Pleasing results: Ten summer tires in size 225/40 R18 tested by ACE

Contents

The automobile club ACE has tested ten summer tire models for compact cars. They fit, among others, VW Golf, Skoda Octavia, Seat Leon, Opel Astra, or Audi A3 in the dimension 225/40 R18 XL and were subjected to driving tests with a VW Golf under dry and wet conditions. In addition to safety and driving dynamics, economy and environmental aspects were also considered in the test evaluation.

Four tires achieved "highly recommended", while the rest of the test field was rated "recommended". This is a surprisingly pleasing overall verdict, and it prompts us to state the conclusion right at the beginning: Both the consistently good to very good test results and the different specific strengths and weaknesses of the individual products show that the manufacturers have done their homework thoroughly and have placed different emphasis on various properties.

Conflicting goals balanced

This is, of course, because with tires, different properties are always in conflict with each other due to simple physical relationships, meaning no tire can do everything equally well. The customer's advantage is that they can choose the product that best suits their requirements from this test field. Although the most expensive tire also narrowly won the test, they can exceptionally disregard the price in their choice: Even the premium products can no longer pull very far ahead, and even formerly extreme outsiders like Linglong from China have now come close to the best European premium products. This was entirely different in ADAC's winter tire test in 2025. And in the test of all-season tires in the same year, there were candidates we strongly advised against.

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The winner of the ACE summer tire test was the "Michelin Pilot Sport 4S". At 140 Euros, the most expensive in the test achieved 141 out of a possible 170 points. The testers summarized its characteristics as "strong braking, best handling, good economy". The "Continental Sport Contact 7" performed almost as well with 140 points, but at only 103 Euros per piece, it was significantly cheaper. "Very strong braking and handling, but mediocre in aquaplaning" is the brief assessment. In third place with 138 points is the "Bridgestone Potenza Sport Evo" for 103 Euros. "Best braking, very good handling, but mediocre economy" is the short description here. The fourth-place finisher with the "highly recommended" rating is particularly affordable. The "Falken Azensis FK520" costs just 87 Euros and proves with 135 points that a low price doesn't have to mean compromises. It is "good at braking and handling, very strong in aquaplaning".

Qualities under various conditions

To simulate an emergency stop, the braking distance from 100 km/h is measured, first on a dry road. Bridgestone achieves the shortest braking distance with 32.85 meters, closely followed by Continental with 33.16 and Michelin with 33.37 meters. Nexen N’Fera Sport requires the longest distance to come to a standstill at 34.73 meters, only about two meters behind the best value. When braking on a wet road from 80 km/h, Continental achieves the shortest braking distance with 24.51 meters, followed by Bridgestone with 24.79 and Linglong Sport Master with 25.38 meters. At the end, Nexen again with 28.34 meters and a significantly larger gap to the field than during dry braking.

As a compensation, Nexen shines in aquaplaning and shares first place with Falken and Pirelli. With Pirelli, aquaplaning occurs on a straight track at 82.5 km/h, with the Powerproof 2 already from 80.1 km/h. In curves, Falken performs best and guides the vehicle up to 71.5 km/h, while Continental begins to hydroplane as early as 68.3 km/h.

In lateral guidance, traction, and steering precision on dry roads, Pirelli, Falken, Continental, and Michelin are at the forefront. Nexen and Linglong are in the rear positions, without being really bad. In lane changes, the field is also close together, only Nokian falls off more significantly. On wet surfaces, the tires perform the same tasks, again with almost reversed rankings. Pirelli and Falken, among the best in dry conditions, don't even make it into the midfield in wet handling. In wet handling, Linglong takes the lead, followed by Nokian and Michelin.

Evaluation Criteria

The overall score is a maximum of 170 points and is composed of three areas: Wet safety (80 points), dry safety (60 points), and economy/environment (30 points).

• Wet safety: Braking wet (30 points), handling wet (20 points), aquaplaning longitudinal (20 points), aquaplaning lateral (10 points)
• Dry safety: Braking dry (30 points), handling dry (20 points), lane change (10 points), aquaplaning longitudinal and aquaplaning lateral
• Economy/Environment: Pass-by noise (10 points), rolling resistance (20 points).

(fpi)