TCS summer tire test 2025: Up to 17 meters more braking distance
It is always eagerly awaited during the tire change season: the big TCS tire test. In addition to tips from garage owners, it provides important information for tire selection. This time, the experts took a close look at a popular tire size for compact vehicles, the 225/40 R18 92Y.
The Test & Technology department of the Touring Club Switzerland tested a total of 17 summer tires in the dimension 225/40 R18 92Y for the 2025 season. Tires from premium manufacturers to inexpensive alternatives, so-called "low-budget" products, were examined. The TCS experts used a VW Golf 8 for their test drives. The tire size is also suitable for a large number of cars in the compact car segment and is often used for various Mercedes models such as the A and B-Class, CLA, GLA and SLC, as well as the BMW 1 and 2 Series. The rubber is also often fitted to the Hyundai i20, Renault Mégane, Ford C-Max or the Skoda Octavia, which is very popular in this country.
Big differences
"The differences in driving safety in the current summer tyre test have rarely been so great," summarizes Reto Blättler, project manager for tire testing at TCS, "one tire had a braking distance that was up to 17 meters longer!" Of the 17 summer tire models extensively tested, eleven were rated as "highly recommended", four as "recommended", one as "conditionally recommended" and one as "not recommended". "The products were assessed in 15 different test criteria," explains Blättler. The overall score is made up of 70 percent "driving safety" and 30 percent "environmental balance". The "driving safety" includes the criteria "driving behavior on dry and wet roads". The "environmental balance" includes criteria such as predicted mileage and abrasion. Fuel consumption, weight, noise and sustainability are also important for the environmental balance.
Eleven top finishers
The test winners in the 225/40 R18 92Y dimension this summer come from the following manufacturers: Continental, Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear, Vredestein, Yokohama, Firestone, Falken, Dunlop, Nexen and Toyo. Among the top-ranked tires, two models stand out in terms of driving safety. The Continental SportContact 7 and the Bridgestone Potenza Sport achieved outstanding results on dry roads with a high grip level, excellent precision and a high level of safety in critical driving maneuvers.
Dangerous driving characteristics
However, not all of the tires convinced Reto Blättler's experts. The Syron tire from China, for example, was rated "conditionally recommended". The test car cannot be steered very precisely with this tire, constant steering corrections are necessary for constant cornering radii. Even if the tire offers satisfactory performance in the wet, it is not advisable to buy this tire. The TCS strongly advises against buying this year's test runner-up, the Chinese Doublecoin DC-100, as this tire is very weak overall in terms of driving safety. On wet roads in particular, it is miles behind the field.
