more 205/55 R16 V and seven 215/55 R16 H SUV tyres against each other. Although the 205/55 R16 test was a three-way tie between the ContiPremiumContact 5, the Goodyear Optigrip and the Dunlop SP Sport FastResponse, the German Hannover-based automotive supplier was the only tyre manufacturer to produce products placing first in all three tests.
Perhaps the best result was achieved in the 165/70 R14T test, where Continental’s ContiEcoContact 5 topped almost all of the dry, wet, noise and tread wear categories that were ranked with an overall score of 1.9 (the lower the score the better). However, Michelin’s Energy Saver came a close second, with 2.0. Just another 10 per cent behind this, third place was taken by Pirelli’s Cinturato P1 with a score of 2.2.
Surprisingly strong performances from Apollo and Barum
What is arguably more surprisingly than three of the world’s top five tyre manufacturers taking the podium in this test is the fact that Apollo’s Amazer 3G Maxx scored almost as highly as the Pirelli tyre, commanding an impressive score of 2.3. With dry performance equal with the Michelin and comparable with the other top three tyres and with evenly balanced wet performance and tyre wear, the only thing to let the Apollo Amazer down was its noise rating which at 3.7 was the highest in the test.
The Barum Brillantis 2 was the last of the top five of the test to receive ADAC’s four-star “very recommendable” rating. With an overall score of 2.4 the testers praised the product for its dry performance. Other tyres such as Goodyear’s DuraGrip, the Fulda EcoControl, Yokohama’s BluEarth, the Dunlop SP Street Response, the Hankook Kinergy Eco K425, Kumho’s Solus KH17, Firestone’s Multihawk and Semperit comfort-Life 2 all scored comparable grades overall to the Apollo and Barum. However due to the fact that their scores were less balanced and demonstrated some weaknesses in particular areas, ADAC only awarded these tyres with the three-star “recommendable” rating.
Chinese emerging brands still have work to do
At the bottom end of the chart two Chinese tyres completed the rankings – the GT-Radial Champiro Eco and the Infinity INF-030. However this observation alone doesn’t tell the whole story. Firstly it has to be pointed out that the Champiro Eco won ADAC’s three-star “recommendable” rating and achieved a strong fuel consumption and tyre wear score. According to ADAC, the wet performance was the weakness that pushed this tyre down to an overall score of 2.6, hence its ranking.
Infinity on the other hand will no-doubt be disappointed to see its INF-030 tyre bringing up the rear. Despite the fact the tyre beat every other product in the 165/70 R14 T test by some way when it came to tread wear and showed good dry characteristics, the results show that the tyre’s wet performance (which scored 5.2) was off the pace. This brought the average down and was deemed to far enough wide of the mark to be awarded the dreaded one-star “not recommendable” rating. Nevetheless Infinity representatives were quick to point out that the INF-030 is a relatively old product that is due to be replaced with an updated line called Ecosis, that is due for release around May/June this year.
Look out for further news and analysis on this subject. The full test results can be read (in German) here.
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