Click here to read the intro from evo's front-drive tyre test

Click here to read the test scores from evo's front-drive tyre test

1st Continental ContiSportContact 5P 97.8%
A very solid performance sees the Continental take the win, and it’s not wholly unexpected given that the 5P is brand new to the aftermarket. It set the standard in many of the tests, taking an almost clean sweep in the dry tests and rating very highly in the wet tests, too. It also garnered praise for its feel and abilities in the subjective tests. Its sole weakness is that it gives a harsh, noisy ride compared with the best here.

2nd Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 95.5%
Second place was secured for the Goodyear by a superb set of performances in the wet tests and high marks in the subjective disciplines. It scored the highest subjective mark on the wet handling course, where it felt adjustable and progressive, and it was strong on the road route, too, offering good refinement. Its poorest result came in the rolling resistance test where it was dead last. Overall, though, an impressive all-rounder.

3rd Pirelli P Zero K1 95.4%
Just pipped to second place by the Goodyear, the P Zero revealed similar strengths, impressing in the subjective tests, including matching the score of the Conti on the road route, where its ride quality and noise suppression were impressive. It also delivered excellent straight-line braking on both wet and dry surfaces. And, unlike the Goodyear, it backed this up with low rolling resistance. Poor finishes in the aquaplaning tests were the only real black mark. Pricey (like the Michelin), but a strong performer.

4th Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 92.9%
Compared with the Goodyear and Pirelli, a much sportier tyre, with a bias set more to steering feel and feedback than refinement. Fastest time on the dry handling circuit was a highlight, and it scored well in all the objective dry tests. The PS2 was a little patchier in the wet, being off the pace in the curved aquaplane test and feeling stronger in a straight line than in the corners on the wet handling course. Terrific clarity of steering at the cost of a noisy, sometimes choppy ride.

5th Toyo Proxes Sport T1 91.3%
Consistency helped the Toyo to a fifth, the Proxes Sport T1 delivering decent dry test results, including a strong dry lap time. Its weakest disciplines were wet handling, where it was scored quite low, and, perhaps no coincidence, it ranked last in the curved aquaplane test. It was quite noisy and not the sharpest tyre, but it was nicely, tidily adjustable on the limit.

6th Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT 90.8%
Objectively, a great tyre in the dry, and a pretty decent one in the wet, too. Yet although it scored well on the road and the dry track for its steering feel and ability to soak up the pressure, it wasn’t wholly convincing. The rear didn’t match the front on track, and on the road the ride was rather choppy and the road noise strong. A good tyre, but by a small margin not a great one.

7th Bridgestone Potenza S001 90.6%
Like the Dunlop, the Bridgestone gets most of the hard stuff right and then fails to get the detail just so. A good performer in both the wet and dry objective tests, notably the straight-line braking discipline, the S001 did not deliver the feel, on the wet track or on the dry circuit, where it was also marginally slowest of all. There’s nothing glaringly wrong, it just succeeds in feeling average.

8th Hankook Ventus S1 Evo 88.9%
A competitive set of results in the objective dry tests and the lowest rolling resistance of all were the highlights of the Hankook’s objective performance. Its wet-surface results were OK, too, and it was a soft, quiet tyre on the road. It didn’t feel great, though, being woolly in the wet, slow-steering on the road and ‘safe rather than fun’ on the dry track.

9th Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31 87.5%
Not far off the pace in the objective dry tests, the Kumho trailed in most of the wet tests and ranked lowest subjectively. It felt OK on the road and you can certainly do a lot worse – pretty much any Chinese brand – but with the Kumho’s budget price comes cut-price ability, especially in the wet.

Click here to read the intro from evo's front-drive tyre test

Click here to read the test scores from evo's front-drive tyre test