Summer tyre test 205/55 R16 - Autoexpress 2026

Summer Testing was conducted at the Continental Contidrom proving ground near Hannover in northern Germany, with all tyres bought anonymously from retail.

2026

Year

8

Tyres

Audi A3, driven by Auto Express expert tester John Barker.

Winner

Falken ZIEX ZE320

Best Value

Maxxis Premitra HP6

Test Vehicle

Audi A3

Tested tyres

8

Price vs Quality

See how tyre price relates to test performance at a glance

Results

Agenda:

Best value in test

Better than average value

Worse than average value

Worst value in test

The Falken Ziex ZE320 won dry braking, stopping almost 0.5 metres sooner than the second-placed Continental; the budget Dynamo was worst.

1

Falken ZIEX ZE320

Rating: Test winner

£62

91 V

mytyres.co.uk

+3 More sizes →

94V · £68 94V · £71 94W · £62

Wet91.9

Dry100

Rolling resistance87

Noise98.7

Wet

Wet Handling#1/8

Aquaplaning Cross#3/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#3/8

Wet Circle Cornering#3/8

Wet Braking#6/8

Dry

Dry Braking#1/8

Dry Handling#1/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#3/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#4/8

2

Continental PremiumContact 7

Rating: Highly recommended

£78

91 V

mytyres.co.uk

+2 More sizes →

91H · £78 91V · £82

Wet100

Dry99.1

Rolling resistance83

Noise99.4

Wet

Wet Braking#1/8

Wet Circle Cornering#2/8

Wet Handling#4/8

Aquaplaning Cross#6/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#6/8

Dry

Dry Braking#2/8

Dry Handling#3/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#2/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#6/8

3

Firestone Roadhawk 2

Rating: Highly recommended

£67

91 V

mytyres.co.uk

+3 More sizes →

91H · £67 91W · £70 94V · £72

Wet92.3

Dry98.7

Rolling resistance88.9

Noise100

Wet

Aquaplaning Cross#1/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#1/8

Wet Handling#3/8

Wet Circle Cornering#4/8

Wet Braking#5/8

Dry

Dry Handling#4/8

Dry Braking#7/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#1/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#3/8

4

Maxxis Premitra HP6

Rating: Recommended

£60

91 V

mytyres.co.uk

+1 More sizes →

94W · £64

Wet92.6

Dry99.6

Rolling resistance92.9

Noise97.5

Wet

Wet Circle Cornering#1/8

Wet Braking#4/8

Wet Handling#5/8

Aquaplaning Cross#7/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#7/8

Dry

Dry Handling#2/8

Dry Braking#6/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#6/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#2/8

5

Pirelli Cinturato (C3)

Rating: Recommended

£97

94 V

mytyres.co.uk

Wet95.4

Dry98.6

Rolling resistance81.3

Noise98.1

Wet

Wet Braking#2/8

Wet Handling#2/8

Aquaplaning Cross#4/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#4/8

Wet Circle Cornering#8/8

Dry

Dry Braking#3/8

Dry Handling#6/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#5/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#7/8

6

Michelin Primacy 5

Rating: Recommended

£82

91 W

mytyres.co.uk

+5 More sizes →

91H · £82 91V · £89 91V · £89 +2

Wet93.3

Dry97.5

Rolling resistance100

Noise97.4

Wet

Wet Braking#3/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#4/8

Aquaplaning Cross#5/8

Wet Circle Cornering#5/8

Wet Handling#7/8

Dry

Dry Braking#5/8

Dry Handling#8/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#7/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#1/8

7

Nokian Powerproof 2

Rating: Recommended

£69

0 V

mytyres.co.uk

Wet90.3

Dry98.6

Rolling resistance86.8

Noise97.4

Wet

Aquaplaning Cross#2/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#2/8

Wet Handling#6/8

Wet Braking#7/8

Wet Circle Cornering#7/8

Dry

Dry Braking#4/8

Dry Handling#6/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#7/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#5/8

8

Dynamo Street-H MH01

Rating: Not recommended

£51

91 V

tyres-pneus-online.co.uk

Wet78

Dry98.7

Rolling resistance74.7

Noise98.4

Wet

Wet Circle Cornering#6/8

Aquaplaning Cross#8/8

Aquaplaning Longitudinal#8/8

Wet Braking#8/8

Wet Handling#8/8

Dry

Dry Handling#4/8

Dry Braking#8/8

Comfort

Noise Interior#4/8

Economy

Rolling Resistance#8/8

Detailed results

Same size tyres not featured in the test

Tests usually don't cover the whole market - here is our selection what not to miss when shopping for tyres in this size.

