Tyre News

Auto Bild begins coverage of its 2021 test by noting that motorists in its home market of Germany largely ignored winter tyres until legislation mandated their use in certain conditions. The absence of a comparable law in the UK means winter tyres remain a niche product here, yet they’re a sensible choice for some drivers, such as those living in remote areas of the country or owners of powerful vehicles.

New research by TyreSafe suggests UK motorists are wasting between £600 million and £1 billion on unnecessary fuel bills driving on underinflated tyres. The road safety campaign group used information sourced from the Department for Transport, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and Michelin’s Fill Up With Air annual survey to model the effects of tyre underinflation on motorists’ wallets.

Patience is a virtue long needed by those awaiting the WinterContact TS 870, but it has finally paid dividends: Continental has debuted this successor to the WinterContact TS 860 as a ‘double act’ together with the WinterContact TS 870 P. The tyre maker originally intended to release these two new winter products individually, one after the other. The WinterContact TS 870’s launch should have taken place last autumn but Continental postponed it until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multiple tyre tests in recent years have shown all-season tyres to be a good choice for people wanting safe, year-round motoring, but Auto Bild points out that testing has mostly focused on tyres for small and compact cars. To shift the spotlight onto tyres for sporty mid-sized saloons, the German motoring publication has evaluated 32 brands in size 225/50 R17. In Auto Bild tradition, its testers carried out wet and dry braking tests to cut down this field of candidates to a shortlist of the 16 top performers.

Everyone who tested Uptis at this month’s IAA Mobility 2021 “unanimously approved” the prototype airless tyres, says Michelin. This is a lofty claim and hard to verify, but Michelin does provide some evidence in a short video featuring automotive influencer Mr JWW and enigmatic car enthusiast Gercollector.

Statista research published in May 2021 found that over 93 per cent of consumers had made a purchase online in the last 30 days. The tyre sector is no different with both pre-sale research and online tyre retail booming. But tyres are a highly technical specialist product. So, is buying tyres online a good idea? Here, Dartford Tyres shares three reasons in favour of buying tyres online.