Mixed results: 16 summer tires of the dimension 225/50 R17 in the ADAC test
ADAC is not satisfied with all 16 summer tire models for mid-range cars: three achieve the grade "good", but three are "not recommended".
(Image: Marc Wittkowski / ADAC)
Summer tires have to master the most diverse challenges "from Easter to October", as the well-known mnemonic says. In doing so, they get into the usual tire conflicts between best grip in wet, dry, cold and heat, as well as environmentally friendly and wallet-friendly durability. The latter, of course, is not to be rated as highly as the possible consequences for safety and health – including one's own.
(Image:Â ADAC)
Therefore, it would definitely be a mistake to spend a lot of money on a good car and then save on the tires, even if the difference between the tires in the dimension 225/50 R17 is around 50 and 120 Euros per piece. Compared to the total costs or even the risk to health, this difference spread over several years is a negligible amount. Tests like the one by ADAC offer quite reliable guidance on which products best meet the important criteria.
Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.
Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.
After all, the club's engineers find that most tires in the current test are at least conditionally recommendable, and only three perform unsatisfactorily. Surprisingly, the ratings from the EU tire label cannot be relied upon particularly well. As the club writes, even tires marked with "B" or "C" can show deficient performance in the test. A jab at the labeling requirement for certain important basic properties, which was actually introduced to improve comparability.
Good compromise against "spectacularly unbalanced"
The winner of the overall ranking is the Continental PremiumContact 7 with a grade of 1.9. It owes this to its superior driving safety in all aspects, both on dry and wet roads, where it narrowly misses an "excellent". Behind it is the Pirelli Cinturato C3 with a grade of 2.2 and the Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 with a grade of 2.3. Fourth place goes to the also excellently safe Firestone Roadhawk 2 with 2.6, whose grade of three for the environmental balance slightly tarnishes the overall picture.
At the other end of the table are the models Lassa Revolva with a grade of 3.6, Leao Nova-Force Acro, grade 3.8, and Linglong Sport Master, grade 4.2. In the test, they prove to be insufficient in terms of driving safety and, apart from the Lassa Revolva, are only satisfactory in the environmental rating.
(Image:Â ADAC)
The Linglong spectacularly resolves a central conflict of objectives in an unbalanced way, achieving the best individual rating of all tires in the test with a grade of 1.5 in wet conditions. However, it lands at the bottom with a grade of 3.8 in dry conditions. Its extrapolated tread life of only about 26,000 kilometers corresponds on a technical level with the good wet grip, but that is no consolation. For comparison: A Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 lives up to its second name with its more than double tread life forecast of 57,800 km.
Videos by heise
A recently conducted summer tire test by the Auto Club Deutschland (ACE), in which nine out of ten summer tires in the 225/40 R18 format were rated "highly recommended" and one "recommended", ended significantly more balanced. The surprisingly positive overall verdict shows that it is apparently possible to resolve the unavoidable conflicts of objectives through tire design and material chemistry. As long as not all manufacturers have (or want to) achieve this to the same extent, tire tests remain useful. The present one clearly demonstrates this.
(fpi)