Performance and Comfort tyres may be the ones grabbing all the headlines in the world of rubber, but for many people, something more down to earth is more appropriate.

As you know, car ownership in Singapore is expensive, and most people own just the one daily driver. This car, and the tyres it runs on, has to be durable, fuel efficient, safe, and comfortable. Most importantly, it also can’t break the bank.

In addition to families, tyres like these are also very popular with private-hire vehicle (PHV) drivers. This is why the car we used for this category was the Kia Stonic M-Hybrid, which is highly representative of the compact crossovers that are so popular among these types of drivers. 

These tyres were in the 205/55R16 size, which is extremely common among Cat A COE cars. The contenders are:

• Michelin Energy XM2+
• Goodyear Assurance Triple Max 2
• Rydanz Roadster R02
• Tourador X Wonder TH1

This was the most competitive of all our tyre categories, with just 2% separating last and first place in our final tally. And because the scores are so close, a different weightage than ours will easily affect the rankings, so feel free to make your own conclusions based on our data graphs below. 

The tyres in this (and indeed all of AUTA’s categories) were put through all our seven test stations, but not all were considered for each category’s weightage, based on what we felt were the most important needs for the drivers of that category.

For the Mainstream category, our weightages were: 

• Dry Grip: 20%
• Wet Grip: 20%
• Dry Braking: 10%
• Wet Braking:10%
• Noise: 20%
• Rolling Resistance: 20%

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The Raw Data

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The Results

4th: Goodyear Assurance TripleMax (88.35%)

Generally a solid all-rounder, its only let-down was in Dry Braking, with a score that was 6m, or 25% worse than the class best. Other than that, it placed either 2nd or 3rd in all the other tests, Dry Grip was its best result, nearly equalling the best-in-class, and it performed fairly in the others.

RRP: S$122

3rd: Michelin Energy XM2+ (89.71%)

Test Station	Weightage	Position	Raw Score	Difference to Leader	Difference to Leader (%)
Dry Handling (Circuit)	0	3rd	78.33 s	+1.83 s	-2.39%
Dry Grip (Skidpan)	20%	1st	0.724 g	–	–
Wet Grip (Skidpan)	20%	1st	0.698 g	–	–
Dry Braking	10%	2nd	27.23 m	+3.06 m	-12.69%
Wet Braking	10%	3rd	29.20 m	+3.90 m	-15.42%
Noise	20%	2nd	83 dB	+5 dB	-6.41%
Rolling Resistance	20%	4th	50.57 m	-22.7 m	-30.98%

It may only be 3rd, but its final score was only 1% away from the winner so it’s by no means a disappointing result.

It excelled in both Dry and Wet Grip, and was the 2nd quietest in this category. However, it also did poorly for Rolling Resistance.

A point to note though, is although the Michelins are quite pricey, independent testing has found that when worn to just above the minimum tread depth, the XM2+ will still brake significantly shorter than other premium competitors. And in a separate test lasting 20,000km, the XM2+ is estimated to give 25% more mileage than rivals. 

So although it may not have won here when all the tyres were brand new, drivers will have some assurance they’ll still perform well even when worn.

RRP: S$146

2nd: Tourador X Wonder TH1 (90.50%)

Test Station	Weightage	Position	Raw Score	Diff. to Leader	Diff. to Leader (%)
Dry Handling (Circuit)	0	1st	76.50 s	–	–
Dry Grip (Skidpan)	20%	3rd	0.697 g	-0.027 g	-3.71%
Wet Grip (Skidpan)	20%	2nd	0.689 g	-0.009 g	-1.29%
Dry Braking	10%	1st	24.17 m	–	–
Wet Braking	10%	1st	25.30 m	–	–
Noise	20%	4th	93 dB	+15 dB	-19.23%
Rolling Resistance	20%	3rd	56.23 m	-17.04 m	-23.25%

Probably the most popular budget tyre at the moment, it’s well known that these are priced extremely aggressively, and we see so many cars – PHVs especially – with the Tourador decal on the rear windscreen, so we had to find out whether it’s too good to be true.

And the short answer, in brand-new condition at least is, no! The X Wonder TH1 is a performance-biased tyre, and it offered the best Braking in the Wet and Dry, and had good Grip in the Wet too. It only suffered in Noise, where our testers observed it was notably louder even without checking the decibel meter, and Rolling Resistance.

Of course, we can’t speak for the longevity of these tyres, but as tested, it was a surprising performance.

RRP: S$68

1st: Rydanz Roadster R02 (90.79%)

Test Station	Weightage	Position	Raw Score	Diff. to Leader	Diff. to Leader (%)
Dry Handling (Circuit)	0	4th	79.42 s	+2.92 s	-3.83%
Dry Grip (Skidpan)	20%	4th	0.664 g	-0.060 g	-8.2%
Wet Grip (Skidpan)	20%	4th	0.610 g	-0.088 g	-12.65%
Dry Braking	10%	3rd	29.67 m	+5.50 m	-22.76%
Wet Braking	10%	4th	32.30 m	+7.00 m	-27.67%
Noise	20%	1st	78 dB	–	–
Rolling Resistance	20%	1st	73.27 m	–	–

Rydanz is a new brand from China which apparently does a lot of international testing. Interestingly it also manufactures its own slick racing and semi-slick trackday tyres.

Although the Roadster R02 is labeled as a UHP tyre, it actually dominated the competition in the Noise and Rolling Resistance tests more so than the performance-oriented tests. Since our weightage in this category was geared towards everyday driving as opposed to performance in emergency scenarios, the Rydanz won by the slimmest of margins.

RRP: S$95

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Want to find out the results of all our other categories? Click these links for our Ultra High Performance, Comfort, SUV, and Eco tests!