Which Guide To Tyres

185/60 R14 Tyres:-

Make Avon Continental *Continental* Dunlop Fulda Goodyear Michelin Michelin *Nokia* Pirelli Semperit *Semperit* Uniroyal *Vredestein* Vredestein
Model CR338 Eco Contact ContiEco-Contact CP All Season M2 Y3000 Eagle Aquatread Classic Energy MXT NRH P4000 Sport Life Top Speed 2 Rallye R580 Protrac Quatrac
Price (GBP) 59-67 76 63-73 69 49-63 66-82 66-73 61-75 39-48 60-68 69 56-60 52-72 55-76 69
Country of Origin UK EU EU Germany Luxembourg Luxembourg EU EU Finland UK EU EU EU Netherlands Netherlands
Availability fairly widespread very limited fairly widespread very limited limited limited very widespread widespread limited very widespread very limited limited limited limited very limited
Tyre Type H T H T, all season H H H T H H T H T H T, all season
Dry 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 4 5 4 5 4
Wet 4 4 5 2 (see Info) 5 5 4 (See Info) 4 (See Info) 4 5 4 5 5 5 4
Snow 1 2 2 3 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 3
Ice 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 3
Comfort 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Roll Resistance 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Tyre Life 16-24 24-34 43-53 24-34 16-24 24-34 24-34 24-34 24-34 16-24 16-24 24-34 24-34 24-34 24-34
Total Score 7 7 9 7 7 8 7 7 7 7 6 8 7 8 7
Additional Info Scored better than others with no ABS Scored better than others with no ABS Scored worse than others with no ABS

Notes:-

Prices are in UK Pounds Sterling, and are a rough guide based on a national survey.

EU means it is the product of several European Union countries.

Availability gives an idea of how easy the tyre is to find, based on a survey of 80 tyre outlets.

Tyre Type is the tyre's speed rating (all season tyres are supposed to be particularly suited to driving on snow and ice, as well as dry and wet roads):-
T is rated to 118 mph, H is rated to 130 mph.

The performance figures for dry/wet/snow/ice/comfort/roll resistance are marks out of 5 (5 best, 1 worst).

Low roll resistance can improve fuel economy. The best tyres can save up to 5% on fuel. All the tyres tested had pretty low roll resistance, and differences between them were not great.

Tyre life is in thousands of miles.

The overall score (out of 10) takes into account all the test results except price. It gives more weight to what the testers feel are more important tests. These are:-
Dry performance: 25%
Wet performance: 25%
Snow Performance: 5%
Ice performance: 10%
Comfort: 10%
Roll resistance: 5%
Tyre life: 20% Also note, that the results in the table are for cars WITH ABS. They were all tested on cars without ABS as well, and some did perform markedly differently. See Additional Notes.
Only the Michelin Classic performed differently enough to change its score. On a car without ABS, it rated an 8, instead of a 7 (overall score).

Tyres where the make is bracketed with asterisks were the Which Star Buys.


Alex Beattie (Maryse@mythical.demon.co.uk)