#	Name	Our rating	Segment	Price
1	Premium Continental UltraContact NXT 99%	99%	Premium	£120 94 W
2	Premium Dunlop Blue Response TG 98%	98%	Premium	£61 91 H +3 More
3	Premium Bridgestone Turanza T005 88%	88%	Premium	£82 91 H +18 More
4	Premium Pirelli Cinturato P7 C2 88%	88%	Premium	£106 91 V +4 More
5	Premium Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance 2 87%	87%	Premium	£69 91 H +5 More
6	Upper-middle Kumho Ecsta PS71 86%	86%	Upper-middle	£70 91 W +2 More
7	Premium Continental PremiumContact 6 83%	83%	Premium
8	Premium Bridgestone Turanza 6 81%	81%	Premium	£74 91 V +3 More

9	Premium Pirelli Cinturato P7 80%	80%	Premium	£77 91 H +17 More
10	Upper-middle Toyo Proxes Comfort 78%	78%	Upper-middle	£57 +8 More
11	Premium Michelin Primacy 4+ 78%	78%	Premium	£85 91 V +4 More
12	Budget Linglong Sport Master 77%	77%	Budget
13	Premium Hankook Ih61 Ion St As 77%	77%	Premium	£87 94 V
14	Premium Continental Ecocontact 6 77%	77%	Premium	£78 91 W +20 More
15	Upper-middle Kumho Ecsta HS52 76%	76%	Upper-middle	£55 91 V +10 More
16	Upper-middle Cooper Summer 76%	76%	Upper-middle	£59 91 H +4 More

17	Premium Hankook Ventus Prime 4 76%	76%	Premium	£80 91 V +5 More
18	Budget Sailun Atrezzo ZSR 2 76%	76%	Budget
19	Upper-middle Kleber Dynaxer HP4 75%	75%	Upper-middle	£87 91 V +9 More
20	Budget Fulda EcoControl HP2 74%	74%	Budget	£56 91 V +3 More
21	Budget Nexen N Fera Primus 74%	74%	Budget	£60 91 W +2 More
22	Premium Michelin e.Primacy 74%	74%	Premium	£97 91 W +5 More
23	Premium Hankook K135 Ventus Prime4 74%	74%	Premium	£71 91 H +6 More
24	Budget Nexen N Fera Sport 72%	72%	Budget	£64

25	Premium Continental UltraContact 70%	70%	Premium	£78 91 H +4 More
26	Upper-middle BFGoodrich Advantage 70%	70%	Upper-middle	£74 91 H +9 More
27	Upper-middle Falken ZIEX ZE310 ECORUN 69%	69%	Upper-middle	£71 91 V +8 More
28	Upper-middle Uniroyal RainSport 5 69%	69%	Upper-middle	£62 91 W +3 More
29	Upper-middle BF Goodrich Advantage 2 67%	67%	Upper-middle	£74 91 V +3 More
30	Upper-middle Nokian Wetproof 66%	66%	Upper-middle
31	Budget Debica Presto HP2 64%	64%	Budget	£60 91 H +3 More
32	Upper-middle Kleber Dynaxer HP5 64%	64%	Upper-middle	£77 91 H +4 More

33	Budget Sava Intensa HP2 63%	63%	Budget	£61 91 H +3 More
34	Budget Kenda Kenetica Pro KR210 62%	62%	Budget
35	Premium Dunlop Sport BluResponse 61%	61%	Premium	£62 91 H +8 More
36	Upper-middle Firestone Roadhawk 60%	60%	Upper-middle	£93 91 V +4 More
37	Budget Semperit Speed-Life 3 55%	55%	Budget	£62 91 H +3 More
38	Budget Maxxis Premitra HP5 52%	52%	Budget	£78 91 V +1 More
39	Premium Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance 50%	50%	Premium	£71 91 V +16 More
40	Budget Lassa Revola 49%	49%	Budget

41	Budget Linglong Comfort Master 48%	48%	Budget
42	Budget Delinte DS2 46%	46%	Budget
43	Budget Barum Bravuris 5 HM 44%	44%	Budget
44	- Leao Nova-Force Acro 44%	44%	-
45	Premium Vredestein ULTRAC 43%	43%	Premium	£84 +4 More
46	B Landspider Sportraxx UHP 42%	42%	B
47	Budget Viking Protech NewGen 40%	40%	Budget	£72 91 V +3 More
48	Budget Apollo Alnac 4G 39%	39%	Budget

49	Upper-middle Cooper Zeon CS8 38%	38%	Upper-middle	£58 0 V +9 More
50	B Triangle Effexsport TH202 33%	33%	B
51	Budget Avon ZV7 31%	31%	Budget	£61 +10 More
52	Budget Landsail RapidDragon 30%	30%	Budget
53	B Event Potentem UHP 27%	27%	B
54	Budget Gislaved Ultra Speed 2 25%	25%	Budget
55	Budget Westlake Z-107 23%	23%	Budget	£70 91 V +3 More
56	Budget Matador Hectorra 5 22%	22%	Budget

57	Budget Matador MP47 Hectorra 3 22%	22%	Budget
58	Budget Ovation VI-588 Sport 21%	21%	Budget
59	Budget Barum Bravuris 6 19%	19%	Budget	£59 91 W +3 More
60	Budget Tomason Sportrace 17%	17%	Budget
61	Budget Delinte DH2 17%	17%	Budget
62	Budget Imperial EcoDriver 5 15%	15%	Budget	£75 91 H +3 More
63	Budget Radar RPX-800 14%	14%	Budget
64	Budget Firemax FM601 14%	14%	Budget

65	A Sentury Qirin 990 14%	14%	A
66	B Yartu ZuperEco Z-107 13%	13%	B
67	Budget Windforce Catchfors UHP PRO 9%	9%	Budget
68	Budget Atlas Green HP 5%	5%	Budget